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South Dakota 2019

Western South Dakota: Black Hills and vicinity

Saturday, August 17 through Sunday, August 25

We drove from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Rapid City, South Dakota, via western Nebraska, to visit the attractions both along the way, and near the destination. Among the highlights: World's largest ball of twine (Cawker City, Kansas), Courthouse/Jail/Chimney Rocks (western Nebraska), Scotts Bluff (Scottsbluff, Nebraska), Carhenge (Alliance, Nebraska), Devil's Tower (near Sundance, Wyoming), Black Hills (western South Dakota), Custer State Park (western South Dakota), Wonderland Cave (in Black Hills), Badlands National Park (western South Dakota), and the western south Dakota Minuteman Missile silos. This was our first visit to this part of South Dakota since 50 years ago!

I tracked the trip with a Bad Elf GPS Pro+ GPSr (GPS receiver). The problem:

• I forgot to start the receiver at the beginning of the 23rd...so the tracks from the car's navigation system were substituted.

NOTE: the downloadable GPX tracks are the full GPX files, while those shown on the provided "view map" links are simplified (with minimal effect on geographic accuracy) for much faster viewing.

Original GPX tracks are unedited, except as noted.

Businesses are named below for reference only. No endorsement should be inferred. If you wish to see my opinion of the places mentioned, see TripAdvisor (for those that I have actually rated).

Topographic maps (1:24,000) are available via the "Topo" links.

Overview

• Overview map—This is a composite map of all the GPS tracks on a blank US/Canada map.
• All GPS tracks / view map—The whole trip, including walking, driving, etc.

Saturday, August 17

• GPX / view map —Driving from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to our hotel in North Platte, Nebraska, via Cawker City, Kansas and (dinner at) Lexington, Nebraska.

Sunday, August 18

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in North Platte, Nebraska to Ash Hollow State Park (Windlass Hill), after going a short distance past the park and turning around.
• GPX / view map —Our short walk at Ash Hollow State Park.
• GPX / view map —Driving from Ash Hollow State Park to Courthouse and Jail Rocks, in western Nebraska.
• GPX / view map —Our short hike between Jail Rock (to our southeast) and Courthouse Rock (to our southwest).
• GPX / view map —Driving from Jail/Courthouse Rock to Chimney Rock in western Nebraska.
• GPX / view map —Driving from Chimney Rock to Scotts Bluff (near Scottsbluff, in western Nebraska). The drive included a stop at the (temporary) visitor center at Scotts Bluff National Monument. The GPS tracking had some minor problems with the first two (of three) tunnels on the road up to Scotts Bluff. (Topo)
• GPX / view map —Our walking from the parking lot (near center) first to the southeast, then to the north at Scotts Bluff in western Nebraska.
• GPX / view map —Driving from Scotts Bluff to Carhenge, near Alliance, Nebraska.
• GPX / view map —Our walking at Carhenge (near Alliance, Nebraska). We generally walked in a clockwise direction (north part first).
• GPX / view map —Driving from Carhenge (near Alliance, Nebraska) to the hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota. We stopped in Chadron, Nebraska for dinner.

Monday, August 19

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota to Devils Tower (near Sundance, Wyoming). Note that at the time of this writing, OpenStreetMaps's position of U.S. Highway 14 west of Sundance, Wyoming is still the old highway (the new road shows up on the aerial view).
• GPX / view map —Our hike on Tower Trail at Devils Tower (National Monument, near Sundance, Wyoming). We took the trail counter-clockwise. (Topo)
• GPX / view map —Driving from Devils Tower to dinner in Spearfish, South Dakota.
• GPX / view map —Driving from the dinner place in Spearfish, South Dakota to Roughlock Falls, in the Spearfish Canyon area (western South Dakota).
• GPX / view map —Our short hike at Roughlock Falls, staring in the parking area (west), then going to the southeast point, the northeast point, and back.
• GPX / view map —Driving from Roughlock Falls (in the Black Hills/Spearfish Canyon) back to the hotel in Rapid City.

