Black Hills S. Dakota
Custer’s Gulch RV Park
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The drive from Keyhole State Park to the Black Hills area
was mostly on I-90, until we got to Spearfish, S. Dakota. This town is on the
northern edge of the Black Hills National Forest. We stopped there for our
Walmart shopping, then headed south on the Spearfish Canyon scenic byway. This
road traversed through a canyon area, with many rocky outcroppings.
During this drive we began to notice the abundance of
motorcycle riders. It was then that we realized that the Sturgis Rally was
coming up later in the week. The next area we drove through was the towns of
Lead (site of the huge gold mine that started the rush in S. Dakota) and then
Hill City and finally Custer City. The RV campground was just east of Custer
City right before the entrance to Custer State Park. The town of Custer was
another one of the typical western towns, with many historic buildings and nestled
in a valley. When we arrived at Custer’s Gulch RV Park, we found a very
spacious campground that had all the amenities that we would want. This RV park
was in a valley that was the site of Custer’s 1874 Expedition camp. This whole
area is just filled with historical significance. The valley was beautiful and
surrounded by Custer State Park on the east side, the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve
and the Black Hills National Forest.
After getting the RV setup, we relaxed for the evening. Kurt took the
dogs for a walk back into the woods surrounding the park. There were small,
rocky hills right behind our campsite. The boys loved it.
The next morning, we drove north through the Black Hills on
the “Needles Highway”. This is a winding, narrow mountain road, with many tight
switchbacks. The views of the rocky Needles were amazing! We stopped at many
overlooks to get great pictures. Also, there were motorcycles everywhere. They
were really enjoying the mountain roads, but many of them drive way too close
to the center line! Here we are in a large pickup truck and had to dodge them
many times, almost running our tires off the road. We really don’t understand
this mentality, since they are much smaller vehicles and should keep in the
center of their lane. Anyway, most of them drove safely; it was just the
minority that “hogged” the road. During this drive, there were two tunnels that
we had to drive through. The tunnels were very narrow and low height, one being
only 8’4” wide and 12’ high. We had to roll in our side mirrors so they didn’t
touch the rock walls. The traffic had to take turns going though the one lane,
rocky tunnels. It was fun and exciting!
At one point, we came to Sylvan Lake. We had found a hike
there that we wanted to do. It was called Sunday Gulch, a 4 mile loop trail.
The trail began in rocky outcroppings, headed down to a meadow valley, then
back up into a rocky canyon. Wow, this part of the trail was so difficult that
they installed some areas with concrete stairs and then metal handrails through
some big, rocky climbs. It was a real challenge, but we really enjoyed this
hike.
On the northern part of the drive, we came across Mt.
Rushmore and pulled into that park to view the “heads”. The park was free
entry, but the parking pass was $11.00, which was good until the end of the
year. Upon entering the monument, there was a large visitors center and the
amphitheater. There were some trails around the base of the Presidential carvings,
but we chose not to hike them as the day was getting late. We went through the
museum to view the historical story of this monument. After gazing and picture
taking, we proceeded on our way. We then headed south through the “Iron
Mountain” road. We drove most of this road and it was getting late, so we took
a short cut road back to our campground. This was our 19th
anniversary and we had decided to go out for dinner in Custer City. I had found
a nice restaurant online that had excellent reviews. We got ready and dressed
for dinner then headed into town. After walking around awhile and taking some
pictures, we went into the Sage Creek Grill. Wow! The dinner was wonderful, and
the service was excellent! We truly had a nice anniversary dinner and enjoyed
the evening.
The third morning, we headed back up to the Iron Mountain road,
to complete that drive southward. This area of the road was more rocky
outcroppings, but not like the Needles. There were also spectacular views.
There were three more of the rocky tunnels that we had to pass through along
this drive. One was particularly narrow; we could barely get the truck through
this one. After completing this drive, we headed back to camp to get the dogs.
