By Everyone on the Trip
Originally this trip was to include some bicycling through the Hills, but when only two students showed interest in that phase of the trip, Randy changed the format to day hikes and the trip filled almost immediately. Perhaps the students knew something, because everyday was filled with winds between 15 and 30 miles per hour which would have made biking in the hills and Badlands a tremendous challenge (driving in the winds was a big challenge!)
Rising out of the plains in western South Dakota, Black Hills are this state’s number one tourist attraction with tourist traps around every curve (and there are plenty of those). But in the early Spring, Hills are deserted, places are closed or just opening, and the wildlife is abundant. We came to understand why the area is considered holy and sacred to many Native Americans nations, the Kiowa, Mandan, Cheyenne, and Lakotah among them. When the Americans started to migrate and settle in numbers in the Dakota Territory in the 1860s, the Black Hills were to be forever Indian lands. This changed when Gen. George Custer and his men discovered gold in 1874. This trip then was designed to look at the Indian’s view of the Hills, the early white settlement into the Hills, and the Hills of the 1990s.
There were eight of us in the final count when one of the nine became ill before the trip began. Emily Richards, Tanya Schierman, Kortnie Hansen, Josh Day, Scott Bakkelund, Clint Fero, Austin Manship, and Bill Gallagher enthusiastically boarded the van and after Josh tied down the tarp, headed into the wind and the long trek across South Dakota. Emily was in charge of weather and promised a minimal amount of rain, but did not take into account the wind. When the temps are in the 30s at night, the wind made the nights even cooler.
Our first days were spent at Bear Butte State Park near Sturgis, where Park Ranger Chuck Rambo provided us with the lore and history behind this mountain. A fire last August closed the trail to hikers, so we were only able to observe the ceremonial areas of the Lakotah and Cheyenne, but Ranger Rambo was able to regale us with stories about why this mountain is sacred. He also took us out and talked about the many plants and their uses to the people. He must have made an impression on us in those three hours because when Randy quizzed us, we remembered much of what was talked about. The burned out trail was only the first of many trails closed to us for a variety of reasons. Attempts later that day to hike in Spearfish Canyon were met with drifts of 3-4 feet of snow remaining from a long winter and recent blizzard.
The heart of the gold area, Deadwood and Lead, were next on our agenda. Historically, Deadwood linked the late 1800s with the 1900s. Built on gold, gambling, and other means to help people depart with their wealth, Deadwood fit the image of an Old West town. There was no controlled development, the law had limited power and respect at first, and man-made and natural disasters tested the resolve of the people who settled there. Today, Deadwood makes its money by its legalized gambling. While this has enabled them to restore, renovate and preserve much of its history, it also tends toward tacky with slot machines in practically every establishment in town- from Burger King to gas stations. A climb up to Mt. Moriah, the cemetery, gave us a historical overview (literally and figuratively) of the city. The city is hoping to use its gambling along with the beautiful natural land around it to promote it as a convention and meeting resort area (movie star Kevin Costner is heading up the Interest).
Deadwood was not the only mark of the 90s we encountered. National areas such as Mount Rushmore and the Badlands are now charging for entrance when none was needed before. Luckily, we were not charged to hike on the Centennial Trail which runs the length of the hills, nor were we charged when we hiked to the top of Harney’s Peak, the highest point of land between the Rockies and the Pyrenees in Europe. Again, Randy quizzed us on location and other trivial matters. Clint and Kortnie decided they knew a better way down the mountain and took a different trail which brought them out at a different point. Randy and Austin hiked halfway back up the mountain before running into the last hiker off the peak. The anxious moments were allayed when some hikers reported the two had emerged at a trailhead a few miles away. Randy claims hiking up the peak is always an adventure — two years ago, the group got caught in a hail storm and dropping temps. At least the Harney Peak hike will leave its mark with this group.
Wildlife is always plentiful on this trip. Bill claims to have spotted a jackalope, but most of the wildlife was more identifiable: mule deer, wild turkeys, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, white tails, prairie dogs, big horn sheep, wild prairie goats, and of course, bison.
Each phase of the trip had a different emphasis: Native American culture and history; American settlement, history, and development; the Black Hills of the ’90s; the Black Hills and the sciences; and finally, the Badlands. All of these activities included hiking and having to put up with Randy. We eventually ended up at the home of Mike and Linda Babbe, friends of Randy who moved here seven years ago. They not only treated us royally, but added much to how the locals felt about what was happening in the Hills, from the desecration of Mount Rushmore to the impact of Californians moving into the area. Just before the Babbes, we had gone to the site where the mammoth bones were found and later toured Wind Cave… after that tour, Austin, Josh, and Scott wanted to take a four hour tour through the hard-to-through parts of the cave.
On the first warm day of the trip, we set off for the Badlands where the temperatures would be warmer than the Hills anyway. Emily and Tanya led the way up the rocks to a grassy plateau where we proceeded to hike in an area extremely different from anything we had seen on this trip. The overgrowth and lack of footprints indicated we were among the first through this area this spring. Another area where we had planned to hike was closed because bison were in the camping area with newborns. So the trip ended in a similar way it had started at Bear Butte– the planned hike did not occur, but we had a great time!