The week before Labor Day, Mark threw out this idea of going to the Black Hills for a few days. At first I was like "what .... we can't plan a trip like that just days before going!" Then I thought "he's right ... it's only a 4 hour drive ...why not!" This spontaneous little getaway turned out to be a blast. A good amount of the fun for us is what we see along the way. We stopped at Register Cliff just outside Guernsey WY.
This was a camp for Oregon Trail travelers where they recorded names and dates of their passage. A good number of the inscriptions are from 1840-1850's which were peak years of travel along the trail.
We then went through Hartville and Sunrise Wyoming. Both are considered "Ghost Towns" and are basically the same town. Hartville still has residents (60ish), while Sunrise is completely vacant and privately owned.
It was so cool looking around a bit ... and kinda spooky.
The town of Sunrise was originally a mining town that began to boom in the late 1800-early 1900's. For eighty years the town was the key source of iron for Colorado Fuel and Iron Company and had around 500 residents and numerous buildings. In 1980 the demand for iron dropped and the mine and town shut down. It is now privately owned and only open to the public for select events.
I thought it was cool to just see what we could. I would totally go back when it was open to the public. I find it fascinating.
We went on our way to South Dakota.
We stopped at Jewel Cave on a whim to see if they had any available tours. We were happily surprised that they did.
We decided to try something different and do the Historic Lantern Tour.
Designed as a way to step back in the past and get a feel for what the cave would have been like in the earlier days. You start and end through the historic entrance and the only light is the authentic lantern you carry.
The route is only about a 1/2 mile, but is filled with narrow passages and (600) steep ladder-like stairs
All the crouching and bending on rocky terrain, was worth it to see the amazing formations throughout the cave. It was pretty phenomenal.
We even got up close and personal with some resident bats as they hung along the cave walls. A couple of hours later, we emerged into the light again.
Our hotel was in Custer. This cute little tourist town had so much to offer despite its population of only 2,000 people.
After exploring the town we grabbed some dinner at a local pizza joint.
We started the next day with a visit to Mount Rushmore. I felt kinda bad not having Bailee with us since I have such fun memories of her and Kars talking about the "faces" on our trip when they were just little tots.
I was sad she couldn't come, but happy we got to show Emmrey.
We got there early and spent most of the morning there. After, we went for a hike along Flume Trail.
We were pretty much planning on the fly with this trip , which is pretty difficult for Mark. He had briefly researched the hike, but we ended up at a different starting point than he had hoped.
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| interesting Birch we saw along the way |
I didn't remember South Dakota being so beautiful when we visited before (although we didn't spend as much time in the forest). Sometimes you hold a picture of a place in your head that gets shattered in a good way.
A view of Sheridan Lake
Piece of the trail from the Civilian Conservation Corps years.
We thought we were going to be entertained by the group of kids that appeared to be cliff jumping. Ultimately, only a couple ever took the plunge.
I thought Mark had lost his mind when he pulled into the parking lot at Candyland. Emmrey was thrilled as you can imagine. It was definitely a tourist hole .... with lots of cool candy;)
We spent a little time checking out the quaint community of Hill City.
There was a Railroad Museum that was kinda fun.
The main museum wasn't open, but we walked around and looked in some of the cars.
Custer has this old cabin in the center of town. Built in 1872, it is the oldest known building still in existence in the Black Hills.
We decided to try The Purple Pie Place for dinner since our guide at the cave had given it such great reviews. It was certainly unusual and quaint. I am not sure any of us were blown away by our food, the pie was pretty good.
The next day we explored Custer State Park. We were pretty excited to stumble upon some Mountain Goats.
We did a hike at Cathedral Spires
It's about a 2 mile hike among giant granite spires.
Kars was feeling pretty powerful
It made you feel pretty small in the midst of the towering spires
We stopped in to check out the Visitor's Center and had a picnic on the grounds. As far as VC's go, it was pretty amazing!
A Park Service employee had told us about a section of the park where you can see wild burros that live in the area.
We found them along with other tourists. The burros are used to people and will let you come right up and pet them ... and preferably feed them. The idea of feeding a wild animal in the park seemed odd to us, but there was a lady with a bag of something that was very popular with the burros.
It was tricky getting back to our car and being able to drive away. They were surrounding our car and poking their noses right inside.
Our final stop in the Black Hills was a "secret swimming hole" at Cascade Falls. The water is around 67 degrees, making it a popular spot for those that are willing to venture off the beaten path to get there.
The girls had fun jumping in and using their snorkel masks to check out the water.
It was pretty pleasant ... a few less people would have made it even better.
Lots of memorable fun packed into 3 days. So glad we went for it ... just wish Bay could have joined us!
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