We had another hike we wanted to do and take the dogs. We packed a picnic
lunch, grabbed the dogs and headed to
Lovers Leap trail. This trail inside Custer State Park was supposed to
be 3.2 miles, but ended up really being 4.5 miles. We found that in this park,
the trail length estimates were always more than what they quoted. The trail
headed up a fairly steep path until it reached the peak. This is where legend
says that a young Indian couple leaped to their deaths from the cliffs. Not
sure why though. The trail then went back downhill through more rocky areas,
then into a small valley along a creek. As we ended the trail, it passed
through a campground, where we came upon a lone bison sitting in a dirt
volleyball court. It was very weird, and Kody ran right up to the bison before
we even saw it. He backed off quickly when Kurt called him off. The bison just
sat there calmly looking at the little dog! Wow, I startled us but not the
animals. We continued back to the truck. From that point, we headed south in
Custer S.P. to drive the large wildlife loop. It was very scenic, but we saw no
wildlife, other than the wild donkeys that are in the park. We stopped at a
couple of places and took some pictures. The donkeys were very tame and had
obviously been given food by visitors! It always amazes me that people feed the
wildlife, even with signs right there that says it’s unlawful. As we have seen,
it’s usually children feeding them with their parents watching! After the
drive, we headed back to camp. The dogs and I relaxed while Kurt took his kayak
to nearby Stockade Lake and did an evening paddle. When he returned, we headed
into Custer City to have some drinks and experience the local bars. One bar we
went into, the lady owner offered me a “special” drink, as I was looking for a
lemonade type of drive. When she brought it to me, I tasted it and it was
yummy. She then told me it was Raspberry moonshine mixed with Sprite. Awesome!
And quite strong. We headed back to camp to have some dinner and relax for the
evening.
On the fourth day, we took our bicycles into Custer and
parked near the Mickelson Trail. This is a 109 mile rail trail that ends in
Custer City. We rode north about 5 miles, and then turned to go back. It was a
nice paved trail that went through some industrial areas near town and also
through rural properties and farmlands. On the way back, Kurt wanted to ride
the spur trail that went out right past our campground. I drove back to camp
and he called me a short while later to say he didn’t know where he was. I
looked at the trail map and discovered he had not turned off on the spur trail,
but was heading north. I told him I would
come and pick him up, as the weather was looking nasty and was beginning to
rain. He said he could make it back, so he rode back in the rain. After he
returned and got dried out, we took off to drive back to Mt. Rushmore for the
night lighting program. We stopped and picked up some to-go Mexican food. We
stopped along the road at a lake picnic area and ate our dinner. We arrived at
Mt. Rushmore about an hour before dark, so we picked our seats in the
amphitheater and relaxed until the show started. The program began with a
ranger telling the story of the carvings, the history of the development and
history of the Presidents involved. They played patriotic music and the whole
program was very emotional. At dark, the lights came on to illuminate the
faces. It was pretty spectacular and moving. We enjoyed this presentation and
the history behind the mountain. As we drove home, a major rain storm started
and involved horrible lightning and thunder. We made it back safely, but at
about 3 am all hell broke loose! The storms got worse, the lightning went on
constantly for about 30 minutes, and then it began to hail. We nervously laid
in bed wondering what kind of damage we would find the next morning. When dawn
finally came, we went outside to find large piles of hail, about moth ball
sized. It looked like we had snowfall. Fortunately, there was no damage to our
truck or RV. That was the most frightening nights we’ve spent in the RV.
We still had so much we wanted to do; so we decided to stay
another night. So on our last day here, Kurt went on a hike that was on the
Needles Highway, called Cathedral Spires, which also connected to another trail
which lead up to Harney Peak. This peak is the highest peak in the US, east of
the Rockies. The hike was beautiful, even in the early morning when there was
still fog. The views were wonderful and the trail was challenging. While he was
hiking, I had my usual “down day” of laundry and housekeeping. At the end of
the day, we prepared for our move eastward in S. Dakota. We were going to make
a short overnight stop as we make our way across S. Dakota.
