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Tuesday was a bit different for us. We drove a couple of “scenic” roads through a couple of canyons, but we didn’t find them all that scenic. Lots of treed covered hills with a bit of water flowing in creeks beside the road, but nothing really impressive. We did drive through the town of Sturgis to see what the town is like. Place after place focusses on anything motorcycle. The town of Sturgis, with a population of 7,000, hosts the world’s largest gathering of motorcyclists topping 700,000 in August for a week of events including concerts.

A drive through the town was enough for us. We certainly have seen our share of motorcycles on our travels, especially in August as many of those who travelled from all over the continent took advantage of the occasion to see some of the surrounding sights, especially in Wyoming!

After leaving Sturgis, we soon arrived in the small town of Deadwood. It is full of history of the Wild West and the original Main Street is interesting. Here, we parked, and headed out to see their historic Main Street and find a bit of lunch.

In 1876, gold miners from the southern Black Hills of South Dakota moved further north where they discovered a gulch of dead trees and a creek of gold and that was the birth of Deadwood. It attracted not only gold miners, but outlaws and gunslingers, one of who was named Wild Bill Hickok. He survived only weeks before he was gunned down over a poker hand which became known as the “Dead Man’s Hand”.

The man who killed Wild Bill Hickok, Jack McCall went on to be tried but found not guilty. In the summer months, a local theatre re-enacts the trial every night. They also do various street skits throughout most days.

We also saw a collection of old cars visiting the area and a few drove down the historic Main Street which made for an interesting picture!

Amongst the many casinos, we found one where we could get a late lunch. We both enjoyed a nice lunch of Buffalo meat – Paul as a burger, me as a French dip sandwich. It was dark by the time we arrived back at the campsite. Tomorrow will be an early morning as we head to North Dakota, hoping to find a campsite in Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a few days.

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.