Our second contract brought us to the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. We had no idea that South Dakota had such a beautiful area in its state! Most of you may recall that in the Black Hills is where the famous carving of Mount Rushmore lives. Our contract settled us in the southern portion of the Black Hills in a quant little town called Custer. A population of under 2000 people and we fell in love quickly. Never knew we would love being in such a tiny town but it became one of our most favorite contracts due to its location and all the outdoor activities it entailed. This area was so unique from all the rock formations that makes up this region. I’m going to tell you a little bit about what we loved in each town that we visited in the black hills and some of the activities that were worth checking out to us.
Custer
In Custer there is the well known Custer State Park and its definitely worth checking out. Tons of hiking, fishing and wildlife to see. Our favorite hikes in the park were Black Elk Peak, Cathedral Spires Trail, Little Devils Tower Spur Trail, and Sylvan Lake Trail. These trails vary in distance and level of difficulty. I would read about these trails before doing any due to the elevation change you are in when you’re in this area. If you’re in Custer you have to go to the Purple Pie Place they serve light meals but I would go for the ice cream and pies! A nice treat after some hiking.
Sylvan Lake is a beautiful lake that you can walk around or just enjoy a picnic and soak up the views. Just to warn you this lake is very popular in the summer time so take into consideration there may be limited parking in this area or just arrive early. Also drive the entire Needles Highway. Its a beautiful scenic highway that is in the park and there are very small tunnels to drive through on this highway so be aware for the height of your vehicle.
Make sure to check out the roaming buffalo on the wildlife loop in the park and get into a buffalo jam because there will be times the buffalo cross the road and you are sitting there watching all the buffalo surround your car. I know this is common sense but do not get out of the car to take a picture with the buffalo or try to pet them… they are unpredictable animals and can be aggressive. In the park there are areas where there are donkeys and many people bring carrots to feed them… they will expect food! Other animals you may see are pronghorn, prairie dogs, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, and mountain goats.
Iron Mountain road is also a scenic highway to check out. If you want to check out some of the native culture stop by Crazy Horse and do a tour.
Also you can’t be this close and not tour Mount Rushmore.
Hill City
Hill City is a cute little town just north of Custer and it has several restaurants and stores to shop. If you like micro brews our favorite was in Hill City called Miner Brewery. A nice place to enjoy after a day of exploring. They have a small food menu but games to play indoor or outside they have a nice sitting area.
If you’re more of a wine drinker there is Prairie Berry next to Miner Brewery and it was one of our other favorite places to stop by. You can do a wine tasting and then have a glass of your favorite wine with an appetizer. The Alpine Inn restaurant is also a great place to grab lunch or dinner in Hill City. For lunch they have a German menu and dinner they have a steak dinner with the best ranch salad you will ever eat. They also offer a vegetarian meal for the non meat eaters. For dinner there is usually a wait so arrive early and get in line you don’t want to miss it!
Spearfish
If you head to spearfish from Hill City you will go through Cheyenne Crossing where there is a very recommended restaurant on the corner also called Cheyenne Crossing where we had the best Indian taco EVER! A must stop if you head this way. Spearfish has a pretty scenic drive called Spearfish Canyon and there is a very pretty and easy short hike called Roughlock Falls that we loved. If you don’t want to hike it or are in a time crunch you can just drive up the road a little further to a parking area that takes you to the falls. There are side by side rentals that you can also rent in the area to explore as well.
Deadwood
Deadwood is a cool town that has some old western bars and is known for there casinos. They do a western reenactment on certain days of the week and several times a day depending on the season pretty cool to watch if you get a chance to go to Deadwood. There is also the town of Sturgis, which for those who ride motorcycles probably have heard or either been to Sturgis Bike week that occurs in August every year. We never made it to this town but was told to at least go once. If you plan a trip to the Black Hills just remember bike week is in August and I personally would try to avoid it because its busy already without bike week it gets even more busy that particular week and your prices for accommodations will increase as well. Rapid City is just a major town amongst the hills. This is where I would grocery stop and fill up gas every week because it was a lot cheaper than the smaller towns. Its a good central location if you would want to stay there and do day trips every day it is totally doable, but if you want to be somewhere more quiet and scenic I recommend staying in the hills. If you have some extra time check out Badlands National Park. They also have a scenic drive and e nice hiking trails. This is where we saw our first bighorn sheep. It does get hot here in the summer more than the hills so make sure you bring plenty of water and food if you plan to spend the day there.
In summer, the weather in the hills is very mild. It usually never got over 85 and its a dry heat so it feels really comfortable most of the time but at night even in the summer your temps will still get down in the 50s and 60s. We absolutely loved this assignment in South Dakota. There are several creeks and lakes to fish for trout or small bass. We kayaked several lakes in the area and would fish off of trails that had creeks. Surprisingly South Dakota was a wonderful place to live for 6 months and we highly recommend visiting this beautiful area in our country!
