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.

Newbie’s Guide to South Dakota

This photo was taken while we were at Mt. Rushmore.

If you take the Presidential Walk, while you’re on the higher elevations,

be sure to point your camera away from the memorial

and towards the surrounding scenery.

You may have noticed we have more than a passing familiarity with the 40^th State. Karl grew up there. Kristal’s parents moved to the southeast corner of the state in 1985, while she was in high school, then moved to the Black Hills in the late 1990s. Her mom died last year, but she still has some family members there. Even without family visits, we enjoy returning. The residents are usually friendly, and the wide-open spaces make you feel free. It’s a nice change of pace from living in a large urban area.

As you would imagine, the peak time for travel in an upper Great Plains state is late Spring to early Fall, basically May thru September. Most of the tourist attractions in the Black Hills are open during this time period, but we recommend visiting the websites for those which interest you and verify the pertinent information yourself. Some things open earlier and stay open later, while others may be available year round.

For those planning trips during peak season, you may need to start making reservations a year or more in advance for state parks and private RV parks/resorts. That pretty much applies to the entire state. Quite a few Midwesterners own RVs. Some of the state and local campgrounds might be fairly empty during the week, but will be completely reserved for weekends and holidays. (Don’t forget tourists traveling to/from the Hills. Campsites along the way might be filled all week.) The super-popular Black Hills state parks, like Custer, will pretty much be booked the entire season. Many of the private RV parks, such as Hart Ranch Camping Resort, cater to folks who come to stay for the summer. For the intrepid fall/winter traveler, state parks and RV resorts may be open year round. But some amenities, like water hookups might not be available. Those are often turned off, and drained, to keep pipes from freezing and bursting during extreme cold spells.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is probably one of the best known events in South Dakota. It occurs in early August. You don’t have to own a motorcycle to see the races, shows and concerts; visit the venders; or be entertained by the first-class people watching. More than a few RV owners enjoy attending. If you plan to go in the future, do your research on all the lodging/camping options and start making your plans. Many rally attendees come every year and either have long-standing reservations, or make the next year’s before they leave. We’ve never made a deliberate trip to attend Sturgis, but happened to be visiting family a few times while the rally was underway. Before going to the Black Hills during Sturgis keep this in mind. More than 3 million people visit the Hills every year. At least 1 million of them show up during the week of the rally, and they don’t stay confined to the Sturgis area, or the official rally events. Such a large number of visitors are big business not only for all the tourist attractions, but hotels, restaurants and retailers as well.

Traffic throughout the area will be heavy during the rally. I-90 and Hwy. 79 are the major, multi-lane highways in the area.  Most of the scenic roads in the Hills are two-lane. A large part of the rally’s attraction is enjoying those scenic roads from the seat of a motorcycle. If non-riders don’t picture themselves enjoying the spectacle of so many motorcycles in one place, and going with the flow, it’s definitely better not to visit during the rally.

(Here’s a secret for you. Want that bad-ass Sturgis T-shirt without the rally price? After it ends, and probably even during the last day or two, merchandise designed for specific years or anniversaries starts getting pretty nice discounts.  Leftover dated items are harder to sell the next year.)

To learn more about the Sturgis Rally, pay a visit to the official rally website below.

http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/

Here are other rally related things to be aware of.

Even if you’re visiting another part of the state during Sturgis, keep in mind those attending don’t just magically appear there. Sturgis attendees come from all over, so there will be lots of motorcyclists traveling throughout South Dakota, and neighboring states, a week or two before, and after, the rally. Some of them might be in large groups or traveling alone. Motorcycles coming up behind you can be difficult enough to spot when you’re not towing something. But for RV travelers with limited visibility, the larger volume of motorcycles can complicate things further, especially on the hilly two-lane highways.

Another thing we’ve noticed during rally time is the weather. It could be bone dry most of the summer, then kick up some really big thunderstorms, including hail, while the rally is underway. Since there are approx. 1 million people riding about on motorcycles, it might have something to do with Murphy’s Law.

While on the subject of weather, the wind is pretty much constant in the Plains states, especially during daylight hours. This was mentioned in our last 3 posts. Do your best to be prepared for it, both with appropriate clothing and proper auxiliary equipment to maintain towing safety, such as keeping your RV in its own lane. (Our Pro-Pride is going to need some maintenance before our next big trip, so we’ll do a post on this topic later.) An acquaintance recently mentioned she was nearly blown off the road once, while riding her motorcycle in Wyoming. Such incidents are another reason to keep a sharp eye on everything around you, and both hands on the steering wheel.

South Dakota also has a split personality. East of the Missouri River you will find higher humidity and precipitation. West River is considerably drier. East River has more farms. West River has more ranches. The below-zero Canadian cold fronts can hit the east side of the state pretty hard, along with plenty of snow. The southwest corner of the state may have more reasonable temps and less snow in the winter. Of course, this information is mostly general. It can vary from year to year. South Dakota is also one of 14 states in 2 time zones, Central and Mountain.

This is South Dakota’s official tourism website. Check it out and start planning your adventure.

https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/

The state’s official slogan is something about great faces and spaces. I think it’s safe to say we agree. Even though we’ve lived in Texas more than 16 years now, South Dakota still feels a bit like home.