August 29-September 2, 2023, Deadwood, SD

We left Medora Tuesday morning and drove south to Deadwood, SD.  We are staying at the Fish N’ Fry Campground south of Deadwood.  This campground has a restaurant and a small fishing pond.  You can fish in the pond and catch a trout (95¢/inch) and they will fry it up for your dinner.  We are camped just across the street from the office/restaurant/bar.  We are glad for a little shade as it is 90^o here today.  After getting set up we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and then had dinner at the campground restaurant.  We have not been to Deadwood and Spearfish in 15 years and are amazed and how much is has grown.

Wednesday morning, we went to the Visitor Center in Deadwood and got lots of information on the Black Hills.  We then went to the Safeway store in Spearfish to get some much-needed groceries.  When we went to leave the Jeep would not start.  We were low on gas so we thought that might be the problem.  Rex and a very nice gentleman push the Jeep to the Safeway gas pumps.  After filling the tank, the Jeep reluctantly started.  When we got back to the campground Rex asked the campground host about a repair shop.  The host was a retired mechanic so he looked at the Jeep and said it might be the fuel filter.  Rex called at least 5 repair shops, and none could get the Jeep in.  By then it was 6 pm so we had to wait until Thursday.

Thursday morning the Jeep started on the first try so we decided to take a drive on the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. This is a beautiful19-mile drive along Spearfish Creek. 

 

We stopped at Roughlock Falls and walked to an overlook at the top of the falls.

We then walked about a ½ mile trail down to the bottom of the falls.  Along the trail we saw this trout in Spearfish Creek.  It made Rex wish he had brought along his fishing pole.

The falls are beautiful, and we are glad we made the short hike to the bottom.  Now we have to do the hard hike back up to the top and hope the Jeep starts.  Again, it started on the first try.

Farther up the canyon we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls.  This beautiful waterfall did not have a trail to it - just an overlook beside the highway.  Unfortunately, the waterfall is in a shadow and hard to see in all our pictures.  Again, the Jeep started on the first try so now we are not so worried.

After we got to the top of the canyon, we realized that we missed Spearfish Falls and after consulting the map found it was just across the highway from Roughlock Falls. So, we turned around and headed back down the canyon and it was definitely worth the effort.  We hiked another ½ mile trail to the bottom and were rewarded with this beautiful view.

This is a spectacular waterfall from any angle.

On the way back up the trail we saw more small trout in Spearfish Creek.  Can you find the little fish?   We were about halfway back up the trail when we kept hearing something in the brush.  Finally, a Mule Deer doe appeared and just as quickly disappeared.  We were glad to see her as we had not seen any deer yet.

The Jeep did great all day and we are thinking it was the heat yesterday and the Jeep vapor locked.

Friday, we took another short scenic drive through Vanocker Canyon and Nemo Road.  It was s very beautiful drive through a number of small canyons in The Black Hills National Forest.  We are again amazed at all the development and housing subdivisions - even in the national forest.  The Jeep started every time, so we think all is well with it.  On both our drives we noticed a lot of Ford Mustangs on the road.  They would be in groups of 3 or 4 or more and were all years and models.  We found out that there is a Mustang rally in Sturgis this week.  It was fun to see so many Mustangs.

It is Labor Day weekend, so the campground is filling up and it is very noisy with lots of ATVs and motorcycles.  Saturday morning, we drove into Deadwood and walked Main Street.  It is mostly casinos, restaurants, bars and t-shirt shops.  It was crowded and starting to get hot, so we didn’t stay long.

Rex gave Tack a haircut and bath Saturday afternoon.  We started getting the motorhome ready to travel as we are moving a short distance to Keystone just south of Rapid City.  We enjoyed our scenic drives here but there are too many ATVs and loud motorcycles and we hope it will be quieter at Keystone.