We spent three days here, beginning September 16, 2017. This campground is ok- it suits its purpose but I saw some places along the drive here where the views were spectacular. Dean and I agree we need to come back to the area in the future and spend a couple of weeks to fully explore. For now, on Road Trip 2017, we have a targeted itinerary that will have to tide us over until then.
At this campground, the sites not very wide. And there is not much to see from here other than pine trees. But we had a nice fire going each night. And each night there are beautiful clear skies – we could see the Milky Way.
There were lots of RVs here when we arrived on Saturday but many have cleared out today.
We have some local wildlife passing through the campground each day. We have also seen deer including fawns but not when I have my camera ready.
Deadwood
We spent Sunday in Deadwood, SD. For me, this area has special significance because my great grandfather (my dad’s maternal grandfather) came here sometime between 1880 and 1894 as a gold miner.
According to family legend, my great grandfather’s brother lost a claim to a silver mine during a poker game with a couple of Frenchmen and was so ashamed he left town, never to be heard from again until the 1940s on his deathbed. I can’t substantiate the poker story but I do have letters from the 1940s to my grandmother when the Veterans Administration was trying to find his family when his days were numbered. My grandmother’s elder siblings were also born in Terry, SD which was nearby. The family moved to Washington state by 1906 – apparently, the gold mining thing didn’t work out. And our silver mine was lost forever…
Here’s a view of Deadwood from Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
And here’s Wild Bill Hickok’s grave at Mt. Mariah Cemetery. It’s not his original burial site. It was moved here when the town developed further.
A view of Lower Main Street – the Mineral Palace and Gem Steakhouse & Saloon are the site of the Gem owned by Al Swearengen (meaningful if you watched the HBO series “Deadwood”. If not, basically he took advantage of the weaknesses of men with more time and money on their hands than was good for them).
A former gas station that is now used for wine tastings and sales. Yes, we did both. The grapes are from Belle Fourche, SD, primarily, although they do get Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from California.
We also visited the original saloon where Wild Bill was shot. It’s a recreation. The walls are original but a fire destroyed everything else.
You can take a tour of the part of the saloon where Wild Bill was shot. We did.
Crazy Horse
On another day, we visited Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota and were amazed by the history, the dream, the inspiration, and the work done here. Not only on the memorial but also to preserve Native American culture and to establish educational opportunities for Native Americans. Here is the sculpture to be reproduced in the mountain, which is shown in the background. You can see there is much, much more work to be done. It won’t be finished in my lifetime sadly.
The work began in 1948. The face was finished in 1998. The blasted part to the left of the face (reddish as opposed to the unblasted gray rock) above the shoulder area could hold all 4 faces from Mount Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore
Of course, while in the Black Hills of South Dakota, we went to see Mount Rushmore.
Did you know the monument was never finished? This is what it was supposed to look like but WWII intervened and stopped further work.
