Wrapping Up Our South Dakota Stay

Posted from Hermosa, SD
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To view additional photos, click on the links below:

Roughlock Falls Trail and D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery
Custer State Park-Cathedral Spires Trail
Custer State Park-Little Devil's Tower Trail
South Dakota Air and Space Museum



We always enjoy returning to our "home" state of South Dakota, but this time we came here with a purpose in mind. It's coming up on the time to renew our South Dakota Driver's Licenses (which we had intended to do online), but had not read the regulations as closely as we should have. Even with an online renewal, the applicant must still have a receipt from a campground, hotel, motel, etc. proving at least a stay of one night sometime during the previous 12 months. You can renew an OL anytime within 6 months before your birthday, but that would have meant no sooner than August for Karen, or October for me. We like South Dakota a lot, just not in the cold winter time.

Since we had been forced to alter our original summer plans by diverting to the East Coast we decided to "swing" back thru South Dakota and get the required paperwork for the OL out of the way.

With that taken care of it was time to explore.  We met up with Dave and Diane, fellow FTers and friends from Palm Creek, when they moved over to the park we're staying in near Hermosa, SD. At their suggestion, we took a day trip up to the Spearfish area and hiked a few trails up that way. We hiked the Roughlock Falls Trail. This was a nice easy hike and a place to eat lunch.

Oh, I forgot to mention that our traveling buddies had lunch there as well.

It was a beautiful day for hiking in a very pretty part of the state.

On the road between Roughlock Falls and Spearfish we stopped (along with a bunch of other folks) for a quick look at Bridal Veil Falls.

I was expecting a bit more, but the falls were easily visible from the roadway, so this stop didn't take too long.

While in Spearfish, we wandered into the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery.  There is no entrance fee and was actually very interesting (although I'll admit that I know nothing about fish hatcheries).

This was a restored fish transporting railroad car.  Beautifully done woodwork inside.

The fish were certainly transported in style back in the day.

We were given a guided tour of the home of D.C. Booth, the first superintendent of the Hatchery. He and his family occupied the residence from 1905-1933.

On July 4th we decided to not leave the campground. We believed that this area would be flooded with tourists crowding Custer State Park and the nearby Mount Rushmore areas. It turned out well, as a couple on a nearby site hosted a get together for anyone in the campground who wished to attend.

We even had a gentleman provide entertainment on his guitar.

Of course, when RVers get together there's always food. The host made this tasty cake to celebrate the 4th. The vast majority of the folks in attendance were FT RVers.







We love Custer State Park and always make a visit when in the area. We hiked the Cathedral Spires Trail and Little Devil's Tower Trail. I believe that we've now hiked all of the trails in the park.

This was at the end of the Cathedral Spires Trail. A nice hike and the temperatures were at least 10 degrees cooler than our campground in Hermosa.

The Little Devil's Tower Trail is relatively easy until the last climb to the top. A bit of rock scrambling is necessary, but still doable.

As with most trails in this area which elevate the hiker, the views from the top are always worth the hikes to get there.

Another great place to visit is the South Dakota Air and Space Museum located just east of Rapid City in Box Elder. The museum is located just outside of the gate to Ellsworth Air Force Base and contains plane exhibits on the outside and a nice collection within.  Again, the museum tour is totally free.

We decided to take an optional bus tour of the Minuteman missile silo located on the base. The tour lasts a bit over an hour and costs $9 per adult. We enjoyed the tour (which winds thru the AF base and takes everyone to a missile silo). The tour guide (retired AF) was very knowledgeable about the base and the history of the ICBM program.

This site was a training launch facility. The difference from this and a regular silo was the entrance. On a "regular" silo, entrance would have been made thru the hatch in front of this vehicle which transported the warhead and the guidance system for that particular missile.

This view is from inside the silo looking back up at the entrance ladder leading to the surface.

This is a look at the Minuteman II ICBM missile (located at the museum) which was positioned in the silo.

The exhibits inside the museum were very interesting and well presented. Here's a photo of the entire US Air Force in 1910, along with a Wright Brothers airplane.




We'll be packing up and leaving South Dakota on Monday morning. Heading to Colorado, with our first stop for a couple of weeks near Mesa Verde National Park. Hopefully, the higher elevation will also bring cooler temperatures in Colorado. It was 101 degrees in Hermosa, SD today.

As always, thanks for stopping by to take a look!

"Prairie Trail" in Custer State Park

Written from Hermosa, SD   (Click on Pics to Enlarge)

Yesterday we decided to take another hike in Custer State Park.  We wanted this one to be different from the previous hike and focus on more of the prairie and grasslands of the park.

Naturally, a trail named "The Prairie Trail" seemed to fit the bill.  This trail is only a bit over 2 miles in length and the elevation change was only about 400 feet.

The trail winds its way over a creek and up and down a couple of small peaks.  The real draw of this hike, however, is the views of where the prairie meets the woodlands.

This time of the year there are many different plants in bloom.  Even a prickly pear catcus was found along one of the ridges.

      Here's a view looking east along the trail.

The streams were very small, but still flowing, although it's now mid-summer in South Dakota.

