Hot Springs, South Dakota

 Friday, October 1, 2021

Our last day in the Black Hills...and a day with no plans.

The morning view from our deck.

Armed with lots of Black Hills tourist brochures and a map we decided over breakfast that we would head south....to the town of Hot Springs. Because we were in no hurry, we chose to take the longer route going and make the return trip a little more direct.

In our new car (which technically is two years old but seems new since we have done very little traveling during the pandemic!) the first thing I always do is connect my iPhone. The car is equipped with Apple CarPlay and it is nice to be able to use Google Maps and some of the other apps on my phone via the screen on the dash. BUT...connecting my phone did nothing. I fiddled and fiddled but the car and my phone just weren't going to play nice.

I finally had Bob pull over, turn off the car and then restart it. This procedure usually yields pretty good results when I have issues with my home computer, but in this case...nothing. My consensus was that the iPhone cable must have gone bad so I gave up. Using Google Maps was still possible on the phone, it just meant Bob no longer had the larger screen map to follow. 

Fossils don't rank very high on my list of things to see when we travel, but Bob thought it would be interesting to visit the the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. The active paleontological dig site has the largest concentration of mammoth remains in the world and also fossils of other Ice Age animals such as camel, llama, giant short-faced bear, wolf, and coyote.

The dig site was where the mammoths were trapped and died in a spring-fed pond. The bones laid buried until 1974 when they were discovered as moving equipment exposed them when excavating for a new housing development. The area of the sink hole is now enclosed in a climate controlled building and visitors can get a close up view of the bones as they were discovered. 

For the $10/person senior citizen admission fee ($12/regular adult admission) we were able to do a self-guided tour through the dig site, see the exhibits on display, visit the working lab and watch a paleontologist working to clean bones. 

A replica of a hut made of mammoth bones.

Rather than packing a lunch like we had most days, we decided to live large and eat at a restaurant. 😄 The Red Shed Smokehouse had good reviews online so we followed Mr. Google and made our way through town. Calling the Red Shed a "restaurant" is a bit of a stretch however. It is actually a food truck which was parked in a gravel lot surrounded by a few picnic tables. Several types of smoked meat were listed on the menu sign but when our first choice of chicken wasn't available, we both chose the mixed platter containing pulled pork, ribs, brisket and mac & cheese and then added a side order of slaw.

All of the picnic tables were occupied so after placing our order we approached one couple and asked if we could share their table. As we were waiting for the food, we struck up a conversation. Within a couple of minutes we had learned that their daughter was employed in our hometown hospital and before he retired, Bob had worked with her often in the ER. The daughter's husband was also a hometown kid who had played hockey with our boys! Our 2nd small world encounter!

Our orders were delivered to our table and they were HUGE! Easily big enough that we could have shared, but after one bite I was so glad we each got our own. The meat was juicy and so flavorful. Neither of us finished our meal but instead packed it away in the cooler we brought knowing we would enjoy the leftovers for dinner.

My mouth is watering just looking at this photo!

If  you are ever in Hot Springs, I will mention that the Red Shed is right next door to Evan's Plunge, the Black Hills' oldest attraction. Evans Plunge was built around a mineral pool fed by the hot springs in 1890. The present day pool features several water slides, hot tubs and a sauna. Not part of our plans for the day, but it would be a fun place to go with kids.

The Smokehouse is on River Street which continues out of town and becomes Hot Brook Canyon Road leading to Chautauqua Park. This is a very scenic public park with red rock cliffs and a creek. 

In my abbreviated research, I had read about Cascade Falls...a series of small waterfalls leading to a swimming hole popular with locals. The directions led us back through town and then about 15 minutes south on highway 71. We accidently turned too soon at a picnic area and met an older couple who had spent the last week exploring the area around Hot Springs. They gave us some tips on a couple of interesting places to visit and then we headed onwards to Cascade Falls...only a couple of minutes further down the road.

Looking down from above at the cascade falls.

Caution...poison ivy and rattlesnakes. Fortunately we followed these ladies down the path to the river without encountering either one.

The last set of falls empties into a large swimming hole.

A handful of people were at the falls and one woman was in the water. I think she was trying to convince herself that the warm spring-fed creek really was comfortable although from what I've read it stays at a constant 67º temperature. Brrrrr.

Taking the tip from the couple we met earlier, we headed back to Hot Springs to locate what they said was a "much better" waterfall. All we knew was that it was located near a Lutheran church at the edge of town. Once again with a little help from Google we were able to find our way there. (Exploring is so much easier these days with technology!)

We parked in the church parking lot and then walked down a path to a gazebo looking down into the canyon where the falls were located. It was quite a view with the river cascading down the rocks in the deep canyon. I hadn't read anything about these falls in my research so we were thankful for the tip we received from the nice couple earlier in the day.

A little backtracking was in order to check out the other spot that had been recommended by the same couple. On our way through town (again) we pulled into a grocery store so I could buy a bag of premade salad that we would have to go with our leftover smoked meat at dinner.

Running parallel to River Street in Hot Springs is the narrow Fall River. On the other side is a walkway below a cliff line with...another waterfall! 

Photo: Google Street View

Once again we took this road which led out of town through the lovely Chautauqua Park. But this time we continued on and the road took us through a beautiful red rock canyon. The scenery would be beautiful by anyone's standard, but living on the flat prairie really makes us appreciate such views! And as a bonus we saw more wild turkeys!

Our route back to the AirBnB went through parts of Wind Cave National Park. A few bison were feeding along side the road. They definitely aren't afraid of people or cars which is all the more reason that humans should have a healthy fear of them!

Jim, the owner of our AirBnB had a few guys staying at their house while they hunted in the area. This was our view out of the apartment window when we returned. Bob isn't a hunter, but he was excited that Jim gave him some elk antlers to bring home!

I was still frustrated with the Apple Car Play that wouldn't cooperate so Jim's wife offered to help me troubleshoot. I'm sure she thought I was just a clueless senior citizen, but most everything she attempted I had already tried. I did appreciate the fact that she took the time to help me when she was already late for an appointment she had.

Eventually I did what I should have done to begin with...I started watching YouTube videos on trouble with Apple Car Play in Hondas. Bingo. I learned how to re-boot the whole audio system and that did the trick. It worked like a charm and everything was back to normal. It made our drive home the next day so much more pleasant. We love the 70's folk music channel on Amazon music!

And so that ends our 2nd Black Hills trip in two  years. After randomly finding the AirBnB apartment last year, we enjoyed it enough to return for this second visit. Besides loving the location, we developed a friendship with the owners that made our stay even more special. As we hugged them goodbye they informed us that we were no longer just guests, but were family. What a beautiful end to a beautiful vacation!