Deadwood, SD

Despite its small size (2014 population of 1,261), Deadwood is probably one of the best known communities in the Black Hills. If memory serves, it was the setting of a cable TV series a few years ago.

There are 3 ways to reach Deadwood. On our first trip, we took I-90 west from Rapid City and exited at Sturgis on Alt 14. Alt 14 meets Hwy 85 just north of town. When we visited with our daughter, we took a scenic route starting from Hwy. 40. We traveled on Hwy 385 and met Hwy 85 on the south side. (Hwy. 385 will take you past Sheridan Lake and Pactola Resevior.) A somewhat faster route from, and to I-90, is Hwy 85. It’s shorter and more direct than Alt 14. The exit is a few miles west of Sturgis. On paper, it may look like a longer route, but more of the mileage is on the interstate with its faster speed limit.

Pactola Resevoir

The Welcome Center/Chamber of Commerce is just north of Historic Downtown. If you’re not staying at one of the Hotel/Casinos, plan on parking there. The hotels reserve their parking for guests only. There isn’t much parking on the downtown streets, either. Parking at the Welcome Center is free. While we were there in September, there was no difficulty finding a space. The Visitor’s Center is a newer, nicely maintained building. The front lobby has plenty of printed material covering most of Deadwood’s attractions. The help desk has friendly, knowledgeable folks and a mini museum. The public bathrooms are clean and easy to find. If you don’t want to walk around town, trolleys come and go from the south side of the building.

Deadwood began as an illegal, rowdy mining town in the 1870s. (It was built in Indian territory.) Eventually, it settled down when the search for gold switched from panning to deep mining. Fires were the most common reason for busts which caused declines. In the 1980s, the town proposed capitalizing on its notorious past as a means of revitalization. Legalized gambling was allowed by the state in 1989. Mention Deadwood to someone and gambling will probably be the first thing which comes to mind. Of course, the casinos provide other entertainment too, like various music acts. The town and surrounding area also have a pretty active event schedule year round.

The vibe does seem to be more adult-centric. Families, and those not interested in “vice”, can still find things to do, however. The afternoon gun fights and Days of ’76 rodeo might be of interest (Summer).  Otherwise, think educational. History buffs can find plenty to do. Mount Moriah Cemetery is the resting place of many western notables like Seth Bullock, Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. There are also informative plaques detailing the town’s history. Deadwood had a Chinatown and was inclusive at a time when more established parts of the US were not. It was also got telephone lines in 1878 and was an early adopter of electricity in 1883. The Days of ‘76 Museum is north of the welcome center. Adams Museum is south downtown, and Adams Historical Home is further south on Van Buren St.

The smaller town of Lead is just a few miles away, in case you run out of things to do in Deadwood. Science types might want to visit the Sanford Lab Visitors Center at Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center. If you’re going south from Deadwood, just stay on 85. From 385, turn left on 85 and go west.

Love the outdoors? Look for the 109 mile George S. Mickelson trail. The northern trailhead is located in the Lead/Deadwood area, and the southern end is at Edgemont. (Our daughter has hiked portions of it.) Or head to Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. From Deadwood/Lead, take Hwy 85/Alt 14 south. It’s also known as the CanAm Hwy. After a while the highway will split. Alt 14 is the scenic byway which takes you thru the canyon to the town of Spearfish.

Shopping opportunities include the standard t-shirts/hoodies, biker and western wear; Black Hills Gold and Native American Jewelry; art; postcards and books; cigars at Deadwood Tobacco (Karl’s favorite); and the Deadwood Moonshine Distillery. Our next door neighbors were watching over our house while we were away. They were also keeping us posted about Hurricane Harvey. We thought they deserved a good souvenir. After trying a couple of samples, Kristal chose a jar of apple flavored moonshine as a gift. Everyone has been busy lately, but when we have a few minutes to visit, we’ll ask if they’ve made any interesting cocktails with the moonshine. Our older daughter and her fiancé enjoy reading. We purchased books about the bad boys and girls of Deadwood for them.

Dining options are easy to find. While steak does appear to dominate, there are other choices. When we visited with our younger daughter, we ate lunch at Mustang Sally’s. They do have some outside seating if you happen to be there when the weather is behaving. We’d call it a sports bar, but it does serve all ages.

We’re mostly day trippers these days, usually only a couple of hours at a time. During our brief visits to Deadwood this past fall, we just scratched the surface a bit. However, with family living in the area, we have a good reason to keep returning. Each time we’re in the Hills, we choose a few things we haven’t done yet. The activities in this post are on our bucket list, and we’re looking forward to our next visit, when we’ll enjoy some of them with our loved ones.

You can find more information on the following websites.

https://www.deadwood.com/

https://leadmethere.org/ (Lead Chamber of Commerce)

http://sanfordlabhomestake.com/science

https://gfp.sd.gov/parks/detail/george-s--mickelson-trail/

https://visitspearfish.com/

The Black Hills in Autumn

This year, we didn’t embark on a trip up north until August 22. Our younger daughter, who now lives in Rapid City, had been pestering us all summer about our travel plans. As a result, the Black Hills were our first destination this year.

