Moving On.

We have completed our “Must Do” list for this visit to the Black Hills and will be moving on tomorrow. Last night we were able to meet up with Rollie and Gina Thurston, and Rocky and Sheri Rhoades at Mike and Pat McFall’s home (in progress). Rollie was the chef and he treated us to grilled pork tenderloin with green peppers and onions; there were fried potatoes, devilled eggs, green beans, green grapes, coleslaw and a broccoli salad. For desert Gina baked a cherry dump cake and Sandy brought some of her famous apple streusel bread. Our compliments to Rollie and Gina as the food was great, John over ate and was a little sluggish last night; or it could have been the frozen margarita that Gina prepared for him.

Today was our Saturday cleaning day and we packed up our things and installed our Pressure-Pro sensors so we are ready to go in the morning. We just have some shopping to do this afternoon and we will be set for three days of driving that will get us back to our old hometown in Wisconsin.

We want to thank Mike and Pat, Rocky and Sheri, and of course Rollie and Gina for their hospitality; as John and Sandy have said before, Good Food and Good Friends Equals a Great Day and we certainly had a great one yesterday.

 

Rocky, Sheri, Pat, Mike, John, Sandy, Gina and Rollie.

Photo compliments of Rollie Thurston.

Bear Mountain Drive.

We took another drive today, we have enjoyed our rides into the Black Hills National Forest so today we drove up to the Bear Mountain Lookout and afterward took the long way home. We took Upper French Creek Rd. (286), north from US 16 (just west of Custer City), to 284; 284 took us to 291, and 291 took us to Bear Mountain where 293 took us up to the lookout.

 

We started our adventure on Upper French Creek Road.

 

You have to watch out for the cattle and their landmines.

 

The scenery was worth the drive.

 

More landmines and their makers.

 

A stretch of 284 was tore-up but passable.

 

Near Bear Mountain.

 

At Bear Mountain we walked around the fire watch tower, the view was good but it was hazy today.

 

 

 

At Bear Mountain the CRV was already getting dusty.

 

These little guys were in bloom today.

 

After the lookout we drove down to 291 where we continued north to Gillett Canyon Road (296); John grew up on Gillett St. so he couldn’t resist a detour onto this road. 296 looped through the canyon and out to 301. 301 took us to 299 where we stopped at the Boy Scout Camp to eat our lunch.

 

The view along 291.

 

Aspen trees were growing in this valley.

 

Gillett Canyon Road was not as wide as 291.

 

Not a spectacular canyon but we enjoyed the drive through here.

 

 

 

This area appears to have burned, there was an enclosed plot of Aspens down in this valley.

 

On 301 we saw another white-tail deer with two fawns, they couldn’t hang around and pose for a picture.

 

 

After lunch it was a quick ride to 297 which took us to US 16 north of Custer City. After 79 miles of gravel and dirt roads the CRV was very dirty, back in Custer we drove through the car wash before returning to Beaver Creek.

 

We stopped in their parking lot to eat our lunch.

 

297 took us out to US 16.

Creekside Trail.

Today we were back in Custer State Park to take a walk on the 2 mile long Creekside Trail; the trail is paved so I refer to this as a walk verses a hike. The trail runs from the Game Lodge Campground to the Grace Coolidge Campground, the scenery is nice as the trail follows Grace Coolidge Creek and Hwy 16A through a valley and some open meadow; along the way you pass the Game Lodge, Coolidge General Store, the Park Office and the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center.

We parked at the General Store and walked west to the Grace Coolidge Campground, we crossed the road and checked out the creek and a walk-in fishing area before returning to the General Store. We stopped at the car to pick up a water bottle before continuing our walk east to the Game Lodge Campground; we walked through the campground before returning to the General Store, when we were done we probably had walked 5 miles or more. We found an open picnic table at the store so we sat down and ate our lunch before returning to Beaver Creek, another good day here in the Black Hills.

 

The trail is wide asphalt as it follows Grace Coolidge Creek.

 

Heading east toward Grace Coolidge Campground, the sides of the valley offer views of the rock.

 

A white-tail deer and two spotted fawns crossed the trail in front of us, we waited until they got down to the creek before trying to get some images of them.

