Beautiful Spearfish Canyon

 Sunday, October 1, 2023

Hello October! Our last full day of the trip. It was hard to get moving...definitely a two cup of coffee kind of morning. I packed up the cooler with our picnic supplies. It is handy to know we don't have to find a place to eat when we are out exploring. Today our plan was to drive the Spearfish Canyon Road and finding a restaurant to eat at the time we wanted to eat could be difficult.

On the way, Bob decided to make a stop at Cheyenne Crossing, the restaurant/gift shop where we had dinner on Friday night. When we were there he had purchased a "peacock ore" rock for one of our grandsons who is really into rock collecting. Last night another grandson had called and was excited to show us a rock he had just gotten and asked Bob if he would take him out rock hunting sometime. That was all it took...Bob had to stop and buy another piece of peacock ore for him!

From Lead (where we are staying) we drove north on the canyon road. The weather was a 10 out of 10 and the scenery along the route was even better than the weather. The road is nestled between the tall canyon walls and twists and turns along Spearfish Creek the entire route. I couldn't help but noticing the interesting names that some of the small roads branching off of the canyon road have...Woodchuck Lane, Raspberry Gulch, Ice Box Lane, Coyote Lane, Calamity Gulch, Smugglers Lane, etc.

We pulled into a small parking lot at the Old Spearfish Creek Dam. Several people were fishing in the quieter pool before the water spilled over the dam. The water was crystal clear and we could see many good sized fish.

When we reached the town of Savoy, we parked at the Latchstring Restaurant and walked the trail to Spearfish Falls. The trail is fairly steep at the beginning but it is only about 3/4 mile round trip. The water flowing over the falls was impressive...especially for this time of year. 

Trail to Spearfish Falls

Spearfish Falls

Many, many people were out enjoying the beautiful Sunday weather and the traffic on the canyon road was heavy...I mean REALLY heavy. Most of the pull outs along the road were full which made stopping difficult. I'm sure many of the people were locals just enjoying the weekend and a chance to see the fall colors.

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Bob wanted to hike the Community Caves Trail. I knew there was no way I could handle that so I waited in the car while he hiked. He moves quickly and even though the trail is very vertical, he did the .6 mile route in about 45 minutes.

Approaching the pullout for the Community Caves trailhead.

The town of Spearfish is at the end of the canyon road and the location of the DC Booth Fish Hatchery, our next planned stop. The city park was adjacent to the hatchery grounds and the perfect place for our picnic lunch. It was chilly at our table in the shade, but with jackets very pleasant. The Spearfish Creek flowed between the park and the hatchery.

Our lunchtime view.

We had visited the hatchery in 2021 but it was late in the day and nothing was open. This time we got lucky and were there on the last day of the season. The hatchery grounds are so beautiful and even if nothing was open it would be worth a stop on a nice day just to wander through.

The gift shop sells fish food, but we had clipped a coupon from a travel booklet to get a free container of fish food. We each took turns tossing the food into the water and watching as the very large trout went crazy!

At the end of the road was the stately home built in 1905 for the Booth family (D.C. Booth was the first superintendent of the hatchery.) The home was open for tours and the employee sitting on the front porch seemed eager to show us around. She took us through every little nook and cranny of the house and told us stories of the family, especially Mrs. Booth who had considerable input on the design and construction of the home. For its time, the home was quite modern with indoor plumbing and electricity.

A beautifully restored replica of a railroad fish car is also on display at the hatchery. For over six decades railway cars were used to transport fish to lakes and rivers around the country.

At the northern end of the canyon, the town of Spearfish was our "turn around point." Rather than making a loop, Bob wanted to retrace our route back through the canyon. As we were driving we spotted some cars stopped alongside the road (always a good sign!) and stopped to watch several mountain goats. I kept my distance so as to not scare them, but I needn't have worried...one wandered over quite close to where I was standing.

