Photo Blog with Waterfalls, Hiking, Outdoors, and other Adventures
It was a chilly morning commute in the high 30’s as I left camp down in the canyon but I am not complaining. The sun is a fantastic golden blaze and skies are clear with a bit of haze offering a vivid glow to anything the light touches. I’m taking a short drive down state … Read more
The Needles Highway (SD-87) is a 14-mile scenic drive through some of the best scenery in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is also part of the larger double-loop Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. This is by no means an exhaustive guide to the road – just some photos I took during my adventure. Less … Read more
After getting skunked on my morning run across the Needles Highway and then dilly-dallying with breakfast and laundry watching some clouds grow in the sky, I finally said “screw it!” and drove up to Sylvan Lake to the Trail #9 trail head for Black Elk Peak. The clouds continued to build as I watched from … Read more
The Scenic Tour of Jewel Cave National Monument explores deeper into the cave than the short Discovery Tour which I also joined this morning by mistake. Prepare yourself to traverse up & down over 730 stairs through a 1/2 mile loop that descends several hundred feet. After starting again at the Target Room we immediately … Read more
Due to my scheduling blunders I had a break for lunch and to strategize on how to use my time for the remaining daylight hours. There are a some hiking trails in the monument that look pretty interesting, but as I sat in the shady forest eating my sandwich the ominous clouds rolled in across … Read more
The visitor center at Jewel Cave National Monument is split into two parts: a small building that has a theater and film about the monument, and a slightly larger main building with the visitor center, gift shop, and modern entrance/elevator to the caverns. I watched the film and it is definitely worth seeing to help … Read more
Took a bit of a drive today to the southwestern part of the Black Hills, and after heading west from Custer about half way to the border with Wyoming I stopped to check out Jewel Cave National Monument. Proclaimed a National Monument by Teddy Roosevelt back in 1908, Jewel Cave is currently the fifth longest … Read more
I was late arriving to the Rapid City area last night but found open sites at the Sheridan Lake South Shore Campground. Temperatures were pretty warm for the season and I only had one neighbor nearby who were quiet which made for some peaceful sleep. Unfortunately I couldn’t see anything when I got there and … Read more
I had enjoyed my survey of The Badlands but it was time to keep pressing westward. Since it was now Monday I figured some of the more heavily-visited tourist spots should be more easily accessible. I made my way into Keystone, South Dakota and stopped at a classic U.S. road-trip destination: Mount Rushmore National Memorial. … Read more