 

Mother didn’t trust us, all three scrambled up the far bank of the creek, crossed the road, and disappeared into the trees.

 

Near the Coolidge Campground.

 

This is Coolidge Creek near the Park Office, we looked down from a boardwalk that went up and over a rocky area.

 

Walking east from the Coolidge General Store the valley opens up, this is near the Game Lodge.

 

This is Near the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center.

Mickelson Trail Ride Number 3.

We took a short ride on the Mickelson Trail today, this will be our last ride on this trail for some time. The dark clouds were hovering over us and the wind was blowing pretty hard so we didn’t plan a long ride.

Because of the weather, we chose to setup our bicycles at the   Mountain Trailhead located a few miles north of Custer City; our thought was to ride north for several miles then return to the trailhead and ride south toward Custer City. In the end we rode about 3.5 miles north before returning to the trailhead and loading up the bicycles after a 7 mile ride; almost on cue we had some sprinkles on the windshield as we left the trailhead after our outing.

 

Getting ready at the Mountain Trailhead.

 

Off we went toward Hill City.

 

The trail passes near the Crazy Horse Monument.

 

It also passes under the entrance to Crazy Horse.

 

At times the trail is close to Hwy 385…

 

at other times it passes wildflowers…

 

or through the forest.

 

Because we completed our ride earlier than planned we decided to visit some local campgrounds to look for other places to stay if we return here in the future. We visited six other campgrounds near Custer and we have an idea of where we might stay if we return. The sun came out later and the temperature was moderate so it was an enjoyable afternoon; back at Beaver Lake we took a nice walk on the roads near the campground.   

Southern Hills Drive.

We started off our day with a walk at Stockade Lake before driving the Southern Hills Route down to Hot Springs and back to Custer City. The walk at Stockade Lake was 1.5 miles so it went fairly quick; we stopped for a few minutes on the rocks overlooking the lake to enjoy the view.

 

Looking down on Stockade Lake.

 

The view included the surrounding hills and needles.

 

 

After the hike, we sat by the lake to relax and decided to take the Southern Hills drive. This route takes Hwy 87 out of Custer State Park into Wind Cave National Park and Hwy 385, you take 385 to Hot Springs where you turn onto Hwy 18 west to Hwy 89 north and your back to Custer City (it sounds more complicated than it is). Before leaving Custer State Park we drove up to the Mt. Coolidge Lookout.

 

From the Mt. Coolidge overlook, the Badlands are out there somewhere.

 

 

Mount Rushmore, Harney Peak and Crazy Horse are visible from the lookout. Crazy Horse is near the center of this image.

 

Zoomed-in.

 

Mount Rushmore.

 

Harney Peak.

 

The road to the Mt. Coolidge Lookout is only a mile in length.

 

 

After the lookout we drove south on Hwy 87; along the way we spotted a Prairie Dog Village and more Pronghorn. This group of Pronghorn is use to gawkers and do not run at the sight of a car, they seem to know that the cars will stop for them like they do for the Buffalo.

 

This family strolled across in front of us, followed by the male.

 

They are pretty animals.

 

 

This one is wearing a locator device, it must be on probation or something.

 

We found the Prairie Dogs today.

 

Unlike the Pronghorn they are curious about gawkers.

 

 

We continued into Wind Cave National Park where we stopped for a short time by another herd of Buffalo. The road is interesting to drive and there is another pigtail bridge along the way. There was also good scenery all the way to Hot Springs (although we missed the turnoff to the Battle Mountain Lookout.

 

One of the Southern Hills.

 

It was warm today so the Buffalo were taking it easy.

 

This guy had his own spot.

 

The drive was scenic.

 

First we crossed under this pigtail bridge, then around, up and over the bridge.

 

 

We stopped at a park in downtown Hot Springs to eat our lunch; Hot Springs was not what we expected but the downtown has a lot of interesting old buildings. After lunch we headed back to Custer City, the drive up Hwy 89 was nice and we could see the Mickelson Trail running along-side the roadway; we intend to take another ride on the trail before we leave the Black Hills this Sunday.

 

There was a walkway along the river and a small waterfall in downtown Hot Springs.

 

The clouds were popping up on the way back to Custer City.