Blog Posts from South Dakota
Photos from South Dakota
Driving through the black hills 
Turns out we were in this area during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the largest in the world Homestake Mine, largest gold mine in North America Deadwood’s historic downtown district flooded with motorcyclists Sunset over the black hills Mt Rushmore Walking the trail at the base of the mountain I really liked the landscape here, rocky hills with ponderosa pine trees Sunset at Mt Rushmore The area around the visitor’s center is very nice with a walkway and amphitheater We decided to stay for the evening lighting ceremony Wow what a great show with ranger talks, trivia, and a patriotic movie Very cool to see this at night with lights On to the national park intercontinental ballistic missile museum Interesting place off the highway We went to a decommissioned missile silo Cool that they let people see this Yes that is a fake missile Not much else out here in this area Driving to Badlands National Park I thought this park was very cool Looks like a planet from a science fiction movie This might have been the hottest day of the trip so far Crazy how the rocks seem to just rise out of the flat valley We went for a few short hikes here despite the heat Haha looks like I’m on the edge of a deep ravine, but it was only a few feet to the bottom Very nice layering in the rocks This was the Notch Trail Woah things just got interesting Very cool technical portion of the trail Walking above a canyon now Hard to tell if we were on the trail Not the best lighting today Nice to sit down for a break Not sure this trail was worth the views here We decided to explore and found a better spot for views A little difficult going back down King of the hill Walking back before it gets any warmer Okay just one more picture Seriously last one Back down the ladder Careful where you step Saw a bunch of these cool cliff swallow mud houses Reading about the landscape on another nature trail Roadside overlook Awesome picture Yellow mounds overlook The photo behind the photo Very cool This was across the road from the yellow mounds Last overlook for this park Wow 107 degrees out Sunset in Rapid City We used the planet fitness in Rapid City as a basecamp for all of our excursions in South Dakota Sheep on the road Wow didn’t expect a bighorn sheep to be just chillin here on a state road Just a scenic lake we passed while driving to Wind Cave National Park Awesome herd of bison we saw driving through Custer State Park We were all alone with these Bison, a nice change from the busy national parks Bison crossing Another herd not far from the first Had to wait for them to move along And here’s a rabbit Walking the Rankin Ridge trail in Wind Cave National Park Still warm but a little cooler here in the forested hills Not a bad view to the west Not a bad view to the east either Dang, stairs Let it be known that it was on this trail we discovered the NP app had self guided walking tours Down into the wind cave now We paid $16 each for the natural entrance guided tour Totally worth it Boxwork cave feature A little too developed for my liking, but good that it’s accessible I guess Lots of fun walking through the cave Had to bend over in a few spots Glad we got a photo together Turns out photos look really weird in a cave Only a few spots were big enough for multiple people to group together Our tour had about 30 people Decided to eat lunch watching a bison herd Then they decided to come toward us And the whole herd walked right around our car Driving south to Nebraska