Bridal Veil Falls is a little underwhelming compared to the other falls in Spearfish Canyon, but Bob wanted to stop anyway. The falls are right next to the highway but he went the "extra mile" and climbed down the embankment to get a closer look.

Bridal Veil Falls...barely more than a trickle.

Two-legged mountain goat. 😄

Our last planned stop was to see Roughlock Falls. The falls can be reached by either a two-mile round trip trail or by driving to the falls and taking a short (but steep) paved path. We skipped doing the longer route because Bob wanted to hike the 76 Trail. Knowing that the trail was nearly vertical, I again chose to stay back while he hiked. I didn't feel like I was missing out too much when the view from the car was so beautiful.

My view while Bob was hiking the 76 Trail.

Bob took this photo from the top of the 76 Trail. I was waiting in the parking lot below.

From top of 76 Trail.

By the time Bob returned, the sun was dipping behind the cliffs putting much of the canyon in shadows as we walked to Roughlock Falls. The falls were still spectacular but just not the greatest conditions for photos. Even at the end of the day, the falls were quite crowded with everyone (us included) trying to enjoy every last minute of a stellar day.

Walkway to Roughlock Falls.

Boardwalk leading to lower falls.

Upper Roughlock Falls

We debated about returning to Cheyenne Crossing for dinner, but decided we were tired and would rather just relax back at the condo. Dinner wasn't anything special, just something easy from a can. Later in the evening I went out on the balcony and instead of seeing the nearly full moon, I heard rumbles of thunder and saw flashes of lightning. Checking the weather radar we could see a storm was headed our way. Both of us LOVE storms so we wrapped up in blankets and sat on the balcony enjoying a light show better than any firework display! A great ending for a great trip!

Bear Lodge...aka Devil's Tower

 Saturday, September 30, 2023

Today's plan was to repeat several things we did in 2021...and add a couple of other stops that we weren't able to do on the previous trip. Our main destination for the day would be Devil's Tower.

Our planned route for the day.

Our first view of Devil's Tower. The three hills on the left are the Missouri Buttes.

Since our last trip, the Guide Along app has added narration for Devil's Tower so we listened as we drove. Besides pointing out things to see, the app covered some of the history of the tower. Each of the Native American tribes from the region has their own legend in regards to Devil's Tower. To them, this is a sacred site that they refer to as Bear Lodge or Bear Tipi and they resent the name Devils Tower. Many believe the current name came from a poor translation of the Native American word "bear" into "bad god". Several different tribes have called for the changing of the name.

One story that has been passed on concerning the tower's origin came from the Crow Tribe:

Once when some Crows were camped at "Bear's House," two little girls were playing around some big rocks there. There were lots of bears living around the big rock, and one big bear, seeing the girls alone, was going to eat them. The big bear was just about to catch the girls when they saw him. The girls were scared and the only place they could get was on top of the rocks around which they had been playing

The girls climbed the rock but still the bear could catch them. The Great Spirit, seeing the bear was about to catch the girls, caused the rock to grow up out of the ground. The bear kept trying to jump to the top of the rock but he just scratched the rock and fell down on the ground. The claw marks are on the rock now. The rock kept growing until it was so high that the bear could not get the girls. The two girls are still on top of the rock. (nps.gov)

As we reached Devils Tower around 10 am we noticed a portable stop light on the road to the visitor center. At the time it wasn't functioning so we were confused by why it was there. Rather than hike the paved loop around the base of the tower as we did before, we had decided to take the Joyner Ridge Trail which has a view of the tower from a distance. The road to the trailhead turned off before we reached the visitor center and only one other car was in the parking lot when we arrived. 

From reading reviews on AllTrails.com, we chose to hike the 1.5 mile loop in the clockwise direction. The trail follows a grassy path across Joyner Ridge at the beginning but then there is a steep and rugged drop-off down into the draw with a more gradual incline back to the top of the ridge. I was glad to have my hiking poles going down the steep slope to take a little pressure off my bad knees. The trail goes through various terrains in the loop and has a great view of the tower. At the top of the ridge the cool breeze was pleasant but it was on the warm side down in the valley. 

