Four Awesome Days in Spearfish With Kids

…and a dog.

At the end of July, we were fortunate enough to spend four days in Spearfish, South Dakota. To date, Spearfish ranks as one of our families favorite destinations in the United States.

After driving across (all) of Utah, we finally arrived in Spearfish late on a Sunday afternoon. We quickly made ourselves at home in our VRBO with the fenced-in backyard. (A godsend on these trips!) Chuck was more than happy to get his “zoomies” out, while the kids were equally enthused to play soccer in the backyard.

After an hour or so of analyzing every nook and cranny (and light switch) in our turn-of-the-century bungalow, we hopped back in the minivan for the twenty-minute drive to Belle Fourche, sans Chuck.

Belle Fourche, South Dakota

In French, “Belle Fourche” translates to “beautiful fork”. Located in the northern most section of the Black Hills, and at the intersection of three rivers, Belle Fourche’s claim to fame is that it is that it is the “Geographic Center of the United States”. There was no way I was going to miss seeing this even if it did wind up to be a bit, uh, uninspiring.

We returned “home” to Spearfish, leashed up the dog, and took an evening stroll through downtown to the local dog park. Chuck sniffed the locals pups, while we made conversation with their owners.

Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota

Doug and I had to work on Monday, so we got up early to drive on Spearfish Canyon and squeeze in a hike before opening up our laptops. This Canyon is listed as the number one thing to do in the Black Hills and it did not disappoint. The drive along US Highway 14A is nearly twenty miles, winding its way through the canyons between the city of Spearfish and Cheyenne Crossing.

There are a number of natural wonders along this route. Bridal Veil Falls, a 60-foot waterfall just off the side of the road, was the first that we passed of these “wonders”, but having recently visited Iceland, waterfalls in the United States no longer impress us. We continued on to the trailhead for Roughlock Falls.

Roughlock Falls

We parked near the Spearfish Canyon Lodge, to take the two-mile roundtrip hike to the Roughlock Falls. The trail was easily marked, and most importantly, dog-friendly. The first informational marker along the trail informed us that the Ponderosa Pine Trees (that line the path), have bark that is meant to smell like a combination of butterscotch and vanilla. It did! And from this point on we could repeatedly be spotted sniffing tree trunks.

After a mile of walking on this forested trail, we crossed a bridge and started up a hill to the top of Roughlock Falls. There was a parking lot here, so the kids quickly realized that we could have driven here instead of hiked it. The concept of “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” was lost on them.

Devil’s Bathtub

Our next hike in Spearfish Canyon was to the Devil’s Bathtub. This is also a dog-friendly trail, and 1.5 miles out and back. It traverses a stream to a natural rock slide that flows into a small pool. Adorned in bathing suits and water shoes (your feet/paws WILL get wet), we started down the path adjacent to the highway. After a quarter-mile, the trail traverses through private property, but is well marked so this is not an issue. There are a number of ways to hike along the river but we took the least efficient one that had the most water crossings, because Greg was in the lead. Once your feet are thoroughly numbed by the freezing cold water, the number of water crossings becomes irrelevant.

By the time we arrived at the Devil’s Bathtub, we were sweaty so we gave it a go. Greg went first, then Doug, and then me. I seemed to be the only one who slipped at the bottom, nearly losing my bathing suit in the process. While trying to get back on my feet, Chuck started to panic and jumped in to save me. This, of course, warmed my heart, but not enough to warm up the rest of my body.

The Spearfish Waterpark and Fish Hatchery

We returned “home” for lunch and left the dog behind to nap while we headed to the Spearfish Parks and Recreation Waterpark. This is a two acre waterpark complete with a lazy river, three huge waterslides, and a climbing wall. It was a warm day in Spearfish, so the water park was full of kids. There was a short line to buy tickets, but after paying $12 a swimmer, the kids were in line for the waterslide. They proceeded to go down it about one-hundred times. Each time that I tried to check in with them to ask how they liked it, I was met with a “can’t talk now mom, gotta go” as they raced back to the line. If you are in Spearfish on a hot day, make sure to block one afternoon for this waterpark.

After the waterpark, we decided to explore the area. Spearfish has a number of parks, and the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery can be found in one of them. This Hatchery was constructed in 1896 to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. It was closed in the 1980s but has since reopened to preserve a part of history. Admission is free, allowing us to stroll the ponds, and to check out the underwater viewing section. We purchased bags of fish food so that the kids could watch the trout fight over it all.

Sturgis and Deadwood

We drove about twenty minutes up the road to Sturgis. As you probably are already aware, Sturgis is home to the largest motorcycle rally in the world. On any given day in early August, you could see/hear (up to) 700,000 motorcycles descend on this town in Western South Dakota. We drove there to see what the hype was all about but it wasn’t really our scene. Instead we ventured to the Black Hills Airport — Clyde Ice Field. “Clyde” would be a great name for a dog now, wouldn’t it?