The main emphasis of the trail was to show hikers where the prairies and woodlands converge. There was a nice mixture of both here.

.....and a final picture of forests leading down to the grasses.









Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

"Sunday Gulch Trail" in Custer State Park

Written from Hermosa, SD    (Click on Pics to Enlarge)

Sunday was a beautiful day for a hike.  We hiked several trails in Custer State Park last year when we were here, so we wanted to try a few new ones.  Today's choice was a 3-mile loop trail rated as "strenuous" by the park.  It did involve some ups and downs over some rock formations, but I certainly didn't think it was that hard.

The trailhead begins behind the dam at Sylvan Lake.  This lake is very popular in the summertime with folks picnicking, lying in the sun, kayaking, and swimming. You wouldn't think that by this picture, but this is at the very far western end of the lake with the dam (very small) in the upper corner.

Here's a picture of the dam from the backside. The trailhead begins in this area.

The trail is touted in the literature as being one of the most diverse when it comes to terrain and visual appeal.  The first 1/2 mile or so was a steady ascent to a ridge where the views were beautiful.

There are many places to stop and take a break (which we needed) and eat a quick lunch which we brought along in our packs.






A nice feature of this trail is that aside from climbing up and down rock formations, a section also travels along a stream running through the valley.  Several flowers were in bloom.

The brochure also indicated that there would be several stream crossings.  I enjoy this, but Karen, sometimes not as much.  I will give her credit, however, as she is getting "braver" the more we hike.

We saw several small waterfalls meandering through the rocks at several locations.

I like rock formations.  We were certainly not disappointed on this hike.  Sheer walls of granite sometimes lined the trail, while other times huge boulders seem to have been rolled down the hills randomly.

The final 1/2 mile or so of the loop involves a fairly steep ascent across various sized boulders with a stream that runs alongside (or even across the trail) at several points.  I guess the park decided that this area would be a good candidate for handrails.

Here's a final picture looking back down the canyon area after we made it to the top.














If you are in the park and like to hike, we would certainly recommend Sunday Gulch Trail.  Again, it's about 3 miles long and takes anywhere from 2-3 hours depending upon how many pictures you take and how long you eat lunch!

Ok, I couldn't resist.  This picture of the longhorn has absolutely nothing to do with the trails or Custer State Park.  In fact, none of these cattle are to be found inside the park. This was a ranch which raised both bison and longhorn cattle just across the road from Custer State Park.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Wrapping It Up in South Dakota

Hermosa, SD      (Click on Pictures to Enlarge)

Wow, it's hard to believe that we've been in South Dakota for 20 days now.  First it was Sioux Falls, followed by Rapid City (actually Hermosa).  I'll have to say that we have enjoyed every day here.  We've seen a lot of things, but now have an idea of so many more things we'd like to see the next time we return.

I was looking back through our recent blogs and realized that although we've been at our present location at Heartland RV Campground for the past 12 days, I've never even talked about it or shown any pictures.  Heartland RV Campground is really nothing fancy as campgrounds go.  They have gravel roads and sites, but for the most part, all sites are level and the utilities work well.

Heartland is located about 15 miles south of Rapid City on Rt. 79.  It's out in the open and has few (almost none) trees, but it wasn't hot during our stay. Adjoining lands are used for cattle and horse ranching.

The campground allows tenting in a center, grassy area down the middle aisle of the campground.

There is also a number of small rental cabins which back up to Rt. 79.  We noticed that the cabins were usually rented for 1 or 2 nights by families passing through the area sightseeing.

The campground has a nice office-store building used for registration upon exiting from Rt. 79.  A small swimming pool, along with a newly constructed hot tub, is connected to the rear of the building.

The campground accepts Passport America, so the rates were very good for the area.  Probably the nicest feature of the campground is the convenient location to Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, and the NPS' Jewel and Wind Caves.

Here's one of the nicest looking propane bottles I've ever seen.











Can anyone identify this recreational vehicle?  I had never seen one before.  The model is a Vixen 21TD. (The answer later in this blog.)

We had to get one more hike in Custer State Park before leaving the area.  This one was called Lover's Leap and was a 4-mile loop.  It is based upon a legend that a pair of Native American lovers jumped to their deaths from the highest rocky outcropping on the trail. You'll notice in this picture that I'm not getting too close to the edge.

Believe me, the drop was extreme, but the views from up here were worth the climb.

Being relatively new to hiking, we came across this area along the trail and had no idea what it was, or what it meant.  After a bit of research (very little using Wikipedia) we discovered that these rock pilings are called "Cairns". On trails they are usually erected to mark trails.


Sorry, I almost forgot to give the answer to the earlier question about identifying the Vixen 21TD. I won't go into the whole history of the vehicle, but if you go to Wikipedia it's an interesting read.  This vehicle was an RV made by the Vixen Motor Company between 1986-1989. There were only a total of 587 Vixens ever made.  The one pictured above is a 1986 model. We never saw anyone near the Vixen during our entire stay, but it had recently been plugged in to power, so I can't tell you anything about this particular rig.  Still, it was fun to view an RV I'd never seen before.

Next stop, Gillette, WY for the Escapees Escapade.