Black Hills - A Great Time

Four days of trail riding ~ we found

so many more trails and there are

so many more to experience. 

The ATV/UTV craze there is increasing

by leaps and bounds.  One thing that is

nice is that you only notice it when you

are in town (or trying to make reservations).

When out on the trail

you don't see many people.

Homeward bound to our beautiful

place in the country!   

We sure like the Black Hills but 

our spot in the country is 

pretty darn nice too!

We did see some more wildlife

during our time out there.

Doe and fawn

and this big guy was spied...

he stood there for the longest

time thinking he was hiding   :) 

Black Hills - Day 5

Last Day of Riding the Trails ~ we found

our way to back to Mt. Meadow for lunch

(they have employees and a full menu).

near Deerfield Lake.

Deerfield Lake is actually "Deerfield Reservoir

and is located in the Black Hills National

Forest.   It  has three campgrounds, picnic

areas and trails.  It is a beautiful area.

~~~~~~

We headed to Flag Mountain elev. 6,937.

The lookout tower here was built in 1941

and now only the ruins remain.

This is what the lookout tower looked

like years ago~

internet picture

The view was beautiful!

The trail (forest road) to the Silica Mines.

The Black Hills Silica Sand Mine Co

the sand was used to make the

Deerfield Dam.

Apparently you can walk around inside them

~ we choose not to (good excuse, no 

flashlight).

Wildflowers along the trail.

In this area we saw a few logging piles.  There

clean up seems to be working quite well.

Explanation - years ago the Black Hills area

was having trouble with Mountain Pine

Beetles and almost every place you looked 

the mountainsides were brown (dead brown).

They logged, piled and burned when they 

could.

This would have been logged.

Pile to be burned.

I did a little research and an article dated

2018 indicates the pine beetle invasion is

over (for now) and it lasted 20 years.  It

affected 400,000 private and public land.

This last day of riding we had some rain.

It was a shower here and there ~ we got

a little wet and dried off in between.

A selfie while out on the trail.

This last evening while up town ~ it

really rained.   It was a gully washer!

One last beautiful view from the

Black Hills.

 

Black Hills, Custer Park - Day 4

 Today was a different day, we changed it 

up a little bit.

We still toured about with the SXS but did

more highway miles than trail miles 

(remember you can ride your ATV or UTV

almost everywhere).

Black Elk Peak (f/k/a Harney Peak) ~ we

hiked this before it is difficult.   We had

planned on hiking it again but the 

weather was way too warm to do so

this time.

This is the map of the area posted

at one of the entries ~ campfire

restrictions too.

On our way to Custer State Park ~ park fees

are $20 a vehicle good for several days.

Sylvan Lake

The area (or hike) is different since we last

visited years ago.  And the lake/lodge area seems

to be 75% more busier than it was years ago.

We headed on further into the park.

We headed towards the Cathedral Spires

and The Needles Eye.   There were many

visitors in this area.

We waited our turn to pass through the

tunnel.   I wonder how many vehicles have

gone through the tunnel?

This evening we traveled back to Sturgis

(not by ATV) to listen to a band that we

follow around home.

"Slamabama" they were playing for a street

event for the Sturgis community.  It was fun!

~~~~~~~~~

Hubby got this selfie at The Needles Eye

A little country farm ~ a beautiful area!

Still warm in the 90's.

Hill City - Day 3

Another beautiful day ~ we headed out into

the countryside to connect to a trail. 

The area around town is very

nice and away from the hustle

and bustle of the town.

The trails today were less rocky

and some of the trails were very similar

to our Minnesota trails.   They had some

rain here a day or two before we

arrived, so some mud puddles.

The meadows and the side of the trails

were covered with many wild flowers (it

must be the season for purple flowers); there

were a few black-eyed susans and tiny white

daisy looking flowers.   Of course, they have

the obnoxious purple weed also like we do.

We found this along the trail ~ parked and little

bit of hiking.   Gold Mountain - They believed

there was gold ore beneath the ground  ~ the Gold

Mountain Mining Company studied the quartz

veins and geology reports in the late-1920's.   The

ore mill was constructed in the mid-1930's and could

mill 25 tons of gold ore per day.   It didn't

pan out, they left only the mill behind no

great stories of finding gold. 

I wonder how much ore was actually milled in the

attempt?

this was the boiler

It stated, that in 2007 (71 years after the last

load of gold ore was processed) the mill

was looking its' age from time, the weather

and vandalism.

This is one of the last ore mills standing in

the Black Hills and the only one in

existence in the Black Hills National Forest.

Between 2008 and 2012, Forest Service employees

and volunteers worked on projects to restore

the mill so that we could enjoy the history of it.

A popular stop for gas and lunch.   Out of the

several places we stopped, this place was the

most normal.   Many restaurants in the region

have limited hours, only a few things to

offer to eat and most things are fast food like.

Employees apparently are hard to fine.

Grand Vista

We could see Black Elk Peak (aka Harney

Peak) in the distance ~ it was a little

smoggy due to the wildfires.

 

A little fun with a selfie (I told you Hubby

was a whole lot better are taking pictures!)

We ended the evening back in town, did

some browsing in some of the stores

and picked up a snack (a chocolate snack)

from the Candy Store.

We got the postcards for the grands

ready to drop in the mail.

The weather was warm but still quite

pleasant.