Travel Challenge Month 12: Black Hills area of South Dakota

Welp, here it is reader, the final stop of my travel challenge. After a year-long journey, I concluded my challenge in the exotic state of South Dakota. I think I mentioned a couple posts back that my trip to the Black Hills area got postponed not once, but twice. In July of 2022, third time was the charm. Accompanied by my friend Ashley (the same one who helped me knock NORTH Dakota off the list), we hit I90 going 80 mph and didn’t stop much until we made it to our hotel in Rapid City, SD where we’d spend night one. I have a friend that lives in South Dakota, Trysten, who said it’s tradition to stop in Chamberlain to throw a quarter in the Missouri River for luck. We didn’t stop, Ashley did toss one out the window though. Whether or not it actually made it to water was anyone’s guess. It was good vibes the rest of the trip though so I’m going with yes. It took most of the day for us to make it to the other side of SD, so we didn’t experience much that first day aside from dinner at Shooters Woodfire Grill. The food was delish and it was there that I first learned that SD knows how to do ranch. From the outdoor fireplace at our hotel, we could see the edge of Black Hills National Forest, and we couldn’t wait to start exploring the next day.

The first thing we had planned on Sunday was to go ziplining. Since we were awake in plenty of time, we decided to check out a coffee shop, Black Hills Blend. It was SO good. And being the foodie and coffee lover that she is, Ash couldn’t stop talking about it for the rest of the trip. Ziplining was my personal favorite part of our time in SD. We zipped five lines total at Rushmore Tramway Adventures. We got to smell a Ponderosa Pine (see Travel Challenge Month 9/10: Dever & Boulder, CO), and got to see colored rocks covered in gold shimmery flakes. At one point each person in our group was handed a fistful of dried corn and told to throw it at each other. This was a fun way to lure turkeys, who apparently deter rattle snakes, to the area. After ziplining we shared a chicken philly sandwich with tots at Boss’ Burgers and Cheesesteaks. If you’re ever in the area, this place is a must stop! It was by far the best food of the trip. We figured since we shared lunch we’d earned ourselves some gelato, so we swung into Grapes & Grinds before heading to our next big stop, Mount Rushmore. After paying our 10-dollar entrance fee, we snuck a seltzer each into the memorial so we could have a drink with George Washington. We’d be spending the next two nights at an Airbnb in Spearfish, SD so we drove the 19-mile scenic highway known as Spearfish Canyon. We stopped to walk along a short path (about 1.5 miles) to a beautiful waterfall. There was one lone restaurant strategically placed along this remote drive called the Latchstring Restaurant where we stopped for a cold beverage. We got lost walking around the city of Spearfish but eventually made it to the patio at Killian’s Food and Drink where we sipped mojitos and shared steak bites and brussel sprouts. Oh, and when I asked for a side of ranch they brought me a whole ketchup bottle full. Our Airbnb, a super cozy garage-converted home, had a nice patio set and an outdoor hot tub where we enjoyed the remainder of the night.

Monday morning Ashley was jonesing for a real breakfast. So we headed to Deadwood, where we planned to spend most of the day, and enjoyed an outdoor breakfast at Lee Street Station Cafe, a 1950’s style diner that serves breakfast and lunch. We had big hiking plans for the Deadwood area, our first mission being a 2.5-mile hike at White Rocks. Oddly enough, the start of this trail is located at the entrance of a cemetery (not creepy at all). I swear 1.5 miles of White Rocks is a straight vertical climb. Some of the trail was made of up landscape rocks making it an especially slick climb. On the way up the trail is the gravesite of Seth Bullock, who is apparently a big deal to the locals. We stopped to pay our respects (and breathe), and I was attacked by a super fly. Apparently, Seth doesn’t like loiterers. The challenges of the White Rocks trail were made worth it by the view at the top. After our morning hike we walked the streets of old historic Deadwood, checking out the shops which were busier than usual because Sturgis (motorcycle rally) was rolling into town in just a few days. We planned on a second hike for the afternoon, but it was 100 degrees out and we’d gotten our steps in for the day, so we opted to head back to Spearfish instead. We walked to Spearfish Creek Wine Bar and had a drink on the patio, then to the CUTEST shop called The Junk Drawer. I bought a shirt that said “Snort Pines Not Lines” for both myself and one of the doctors I work with (#newuniforms). We made a stop at the liquor store and got High Noon “40s” which gave the cashier a good chuckle. We had a fancy drink on the patio at REDwater Kitchen and then walked to Dough Trader Pizza where we had salads and pizza for dinner. Again, the ranch was fantastic. We ended the night the same way we had the night before, with cards and a hot tub and this time with our “40s.”

Tuesday was another full travel day. I did wake up crazy early though and I dipped outside to try to let Ash sleep, with intentions of watching the next episode of The Bachelor (I was part of a Bach Bracket at that time, so had to keep up) on my tablet. When I spotted my swimsuit drying on the fence, I opted to instead enjoy my coffee soaking up one last hot tub. On our road trip home we enjoyed some tasty Mexican food for lunch at Los Tres Amigos and stopped twice for coffee: once at Ruby’s Roost right in Spearfish and once at Scooter’s. Neither could top the coffee from Black Hills Blend though.

My travel challenge is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life so far. I’m not sure if people often consider things that are fun and adventurous to be “accomplishments.” But it taught me more about life than a lot of my other “adulty” accomplishments have (college degree, professional growth, successful marriage, etc). Among other things, it taught me that the world is so much bigger than whatever I’m stressing over; it’s as big as the Colorado mountains or the sun rising over the Florida ocean. Pay attention to the small moments when they show you that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be. The Midwest really does do the best Ranch. Plans may change, that doesn’t mean they fail. It’s great to wander, but always remember to love and appreciate going home too. And perhaps most importantly, it taught me that even when the world seems completely crazy like during a once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) pandemic, people are still good. I could not have completed my travel challenge without the support of people. I received love and encouragements from so many of my family and friends, along with the strangers I met along the way. A special thanks to some who physically embarked on this adventure with me at one point or another. I love you all more than you know:

And to anyone who has taken the time to read about this journey, thank you, truly. My hope is that it’s been a source of inspiration in even the smallest of ways.