Waking up in the Black Hills National Forest for the last day was bitter sweet. My last day planned to be mostly driving, I wasn’t excited, but ready to take it slow and meander about. The first stop was Deadwood, a town that turned out to be 90% casinos. With a visitor center that was neither open nor closed, a bit of loitering got me by till they were officially open. The lady at the desk was the least enthusiastic visitor center attendee I’d yet to meet, and the info she gave me was lackluster at best.
With the vibe that this wasn’t a town for me, I moved on to Lead which again wasn’t much but the drive there beautiful. With winding roads through the Black Hills. It kept the monotony of driving fresh with beautiful views around each turn, which I had to take at 30 mph, partially due to its sharpness, and due to my wandering eyes. Eventually I took a turn off to attempt to find a trail head. Though upon finding it and seeing a paved path, my interest quickly died. Deciding that a break was needed, a quick snack and a Popular Science magazine sufficed for the remainder of the morning.
About noon-thirty my magazine had been read cover to cover, and I figured I should move on with the rest of my day up to Spearfish through Spearfish Canyon. A stop at the first building gave me a crude map of the surrounding trails, and an idea of which trails were worth my time.
The first was Roughlock Falls, a quick 1 mile out trail that was mostly flat which I made quick work of but still enjoyed the falls. It was by far the most heavily populated trail, and for good reason. Second was the ’76 trail which had a great warning sign at the base. A three-quarter mile hike with 1000 feet of elevation gain. Basically, a staircase without steps to a glorious view of the canyon below. With quick work made to nearly the summit, I stopped, frozen only 20 paces out, and ducked behind the nearest boulder. At the summit was a 56 year old couple, the lady being butt ass naked.
Welp, that’s a new one.
Not sure what to do, I receded down the trail a bit, and with the couple just in visual and audio range, announced my presence with a friendly, “howdy.” They were startled, and the lady quickly threw her shirt on. Apologizing for interrupting the moment, we made small talk, they seemed a bit flustered. A few pictures later and I was on my way back down, one more trial in my sights, Devils Bathtub, which was a small drive up the canyon. The trail crisscrossed a stream multiple times on the map, but the actual trail was far different. A maze of paths weaving into and out of the water, on both sides, it was more of a pick your own adventure. As long as I kept near the stream, I was going in the right direction. Upon finding the bathtub, I was sad to not be wearing my swim trunks as this was the perfect place for a quick dip and rinse off.
Looking around, the vicious crack of thunder was heard, and a gruesome thunder cloud loomed over. Not wanting to get stuck in a downpour, I made haste out of the bathtub downstream and back to my car, thankfully still bone dry. Packed up, I again wandered towards Spearfish with one last stop at Bridal Veil Falls, conveniently located just off the highway.
Spearfish was another beautiful town with the original business district spruced up and remodeled with new façade and shops to match. The local gear shop my first go to in order to see what a good local place for dinner and wifi would be. But to my surprise, everything around closed at 5, with a few places burning the 8 pm oil. The place I went closed at 7, one hour from now. Not much, but it would have to do. A quick connection to the real world lent me time to organize for my link up in Montana and chat with a few friends before dashing off to my hopeful home for the night, Custer National Forest, a 2 hour drive away into Montana. Finding another designated campground (I’m getting good at this!) and an open site, I washed up as the sun disappeared.
A long haul the next day zipping across the state to make it to Missoula to meet my friend Max was going to be rough, but an early start would give me plenty of play time to stop and wander for a bit, in theory.
