We stayed a month in Spearfish and had an awesome time! Spearfish is located in the Northwest section of the Black Hills just 8 miles north of Deadwood. We stayed at a marvelous RV park – Elkhorn Ridge Resort.
On Friday night, Spearfish would close downtown and have a band and food trucks for the evening. It was great to bring our chairs, have some great food and listen to a live band every Friday night.
The Pooles!
As you probably know, Tori and Chris got married last November and they are doing great! They came to visit us in the Black Hills and we did sooo much! Below are pictures of what we all did together!
Here we are at the entrance of Mount Rushmore and we had a great time. We all hiked to the lower part of the monument with tremendous views and everyone made it back (even Patti!)
Mount Rushmore is one of our favorite places to visit — if you can come for the evening presentation, we would highly recommend it.
Tori found a place in Deadwood where we could tour a gold mining cave and actually pan for gold!!! Very fun and Forest asked some great questions!
Tori found a hayride we could go on which took us to a cowboy cookout! It was awesome and we really enjoyed the steak!
Of course, when we had a busy day we would go back to the RV for a relaxing evening that included smore’s! It was Forest’s favorite activity when he wasn’t setting the marshmallows on fire!
Patti and I touring the Black Hills backroads!
After the Poole’s left, Patti and I wanted to tour the Black Hills thru the backroads. We have been here several times but have never gone thru the backroads. It was a great adventure! First, we needed the proper vehicle…..
Although it looks like a jeep we rented a UTV called the Razor. We had a great time traveling thru the back roads in the heart of the Black Hills.
Roughlock falls was a great stop and we met a couple who had a booklet that contained all of the great nature (falls, hikes, etc.) stops in South Dakota. What was really cool, the booklet contained a combination code at every stop which opened a lockbox that has a stamp to prove you were there!!!
Devil’s Tower
One of the main reasons we stopped in Spearfish was to visit Devil’s Tower. We had never been there before and it is something we always wanted to visit. It was a great day, perfect weather and we hiked around the entire tower! Well I hiked, Patti crawled…. It was embarrassing…
Another place to visit is the Crazy Horse monument. This is being created by private funds and there is a great museum that takes you thru the lives of the American Indian and how they approved of building this monument.
Deadwood!
Another favorite place of ours to visit is Deadwood. It is a great place to learn the history of the area and visit certain museums and restaurants!
The Days of ’76 celebration began in 1924 as a way to honor Deadwood’s first pioneers – the prospectors, miners, muleskinners, and madams who poured into the Black Hills in 1876 to settle the gold-filled gulches of Dakota Territory. Since then, the Days of ’76 has grown into a legendary annual event with a historic parade and an award-winning PRCA rodeo. They even had Studebaker wagons from South Bend IN!
We had a great month in the Black Hills and it was awesome that Tori, Chris and Forest were able to visit. Definitely life long memories were made and this is why Patti and I are on this full time RV journey!!!