Tuesday, August 20

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Rapid City to the trailhead for the Cathedral Spires Trail in Custer State Park (western South Dakota).
• GPX / view map —Hiking the Cathedral Spires Trail at Custer State Park in western South Dakota. It doesn's show up well in the track, but we did a slight detour from the Cathedral Spires Trail, near the intersection with Trail 4, going slightly north of the CST before rejoining it a short distance to the east. (Topo)
• GPX / view map —Driving from the trailhead for the Cathedral Spires Trail to Horsethief Lake (spelled "Horse Thief Lake" on some maps). Also includes a short spur at Sylvan Lake.
• GPX / view map —Walking around part of Horsethief Lake (see note on previous line).
• GPX / view map —Driving a short distance from Horsethief Lake to the edge of the Black Elk Wilderness.
• GPX / view map —Our very short hike near the edge of the Black Elk Wilderness. The GPS track is somewhat inaccurate, and the more or less straight leg should bend like the "?"-shaped leg.
• GPX / view map —Driving back to the hotel in Rapid City, with a stop at a restaurant in Rapid City (where the jagged cluster of line noise is).

Wednesday, August 21

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Rapid City to Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park in western South Dakota.
• GPX / view map —Hiking along the north side of Sylvan Lake, then taking the Sunday Gulch Trail (counter-clockwise, which we would recommend, unless you like a difficult, steep climb at the end of a hike). Sylvan Lake and most of the SGT are within Custer State Park in western South Dakota. (Topo)
• GPX / view map —Driving from Sylvan Lake back to Rapid City for dinner. This track includes a spur (to the north) in Rapid City to a restaurant that turned out to be closing soon, so we opted for the other restaurant farther west.
• GPX / view map —Our short walk north (across the street), then west, and back across the street, to the restaurant...then back east/south to the parking space.
• GPX / view map —Driving (north, then east) to the hotel in Rapid City.

Thursday, August 22

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Rapid City to Wonderland Cave within the Black Hills of western South Dakota.
• GPX / view map —Driving from Wonderland Cave to the Sanford Lab/Homestake Mine Visitor Center in Lead, South Dakota via back roads. We went a few blocks beyond the visitor center, then backtracked to it after happening to see it while headed to our next destination.
• GPX / view map —Our wanderings at Sanford Lab/Homestake Mine Visitor Center. Despite the short distance, the GPS track is quite accurate (we walked roughly clockwise in the outdoor section of this walk).
• GPX / view map —Driving from Sanford Lab/Homestake Mine Visitor Center in Lead, South Dakota to the trailhead for the Iron Creek Trail in the Spearfish Canyon area of western South Dakota.
• GPX / view map —Hiking a small part of the Iron Creek Trail, near Spearfish Canyon.
• GPX / view map —Driving back to Rapid City, to the restaurant we attempted to visit the previous day.
• GPX / view map —Driving back to the hotel in Rapid City.

Friday, August 23

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Rapid City to a gas station to the east of town. (This track is from the car's navigation system.)
• GPX / view map —Driving from the gas station (see previous line) to the first overlook near the Pinnacles Entrance to Badlands National Park.
• GPX / view map —Our short walk at the overlook (see previous line)...clockwise (south part first).
• GPX / view map —Driving from the previous overlook to the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center and then (northwest to) the Delta-01 silo, which we toured (requires reservations well in advance of the visit).
• GPX / view map —Walking at the Delta-01 site (see previous entry). The spikes to the north and south from the parking lot didn't actually happen.
• GPX / view map —Driving from Delta-01 to the trailhead for the Saddle Pass Trail at Badlands National Park.
• GPX / view map —Our very short hike on part of the Saddle Pass Trail at Badlands National Park.
• GPX / view map —Driving back to the hotel in Rapid City, via a restaurant to the south-southeast of the hotel.

Saturday, August 24

• GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota to dinner in Grand Island, Nebraska. Includes stops at the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center (east of Rapid City), a visitor kiosk for the Sandhills south of Valentine, Nebraska, and a side drive through part of the Nebraska National Forest, including a stop at the lookout tower.
• GPX / view map —Driving the short distance south from the restaurant to the hotel in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Sunday, August 25

• GPX / view map —Driving from Grand Island, Nebraska (hotel) to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Includes a brief stop in Belleville, Kansas, where we hoped to visit the Boyer Museum of Animated Carvings, but I mistakenly thought it was open on Sunday afternoons (it's not). Also includes a stop at a restaurant in Oklahoma City.