Made it to Rapid City SD

[Steven@147]

There is sooo much to see and do here in the Rapid City area. There is something for everyone.

I would recommend creating a "To see or do" list and prioritizing them, then plan on doing those things that are all located in the same area. Example, the Badlands might be located some 50-60 miles from where you are staying, so plan on doing those things that are all in the same area like the Air & Space Museum at Ellsworth AFB on the way to the Badlands, 1931 Wall Drug, Oglala Lakota Living History Village, Minuteman Historic Site, Buffalo Gap and Prairie Dog Town would be great for kids.

The map I referenced with the small pic I added will help you navigate the area and includes Rapid City, Keystone area, Custer, Belle Fourche, Deadwood, Sturgis and Hot Springs. On the back side of the map is the Devils Tower and Badlands regions. This map is available from a multitude of places and you will even find them in a lot of the stores and T shirt shops that maybe your wife or significant other will drag you in to.......

Campgrounds - I haven't mentioned it before, but as you might imagine there are campgrounds all over the place offering what ever accommodations you might want. The State Park campgrounds fill up fast so you will have to plan well in advance but they are cheaper cost wise and do offer spectacular scenery and animals roaming through the campground. When Tami and I started planning way back last November things were already pretty full then for this time frame.

We selected a campground in Hermosa, Heartland RV, and there are others right around us. The Hermosa area is kind of centered in the area so we can go either way, North, South, East or West. Yes, it is more expensive being a retail campground but it works out to $40 / night plus tax and tourism tax @ 43 / night. Most of these types of retail campgrounds have basic sites and premier sites, we are in a pull through basic site 323 with plenty of room for our rig. Amenities are cable TV, WiFi, site 30/50 power, sewer, water. A restaurant and beer garden on site, laundry, pool, propane and store. They have a large kids play ground area and do have activities and live music in the main pavilion from time to time. There are gas stations 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile from the campground on highway 79. Close access to highway 40 and 36 that run into the parks or up 79 to Rapid City and grocery stores like safeway or to I 90.

So pick whatever best suits your needs.

[Howell4]

Welcome to the Black Hills we moved to Deadwood from Wichita area about 8 years ago. Lots to see and do. Be sure and drive through Spearfish Canyon, beautiful. And be sure to visit our Deadwood. Safe travels.

[Steven@147]

I guess I'll keep updating our trip to Rapid City SD. Forum members read so many postings of problems maybe its good to see where people are going and what they are seeing.

Anyway yesterday Tami and I made a trip to Deadwood, spending the morning and afternoon there, its was only about 50 miles from where we are staying. On the way you will pass the Black Hills National Cemetery on your left.
Sorry we bypassed Sturgis. Deadwood is now a sprawling modern town, as most of the original town burned in 1879. As you might expect of a town noted for saloons and gambling, there are plenty of establishments to entertain you and "wet your whistle". We ate lunch at Diamond Lil's bar and casino.

Saloon number 10 where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered was destroyed in the 1879 fire but a new Saloon No 10 now sits on the site. Pretty neat bar with kind of an old west feel. Shootouts in the street and stage coach rides are a couple more attractions to partake of. The Adams museum and Days of 76 Museum are very good as well. Potato Creek Johnny's gold nugget is on display there, supposedly the largest nugget ever found in the Black Hills.

Stop by the Visitors center just as you enter the town for everything you need to tour the town. We drove up to the Mount Moriah Cemetery. Its on top of the mountain. It cost $2 to enter and you get a map with everything marked. I was the only one that made the walk up to the grave sites of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Tami couldn't make it, the walk is very steep. A tour bus is available to take you there but I found an old school bus is a distraction from the serenity of a cemetery. I visited the graves of the Civil War Dead as well.

Now apparently as the story goes, Calamity Jane was a very "colorful" character. She had "feelings" for Bill, but he "reportedly" had no use for her. Probably because she was so much like him! When she died at a mining camp in 1903 near Deadwood, her dying wish was to be buried beside Bill, and so she is. Makes you wonder what Bill would think of that!! There is a lot of myth and legend surrounding these two characters from the old west. One of Calamity Jane's daughters claimed Hickok was her father and Calamity and Bill were married. Well who knows.

I've attached a pick of Deadwood taken from the Cemetery overlook.

[Steven@147]

From Deadwood we took the drive on road 14a through Lead, and Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway back up to I 90. You will pass the Broken Boot Gold Mine on your way to Deer Mountain, past Spearfish Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. Very scenic drive.

[WhittleBurner]

Steve and Tami, you are quite the tour guide/travel planner. I'm enjoying reading this and thinking we missed a couple things when we were camped at Custer state Park a few years back. And we were there daytrippiing for about 10 days!!

