Waterfalls and canyons (and mountain goats!)

Our last night on the wall, we had some nice evening skies. However it did get cloudy so no stargazing.

We then managed to get moved and set up in our next campground yesterday before the drizzle and clouds moved in. Our park in the National Forest is moving into off season mode already! This means they close everything except one loop and shut off all water. Their fee structure also changes so it’s only supposed to cost us $10/night. That is if they get their pay envelopes in place. One of the campground hosts told us last year the envelopes didn’t show up until October! We’ll see tonight.

We headed up towards the northern part of South Dakota on a scenic drive today. After a quick drive through the historic town of Deadwood, we headed up the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Drive. We plan to return to Deadwood tomorrow to explore the history there!

The canyon, while it does have some high walls, is covered with a lot of forest, resulting in a less dramatic drive. The waterfalls along the way were the more interesting sights.

One of the highlights today was at Bridal Veil Falls were we got to see multiple mountain goats – including some mamas with their kids.

Paul was also lucky enough to see capture some pictures of a woodpecker along the trail.

I took pictures of some wild flowers that were still in full bloom! Most are past now.

Stay tuned – tomorrow will be about Deadwood and the town of Sturgis.