In the post, “Newbie’s Guide to South Dakota”, we provided general information about visiting the Black Hills and South Dakota. This year our visit spanned 3 weeks, from Aug. 26 – Sept. 17 (Day of departure to NW Iowa.) By the time we arrived, school had started for many communities, so travelers with children had thinned out quite a bit. Full-time and reverse snowbird RVers were starting to leave the area too. RV travelers didn’t completely disappear, though.

We stay with family while in the Black Hills, and our time there is as much about seeing people that matter to us, as visiting tourist attractions. Not that the area goes into complete hibernation after Labor Day. It just depends on your interests. This is the time of year when you find out what the locals like to do.

Weather is the wild card. As we’ve mentioned, we’re long-term Texans, who once upon a time, lived in South Dakota and NW Iowa. Past experience has taught us that the transitional seasons can be tricky the further you get from the equator. We remember a year or two when our daughters had to trick-or-treat in snow suits, and others where Indian Summer lasted until November. Not even a jacket required for Halloween. Moving, and acclimating, to a region which only has two (maybe 2 1/2) seasons, can make packing for locations more than 1,000 miles north a bit complicated. Just like our late spring, early summer trip last year, the weather was hot at home while we were packing. Even hotter, actually. It’s typical to have temps over 100° at the end of August in Texas. An exact date wasn’t set for our return, so we tried to cover our bases by packing some warm weather clothing, long sleeves & jeans, and waterproof rain gear. This was not the first time we’ve visited in August, after Sturgis, either. Just a week later than usual this time. But we’re quickly learning past knowledge can only help so much.

The day we arrived in the Hills started off warm and sunny in Nebraska. As we traveled north on Hwy. 385, especially after we passed thru Alliance, we entertained ourselves by watching thunderstorms develop north of us and speculating where they were headed. Turned out they were part of a system we drove into, just past the junction of Hwys. 18 & 79 in South Dakota. We encountered wind and heavy rain first, then were hailed on before we got much further down the road. Visibility was poor enough that we were forced to pull over and wait it out, along with other motorists. The sound was terrible. We prayed nothing would be broken or dented. We got lucky. Fortunately, the hail stones stayed small, and the worst of it passed over in less than 15 minutes. (May have been less than 10 minutes. Seemed to last a long time.) When we reached the home of our uncle, water was rushing over the lowest point of his driveway, the ground was still covered with hail, and the temperature had dropped more than 30 degrees. This episode pretty much set the tone for the 3 weeks we spent in the Hills.

While there were still summerlike days, there were just as many which were damp and chilly. The daylight hours were definitely getting shorter, and deciduous trees were starting to turn yellow. During our last night there, the temp went below freezing. Our uncle joked the Bluebirds, who regularly visited his bird bath, would have to bring ice skates. Officially, the calendar still said it was summer. But as most of us know from experience, the calendar is lousy at predicting weather. Still, this is earliest we remember being given a taste of Winter. Besides a northern latitude, the Black Hills do have higher elevations which can make the weather more unpredictable. (Granted, they’re not as high as the Rocky Mountains, where snow above 10,000 feet is not unusual in July.)

Luckily, we were traveling at a time of year when purchasing warm clothing and accessories wasn’t a problem. We even got to take advantage of Labor Day weekend sales to pick up a couple of heavier sweaters, stocking caps and thicker gloves.

There was another issue that took some of the fun out of our visit; air quality. No, Rapid City isn’t known for smog like the major cities (yet). Big fires around Los Angles have been in the news most recently. But large blazes were burning in several of the western states this year. Wind carried smoke from these fires a few hundred miles to the east. Some days there was a faint brown haze. On others, it was heavy and the smell of smoke was actually noticeable. It was bad enough to give Kristal a sinus headache on a couple of days. And probably contributed to the sinus aggravation she found herself fighting as we began our return to Texas a few weeks later.

Though it wasn’t perfect, we still enjoyed ourselves. Kristal and Unc got to do some star gazing. They tried her new telescope on the moon and some favorite constellations/star clusters. She’d never been to Deadwood. We went there 3 times; once by ourselves & once with our daughter. The third trip back was to find a new pair of glasses which Karl had dropped from a pocket. A kind stranger found them and turned them into a store where he’d been sitting on a bench out front. (They may never read this, but “Thank you, kind stranger!”) We also paid a couple of visits to downtown Rapid City and Hill City. Then there was the scenic drive we took on Hwys. 16A through Custer State Park, 87 through Wind Cave National Park, and 385 down to Hot Springs.

Any resemblance to Cousin Eddie is purely intentional.

Overall, it was one of the most relaxing visits we’ve had so far. We’ll just make sure to pack some of our winter gear next time.