The next morning we visited Deadwood. The streets there were full of people and way too crowded for our liking. Walking up the street from the parking garage we noticed a large gathering in front of Outlaw Square and the Franklin Hotel. People there were eagerly awaiting the 2:30PM shootout portraying the “The Strange Tale of David Lunt”. To clear the square of cars before the show, the “shooters” just started firing random (blanks) into traffic. I’m pretty sure we would have peed our pants had we been in a car at that time!

Custer State Park – Wildlife Loop State Scenic Byway

We continued down the road to Custer State Park, entering at the Visitor’s Center on the east side. Custer State Park is both a Park and a Wildlife Reserve located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There is a $20/car entrance fee, and leashed dogs are welcome, so I fully support them. It was getting late in the day when we arrived, so we opted to take the first 9-miles of the 18-mile Wildlife Loop State Scenic Byway and then call it a day. We would return the next day to explore it further.

Winding through pine-covered hills, rolling prairies and red-walled canyons, the Wildlife Loop is advertised as one of the top scenic drives in the park, but we were there for the buffalo. We learned that thirty minutes earlier, 800 of its 1300-head herd were spotted grazing just off the side of the road. (Apparently you never see that many located together.) We rushed to see them and caught about 150 (of the herd) before they headed back over the hills, out of sight, to drink. (Buffalo only drink one time a day.)

Custer, South Dakota

On the second day, we left Chuck behind as we planned to continue beyond Custer State Park to Mount Rushmore. Dogs are not allowed beyond the parking lot at Mount Rushmore. This time, we entered Custer State Park on the west side of the park through the town of Custer. Custer is a cute little town, where one Is greeted by beautifully painted buffalos created as a local art project by the people of Custer.. We grabbed lunch “to go” at the Black Hills Burger & Bun Co. This burger joint was voted the “Best Place in America to Buy Burgers” by Tripadvisor in 2014, and soooo good.

Custer State Park – Needles Highway Scenic Drive

Our first stop in the park was the relatively easy 1.5 mile Stockade Lake Trail. The kids handled it just fine with little complaining. From there, we took the Needles Highway Scenic Drive. The length of this drive is 14-miles and takes around an hour to complete. It is a spectacular drive through ponderosa pine and spruce forests, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen, and rugged granite mountains.

The most impressive part of this stretch was when you pass through the three tunnels. The tunnels, carved from the rocks and spanning just 8′ 9″ wide and 10′ tall in places, are barely large enough for our minivan. At the end of the drive, we found the unique rock formation called the Needle’s Eye. The Needle’s Eye is named for its opening (in the rock) that was created by the constant deluge of wind, rain, freezing temperatures, and thawing temperatures. We stopped to climb through all the rock crevasses that we could find, even the unnerving ones, because that is just what we (ahem, Greg) like to do.

Our final stop in Custer State Park was Sylvan Lake. Sylvan Lake is the most recognizable of the five Custer State Park lakes as it was featured in the Nicolas Cage movie “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets”. The trail around the lake is a little over a mile, with some confusing parts, but if you follow the curvature of the lake, you will do just fine.

Mount Rushmore National Monument

We exited Custer State Park in the north, and headed to Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore has been on my “list” for many years, even though I was under the impression that it was not worth the visit. Mount Rushmore, however, was remarkable in every aspect except for the fact that they do not allow dogs. Completed in 1941, these 60-foot high granite faces depict U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. 

We took plenty of pictures from every angle and then spent time in the Museum where Doug and Roy read every single display, while I kept Greg out of trouble in the gift store. We returned back to Spearfish for our final night, where we enjoyed ice cream from Leon’s Creamery. The shop was located in this cute little part of town and was some of the best ice cream we have ever had. I strongly encourage you to visit it, if you are in town.

Wall Drug, Badlands National Park, and Corn Palace

The final morning, we headed out of Spearfish, bound for Oshkosh, Wisconsin. When you leave Spearfish on I-90, there isn’t much to look at once you leave Rapid City until Wall Drug. Located in Wall, South Dakota, Wall Drug has always been a popular stopping point for those traveling to and from the Black Hills. It started out as a drug store, but it was getting little traction until the owner started promising “free” ice water. No one can say no to “free” to people stopped, including us, to sample the water. (Oh, they also had places to tie up your horse, or these days, Chuck.)

From Wall Drug, Badlands National Park is just a few miles down the road. Badlands advertises dramatic landscapes, spanning layered rock formations, steep canyons and towering spires, but, to us, it just looked dusty compared to Spearfish. There were an abundance of prairie dogs though, which was cool, particularly for Chuck. We saw them by the thousands, and I may have had to stop Roy and Greg from shoving rocks and sticks down into their holes a number of times, because somehow that seemed like a good idea to them. Boys.

Corn Palace was the last “landmark” before the long drive through the rest of South Dakota and Minnesota to Wisconsin. The World’s Only Corn Palace is a multi-purpose arena/facility located in Mitchell, South Dakota. The Palace is redecorated each year with naturally colored corn, and other grains and native grasses, to make it “the agricultural show-place of the world”. Yes, the walls are all made of corn kernels.