The steeper downhill portion of the trail.

Bob never passes up an opportunity to scramble on rocks.

Bob found a praying mantis on the trail.

We made it! There was a "selfie station" at the trailhead where you could prop up your phone.

Knowing we had more places to visit for the day, we decided to skip driving to the visitor center...and that was a wise move. As we turned onto the main entrance road the stoplight was now functioning and a VERY long line of cars were stopped at the red light. Our guess was that the parking lot at the visitor center was full and cars were not being allowed to get in until spots opened up. It was a beautiful weekend day, but it seemed surprising that on September 30th so many people would be visiting. Then we remembered that a government shutdown was looming for the next day. Perhaps many people decided to squeeze in a visit to Devil's Tower before it was too late. (Note: The shutdown was averted at the last minute.)

We drove to the picnic area and pulled out the cooler and made sandwiches for lunch. From past experience, we knew the view of the tower from there was outstanding!

View from picnic area.

Bob picked up some of the red soil to use when he makes pottery.

Taking the northern part of our mapped out route, we began the return trip with a stop in the town of Hulett, Wyoming. Hulett is a tiny town but we wanted to re-visit Bob's Rogue Gallery located there. It is a combination of a gift shop and art gallery but mostly it is museum. And in spite of its small size the place is probably the most unique and interesting museum ever! The place is full of cowboy and Native American memorabilia. One of my favorite exhibits are these two photos which change depending on the angle that you view them from. They go from interesting vintage photos to downright creepy!

Leaving Hulett, we moved on to the even tinier town of Aladdin...population 15. The main draw was the Aladdin General Store right on the highway. Lots of tourist-type stuff for sale in the downstairs while the upstairs was appropriately called the "Antique Attic". Bob saw a sign displayed for an upcoming community "pie social" and it made me wonder how many pies would be needed for a social in a town of 15? 😄

Aladdin General Store

The antique display case held all sorts of different kinds of candy.

The Tri-State Museum in Belle Fourche (pronounced bel foosh) was our next stop. The museum had been closed when we were there in 2021 but based on a friend's recommendation (thanks, Sherita!) I wanted to visit. The museum exhibits did a great job of recording history from the local area. 

An exhibit showing what a beauty salon would look like in days gone by. Need your hair curled??

When Hawaii became a state, the geographical center of the U.S. shifted to about 20 miles north of Belle Fourche. The actual center is on private property but the city of Belle Fourche decided they would build a monument. Also on display at the same property is the first log cabin built in the northern Black Hills.

The scenery on our drive was so beautiful but yet different than the more jagged rocks of the southern Black Hills. I was getting tired, but still wanted to visit the Friendship Tower on Mt. Roosevelt near Deadwood. A winding 1.5 mile road took us to the trailhead and it was another half-mile hike to the top of the mountain where the tower was located. It was close to sunset and the golden glow of the sun made the trail especially beautiful. The Friendship Tower was erected by Seth Bullock (the first sheriff of Deadwood) in honor of his friend, Theodore Roosevelt. A very steep spiral staircase led to the top of the tower where you could look out across the expansive Black Hills.

Friendship Tower on Mt. Roosevelt

End of the day shadows.

Climbing the tall, narrow stairs was not easy for a short person!

Back at the condo, dinner was leftovers. For me, the Indian taco from the previous night and Bob had some soup. We sat on the balcony while we ate and FaceTimed with our son and grandson. The 2nd floor condo had a great view of the city of Lead.

This aerial photo shows just how close our condo was to the giant Homestake mine pit.

I waited anxiously for the full harvest moon to rise, but realized right away that the view was blocked by a tree. Eventually it rose high enough in the sky and was a beautiful sight! The condo was quite warm so it was pleasant to sit in the chilly night air as I finished up this blog post.