You can have a 2nd income as trip planner!! thanks and keep us all updated along the way

[Canyonlight]

Steve and Tami, you are quite the tour guide/travel planner. I'm enjoying reading this and thinking we missed a couple things when we were camped at Custer state Park a few years back. And we were there daytrippiing for about 10 days!!

You can have a 2nd income as trip planner!! thanks and keep us all updated along the way

X2 Marcy ! All these years on the forum and there have been some good threads with some pictures/detailed narrative but nothing holds a candle to what Steve is sharing. Heck, being SD natives we have been to the Hills many times over the decades but Steve has shared some things we too have overlooked.

Thank you, Steve and Tami.....very well done and appreciated by many of us. SD Tourism needs to pay you for this.

Dan

[Steven@147]

Tami and I were hungry the other night and we wanted a nice sit down restaurant where we could relax, enjoy a good dinner and a nice glass of wine. You can only eat pizza or hot wings so many times at the campground and drinking Red ********** Rhubarb wine..
We decided to visit the Ruby House in Keystone again, one of the few really nice sit down restaurants. We didn't anticipate that our dinner would lead to a discussion between us about the areas history. Don't forget to feed the parking bear, but there are some free parking places around.

To get there we took highway 40 form 79 into Keystone, about a 10 mile drive. For those towing their camper on highway 40 into Keystone, be aware there is a @ 1.50 mile stretch of 15% grade, yup 15%, with curves at either end. Watch for wildlife and especially deer and turkeys. We had to come to a complete stop once and let a wild turkey get out of the way. Crazy stupid bird kept running back and forth across the road like it couldn't make up its mind which way to go!

Anyway, The Ruby House is kind of like walking into and old west hotel and the saloon is separate from the hotel. The buffalo steak I had on the first visit was very good, but this time I tried the trout, official game fish of the black hills, it was also very good! Our waitress's name was Cheyenne and obviously of Native American descent, very nice young lady and a very good waitress. Waiting for our food, looking around the room we spied the portrait of George Custer. Between our waitress's name and George Custer's' portrait, this sparked a discussion between Tami and I of the areas history.

Now you can't visit the area without experiencing Custer State Park and the town of Custer and thinking about George Custer. Especially if you plan on going further west into Montana, which we will, and visiting the Little Big Horn, Custer's Last Stand, or The Battle of Greasy Grass as the Native Americans call it. George Armstrong (Autie) Custer (Yellow Hair) figures prominently in the areas history for obvious reasons. Very controversial person George Custer, especially to Native Americans. To me, he kind of reminds me of another General with the name George. But read up on him for yourself and maybe The Battle of Washita River.

[el Rojo]

Thanks Steven. Another good write up.

[Steven@147]

I promise, My last post on Rapid City, we leave Friday for Devils Tower. We have had an exceptionally great time here in Rapid City. For me we saved one of the best for last, guess where we went today?

I wanted to visit these sites because they are of particular interest for me. You see, back in the mid 70s I was involved with the Navy's delivery of these from the deck of an Aircraft Carrier. The sites are now under the direction of the National Park Service. We stopped by the visitors center, which was open today, off I 90 at exit 131. There is a very nice exhibit and gift shop there and you can view a short movie. Actual pieces of cables and rebar are on exhibit from the destruction phase of the START Treaty. Another part of the treaty directed that each silo had to be emptied then imploded, then inspected and then covered with layers of gravel.

The movie gives you a short history course from just after WW 2 though the cold war, from Atlas to Titan to Minuteman programs. It goes through the civilian Civil Defense program. It also covers the Cuban Missile Crisis and the 2 close calls of launching missiles because of mistakes on both sides. The school room "Duck And Cover" program is also discussed. I am just old enough to remember duck and cover as a grade school student. I remember practicing this in class when I was about 8 years old. Little did I realize that one day I would be working with them, and duck and cover would have made no difference.

We didn't go to the control center because it was closed (no power). Operationally, from each Control Center huge electrical cables ran to all the silos under its command. Each silo also had a harden ultra high frequency antenna that you can see in the pictures. From the visitors center you can go to an actual missile silo a few miles away. The silo we went to was Delta 09 under the command of the Delta Control Center.
Tours are available of the Delta Control Center but they are booked out till August, but right now they have been canceled because they have no power.

I am reminded of a time aboard ship when we had a little problem with one of ours, of course ours hung on aircraft pylons, but that is a story for another time. Enjoy the pictures.

[Steven@147]

At the gift shop I bought a replica of a launch key for my key fob.

This missile silo is off I 90 at exit 116. For the picture of the silo missile I laid my cell phone on the glass enclosure and snapped a few.