Another Trip to the USA / Black Hills Adventures 1

Our accomodation in a family holiday home near Pactola Lake was amazing.

It was relatively remote, winding dirt roads to get there, and high up surrounded by pine forest with 180 degree views across the Hills.

Here’s a sample below. For a more expansive look click on this link.

The weather was very changeable. It even snowed on us one morning.

Our hosts were very generous with their time, taking us places that they knew very well with some a little off the beaten track.
On Day 1 we drove into Deadwood and the old part of town.

The city had its heyday from 1876 to 1879, after gold deposits had been discovered there, leading to the Black Hills Gold Rush. At its height, the city had a population of 25,000, attracting Old West figures such as Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill Hickok who was killed there.

Then we drove the Spearfish Canyon Highway turning off to Roughlock Falls.

From there we went even further west almost to the Wyoming border.

The road into Spearfish from the falls turnoff is just as spectacular as the first half from Cheyenne Crossing.

At Spearfish we eventually found somewhere to eat at a great bar, Stadium Sports Grill.

So many businesses in the tourism areas close for the season on Labor Day in early September.

After lunch we headed for Bear Butte State Park.

Bear Butte is a geological laccolith feature located near Sturgis, for 2 weeks in August, the motor cycle capital of the world and is an important landmark and religious site for the Plains Indians tribes.

Bear Butte is called Matȟó Pahá, or Bear Mountain, by the Lakota, or Sioux. To the Cheyenne, it is known as Noahȧ-vose ("giving hill") or Náhkȯhe-vose ("bear hill").
The mountain is sacred to many indigenous peoples, who make pilgrimages to leave prayer cloths and tobacco bundles tied to the branches of the trees along the mountain's flanks. Other offerings are often left at the top of the mountain. 

The site is associated with various religious ceremonies throughout the year.
It was a very cold and windy afternoon there so we only walked to the beginning of the trail up the mountain.
We were the only ones at the entire site and I could actually feel, despite the miserable weather conditions, a certain peace and calmness standing there.
Certainly not a place we would have visited without our knowledgeable local ‘guides’ recommendation.