Western road trip, days 9-10: Rapid City, South Dakota

Day 9: drive to Black Hills & Rapid City

Wrenched ourselves from beautiful Sheridan, Wyoming this morning to drive over to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We had sort of forgotten that Devil's Tower was on the way, but one of my home brew buddies reminded me, so we made a stop.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

The monument was often called "Bear's Lodge" by the Native Americans who lived here; the "Devil" in the name was a mistranslation. People have been trying to change it for years, but Americans like a catchy name. Anyway, it was really wild, which probably had something to do with the fact that it was our first national monument in 1906!

We drove from there to the Black Hills for a hike, stopping at Isabella's in Newcastle for a quick lunch. 

The Black Hills hike Dave had scoped out was the Horsethief Trail, which goes uphill on a thin, picturesque trail for almost 3 miles, then you turn around and go back downhill.

It was a lovely hike, not too challenging for us and not too many bugs. We turned around a bit early because someone told us there was no overlook at the end and that the last quarter mile of the trail was nothing to look at.

The rock faces were the highlight of the trip; you could see them on either side, and they looked vaguely like Easter Island heads. At least we thought so. Dave picked out this hike, as he picked out the ones in the Bighorn National Forest, and I thought he did a great job.

I recommend picking a hike in these areas that requires you to drive through the national parks a bit. We got about an hour of driving through each Bighorn and the Black Hills, and the drives were as interesting as the hikes.

Just down the road from the Horsethief trail is something that most Americans would be familiar with:

Just a noncontroversial rock carving we stumbled upon

Of course only about 20% of the visitors were wearing masks, so we stayed the hell away from everyone and skipped the gift shop. It was neat to see it, but let me tell you, Thomas Jefferson looks really weird; most renderings of Rushmore are very kind to the man, who is made to look a little more like Virginia Woolf in real life.

We arrived in Rapid City and were again disappointed with people not wearing masks, specifically with our hotel (The Rushmore) not making people wear masks even though people have come in from all over the United States, and THROUGH god knows where doing god knows what. The hotel needs to be the adult and make people wear masks. (Funnily enough, the hotel said there would be no cleaning of rooms for our own protection. I do not feel protected sharing an elevator with Floridians who aren't wearing masks...)

We visited Kathmandu Bistro for dinner for some tasty Indian food (al fresco, of course), then visited two breweries that were walking distance from our hotel, both of which had outdoor seating: 

• Lost Cabin Beer Co.: We enjoyed a Dakota common, a milkshake IPA, a table beer (gonna get that badge someday!), and an imperial stout. There was really cool artwork on the walls to look at and maybe buy.
• Dakota Point Brewing: Was pleasantly surprised by this brewery; IPAs were OK but the milkshake IPA and peanut butter porter were wonderful.

Rapid City is definitely the biggest risk we have taken for coronavirus on this journey so far. As I mentioned, everyone is coming in from different areas, and many are not taking any precautions at all. We are making sure to stay the heck away from people, wear masks no matter how many stares we get, and always dine or drink outdoors.

Day 10: Badlands

Today was pretty much Badlands, Badlands, and more Badlands.

I am sure I looked up what the Badlands look like at some point in my life, but I guess I forgot, and when we decided to go on this trip, I had heard they were so otherworldly that I decided not to look up what they look like so I would be surprised. And wow, was I surprised.

First overlook in the Badlands National Park

I had heard that it looks like you're on the moon, which is sort of true, but they are wildly dramatic, Southwestern in flavor, and maybe more like Mars. The banding on the rock faces in the canyons was amazing, and they are super photogenic.

We hit the Door Trail first, as everyone seems to. The idea is that the Badlands rock face was a huge wall that travelers couldn't pass, and the Door Trail takes you through the first "hole" in the door that pioneers and travelers could pass.

End of the Door Trail, Badlands

A lot of people jumped up on the fair-sized rock chunks immediately on seeing them, but we wanted to save our energy for the tougher Notch Trail that was coming next. You reach it from the same parking lot as the Door and Window trails, but it has all these warnings about it being an intermediate to challenging hike, with lots of climbing on rocks. Dave ran it by me last night because it is noted not to bring people with a fear of heights on this one. I don't have a fear of heights so much as a fear of being on the edge of steep drop-offs, so you could say this was triggering for me.

Notch Trail rock cairn

The Notch Trail takes you up inside a canyon, and you start out by climbing up a steep wooden ladder, then over some ledges. I decided to give it a try, and in the end I was able to do it, albeit with a bit of hyperventilation. Once you get past a couple of ledges and big stone piles, it's actually a very easy walk up to an overlook. I was very proud of myself.

At the top of the Notch Trail

On the way back down, I did OK but maybe freaked out a bit more than the way up because you can see where you're going more clearly, and where you might go if you step wrong. I started muttering to myself, "I am a mountain goat, I am a mountain goat," so Dave thought I had lost it. I made it to the ladder and we climbed down with a couple of other people; I may or may not have begun shouting curse words in front of children. I think I covered for myself by yelling to the crowd, "I'm from Chicago!!!"

Next we visited the Medicine Root and Castle trails via the Saddle Pass, which I do NOT recommend. Go up to the Medicine Root Trail via the Castle Trail at any point where it intersects with the road at the plateau level. The Saddle Pass Trail is a 45 degree angle of pain and slipping on minuscule rock gravel, which brings you up to the plateau. Go up another way.

Medicine Root trail with wild sunflowers

We loved walking the Medicine Root trail, which was full of gorgeous wildflowers and very easy to walk. The Castle Trail south of Medicine Root takes you past a lot of rock formations, and we saw two mountain sheep! (A passing tourist called it an elk...sigh.) We saw a lot more mountain sheep on our way out of the park, including some small herds in a field and also a few eating grass next to the park road.

These are mountain goats, I am not a mountain goat.

The Badlands were absolutely wild and astounding, and I recommend to anyone. Be honest with yourself, though, about your ability to get up steep rock faces, because I saw some people who had some serious trouble and did not seem like they were enjoying themselves.

On our way back to the hotel, we had a much-deserved flight of beers at Zymurcracy, then pizza and salad at Independent Ale House, which has over 50 beers on tap!

Overall thoughts on this area of South Dakota is that it has gotten far too touristy, although we loved the national parks and forests where you can get away a bit. The Black Hills, Badlands, and Rushmore are a trifecta of bucket lists for a lot of Americans, and you saw license plates from everywhere. Related to that, these are the absolute worst drivers I have ever encountered anywhere in America. It is really truly something special. Nothing against South Dakotans, they aren't the offenders.

Next through South Dakota tomorrow on our way to Omaha!