Spectacular Spearfish Canyon

(Spearfish, South Dakota) 72 degrees, cloudy, scattered showers

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.

It will never fail you.”

Frank Lloyd Wright

 

Check out this spectacular canyon.  On our day off today we drove to Spearfish Canyon.  It was lush and beautiful.  Hugh granite cliffs were along both sides of the road interspersed by several waterfalls and babbling brooks.  It was a spectacular 20 mile drive. 

We stopped and hiked the Roughlock Falls Nature Trail.  It was an easy hike to a very pretty waterfall.

 Roughlock Falls 

There were lots and lots of wildflowers along the trail and roads.  There has been so much rain in this area and everything looked so beautiful. 

We stopped in the city of Spearfish and the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery.  It is located in the city park and was built in 1896 to propagate, stock, and establish trout in the Black Hill and Wyoming. It is now a museum and no longer is used as a hatchery.  However, there are lots of fish in the ponds and we saw kids having fun feeding them.

This museum is staffed mostly with workampers.  We talked to several of them and most have returned for several seasons.  The area was beautifully maintained.

We enjoyed walking the grounds and toured some of the exhibits.  Admission was free!

Railcars used to transport fish across the country

The workampers stay at the Spearfish City Campground.  We had seen the campground advertised in workamper.com.  The sites for them are along a pretty creek and the campground was very nice.  Rates are $32/night for a full hook up site.  It is a great location for touring this area. 

We made a couple of quick stops along the way.  Deadwood was at one time the most unlawful town.  Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane were several of the characters who lived here.  It is now mostly a gambling town.  We were here three years ago and it has certainly grown.  We had lunch at Lil Diamond, Kevin Costner’s restaurant.  He fell in love with this area when filming Dances with Wolves. 

Deadwood

Wild Bill Hiccop’s was killed is this saloon while playing cards

On the way back we quickly drove through Sturgis.  It is getting geared up for the big yearly rally that starts on August 8th.  Soon it will be lined with motorcycles up and down the streets. 

Sturgis

We will certainly return again to spend more time in Spearfish.  It was one of our most favorite road trips.