Driving through Black Hills National Forest

5-23-2021 - Sunday

With forest map in hand, we set out to drive the backroads in the forest we were camping near.  Joe fills up the jeep gas tank every morning before we head out because we never know where we will end up, how many miles we will drive.  But he is also testing all the gas stations in town looking for the perfect soda combination:  diet coke, starfoam cup, good lid,  long straw.  You wouldn't believe it's hard to get all those things in one place.  But today was the best, so with one day left here, he now knows where to go.  Yesterday I forgot my notebook, so I had to make my notes on both sides of a deposit ticket (I happened to have the checkbook in my fanny pack).  Today, I think I have everything.

We left the RV about 10:20, and the drive started right at the edge of town.  Shortly thereafter, we had our first interesting sighting:  a camel.  Now that was unexpected.

Driving a little further on, Joe asked if he was going too fast.  I said, well, no, we're not seeing anything yet.  He exclaimed, "not seeing anything!  My God, we've already been to Africa."  He accused me of "unauthorized complaining," and threatened to move me to the back seat (which is folded up against the front seat, so not very comfortable).  

Next we took a little side road back to Iron Creek Lake and Campground.  Pretty little lake, some permanent campers back here.  Got a good picture of a male blackbird.

We are seeing lots of groves of aspens today, but we finally figured out that there were birch trees in here too (Joe's been reading up on this).  The aspens have a greenish cast to the bark, which showed up pretty good when wet.  I told him I thought the top of the birch trees, where they are starting to bud out, looked "reddish."  He said, "more like deadish.  Ha Ha.  But he finally came to agree with me.

We spotted what looked like a cave or mine shaft on the side of a mountain/hill.  

This one uprooted tree caught my eye because of the big white boulders in the roots.  We stopped so I could check it out.  I even picked up a couple of small rocks here.

We did have a large marmot cross the road in front of us.  We took another side road past a couple more campgrounds, to Roughlock Falls, and on out to 14A (where we turned around and resumed our forest drive).  We stopped at the first campground, Timon, and found a bench made from a log.

Joe thought we needed to take a picture of our bear tire cover, so here it is.

Moving on, our next item of interest was the site of the 1997 Christmas tree for the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.  All that's left is the stump and the disturbed dirt.  

There was also a cave here, which looked like someone had lived in it at one time.

I picked up a couple of small rocks here.  

Just a little past this was the film site of "Dances with Wolves," which was made in 1991.

We didn't stop at the second campground, Rod and Gun, but we did see a kid fishing here.    We talked to a woman getting into her truck and she told us the falls was about 3 more miles.  We finally got to the area of the Falls.  It's a hike from the parking lot, and there were 2 parking lots, one less of a hike than the other.  We think we found that, and there was a pond here, with a water weir under the bridge.  I spoke with another lady on the bridge, and she said the hike was probably a mile.  Well, we were now under a tornado watch, with rain predicted within 30 minutes, so we decided not to risk getting caught in a storm (surprise, surprise).  It was a good decision, because it started raining about 5 minutes later, just enough time to get back to the jeep.  Joe said if a tornado did hit, we should head back to that cave we had just left.

Back to our main road, our next side trip was to Cement Ridge Lookout.  This was several miles, and the rain got a little harder, and the road a little rougher.  But we made it to the top, elevation 6,661.  There was a Lookout building, a wind shelter now but had originally been built as a fire lookout tower.  The building was built by the CCCs in 1941.  We sat there in the jeep for a few minutes, hoping the rain would stop.  Instead, the fog moved in, and out, and in again.

On this road, Joe spotted a birdhouse on a pine tree.  He wanted a close-up of it in case he wants to build one when he gets back home, and put it on his pine tree (which we don't have).

We had finally started seeing deer, and one large marmot crossed the road in front of us.  On this side road, Joe spotted another animal crossing the road (I was looking at the map), but he couldn't identify it.  About the size of a marmot, or badger, or martin.  But probably none of those.  Oh well.

Also on this side road, there was a falling-down barn with a very unusual roof, covered in what he thought might be surveyor's markers.  

Another interesting item was this bubbling little geyser in a pond.  We don't know if this is a geyser (didn't see any steam), a spring, or just a pump (there was a house nearby).  But we thought it was picture-worthy.  The height of the stream varied, like a geyser.

 There must have been some awful winds, or tornadoes, come through these valleys.  We have seen a lot of hillsides with trees down like matchsticks.  And large trees uprooted.  One can imagine that winds can really swirl through these canyons (and I certainly don't want to get caught in one).

Back to the main dirt road, we reached the Elk Retrieval Area (where you can drive your vehicle to pick up your elk).  I thought we might see some elk in this area, but no such luck.  No elk all day, even though it was a rainy day (if that matters).  

We hit the highway about 2:45, in the rain.  We counted 20 deer today, and the marmot.  Oh, and the camel!  Joe decided to take Hwy 85 back, thinking it would take us straight to Spearfish.  But no, it took us back through Lead, and Deadwood, again.  Finally, we hit our town.  We decided to stop for dinner (now 3:40) and then call it a day.  We drove 57 miles today in the Forest, and only about 4 hours, then another hour to get back to town, and maybe 40 more miles.  The tornado warning  is set to expire at 9:00 p.m., but it really only rained, not even any wind.  Just a little lightning and thunder.  Good!

Tomorrow is our last day here, and it looks like it will be errands and maintenance.  Joe has his tooth to deal with, and he saw we have a broken spring under the RV so that will have to be replaced tomorrow (he has one with us).  Probably a trip to Walmart, and I have a Facetime appointment with one of my doctors.  We have liked our time here, but are ready to move on to the next location.