Owner: Black Hills Travel Blog URL:www.blackhillstravelblog.com Join Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 12:38:42 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Blog depicting all of the exciting things to do and see when vacationing in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Site statistics:Click here
Not exactly a welcome sign 2008-05-23 18:11:40 The sign pretty much says it all. The French Creek trail – well, sort of a trail – in Custer State Park is one of the toughest hikes in the Black Hills. But it’s also one of the most rewarding.
If you start from the bottom, on the east side, it’s a scenic, leisurely hike along [...]
Rapid City Has Cheapest Gas in America 2008-05-21 12:50:33 According to a recent AAA report, the Black Hills are one of the most inexpensive places to vacation in the country. And now we can add one more feather into our economical hat: cheap gas. I know, that’s a bit of an oxymoron these days, but at least our gas is comparatively cheap.
This article from [...] Read more:Rapid
, America
Travel writers, photogs get an eyefull 2008-05-21 11:10:50 (Journalist Katy Koontz of Knoxville, Tenn., grabs a snapshot of Thomas Jefferson’s nose from a rare vantage point.)
I had a chance on Saturday to hike to the top of Mount Rushmore with members of the Society of American Travel
Writers for a rare view of the national monument. SATW’s Central States Chapter was in Rapid [...]
Watch “Today” on Monday 2008-05-16 14:24:37 This just showed up in my inbox. Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer is going to be on NBC “Today
Show” on Monday
. Here are the details:
“NBC ‘Today’ show to broadcast live from Crazy Horse Memorial
“Mountain carving work on Crazy Horse Memorial will be shown to a live nationwide audience on Monday, May 19.
“NBC’s ‘Today,’ [...]
Free Weekend at Custer State Park 2008-05-16 10:33:17 Thought I’d pass this along: Custer State
Park is opening its gates to offer a free weekend today through Sunday. (May 16 to 18.)
You don’t have to pay entrance entrance fees. (You still have to pay to camp.)
Throughout South Dakota this weekend, you can fish without a license. And in Custer State Park, your catch [...] Read more:Weekend
Days of 76 Museum 2008-05-16 09:00:06 The other day I had a chance to tour the Days of 76 Museum
in Deadwood. I have to admit that despite living in the Black Hills for the better part of two decades, I didn’t even know there was a museum next to the Days of 76 rodeo grounds.
Frankly, the museum doesn’t look like [...]
‘Chill Hill’ Takes Shape in Rapid City 2008-05-15 09:45:33 Cowboy Hill, for decades a island of wilderness in the middle of Rapid
City, is taking shape as a 240-acre mountain bikers’ paradise. For years, it was private property — but that didn’t stop people from climbing up its slopes for a view of the city or plying the deer trails that criss-cross the property.
But [...] Read more:Chill
, Shape
You’ve got to love Wall Drug 2008-05-13 09:00:56 Wall Drug is like no other place when it comes to family tourist destinations. It’s quirky. It’s kitschy. And it’s a lot of fun.
Just ask CNN.com and Budget Travel. This week the venerable roadside attraction was named to CNN/Budget Travel list of Seven Tourist Traps You Love. “Back in September, Budget Travel asked for [...]
National Treasure coming on DVD 2008-05-12 12:32:48 “NationalTreasure
2: Book of Secrets”, some of which was filmed right here in the Black Hills of South Dakota, will be released on DVD May 20, according to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
The cast and crew spent quite a bit of time in the Black Hills last year. They reportedly liked the area so [...]
GMA: Badlands the fourth Wonder of America 2008-05-09 11:07:43 Viewers of ABC’s Good Morning America
got an eyeful of stunning Badlands
scenery with their coffee this morning. The ABC News morning show featured South Dakota’s Badlands as the fourth
Wonder of America.
The segment included video shot from a helicopter coasting 50 feet above the spires. The crew also interviewed Badlands National Park Superintendent Paige [...]
KISS is coming to Sturgis 2008-05-27 12:58:21 KISS, the rock band that practically invented big, flashy stadium rock, is taking its act to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this summer. KISS will play at Glencoe Nation’s Rock’n the Rally on Aug. 4.
Elaborate makeup, screaming guitars and big pyrotechnics have made KISS “The Greatest Rock n Roll Show On Earth,” according to concert promoters. [...]
Trout Fishing on French Creek 2008-05-29 14:47:59 A while back I wrote about The Narrows, a rough and rugged stretch of French
Creek deep in the heart of Custer State Park. As a day hike, this steep canyon is breathtaking – in more ways than one.
Now the state Game, Fish & Parks Department has given us another reason to venture into The [...] Read more:Trout
, Fishing
World War II vintage bomber to land in Rapid City 2008-05-30 10:44:17 If you’re not a vintage airplane buff, you might become one after seeing the fully restored B-17 “Flying Fortress” that will be parked at Rapid
City Regional Airport June 13 to 15.
The Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force will land its B-17 bomber, named Sentimental Journey, at the Rapid City airfield about noon on [...] Read more:World
, World War
Obama Says His Ears Won’t Fit on Rushmore 2008-06-02 13:03:57 We wrote recently about the chances of putting more presidential faces on Mount Rushmore
National Memorial (very slim). Now Barack Obama
has weighed in on the issue. Well, sort of.
The likely Democratic candidate for president took a break Friday night between campaign stops in Montana and South Dakota – where the last presidential primaries are [...]
The Center of the Nation 2008-06-02 11:22:30 A story in the Herald Tribune, out of Sarasota, Fla., reminded me that the geographic center of the United States is just north of the Black Hills in Butte County.
This spot became the center of the nation – an equal number of square miles of U.S. soil to the north, south, east and west of [...] Read more:Center
Crazy Horse at the Black Hills Playhouse 2008-06-04 10:18:34 Custer State Park is famous for its scenic drives, free-roaming wildlife, and impressively pointy geology. This might not be where you’d expect to find one of the longest-running summer theater companies in the United States, but there it is - tucked unpretentiously off Needles Highway.
The BlackHills
Playhouse was established in 1946 by a professor [...] Read more:Crazy
, Horse
, Crazy Horse
RC Dinos make ‘Weird America’ list 2008-06-05 14:12:15 Hunter Thompson said that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. And when it comes to weird roadside attractions, the Black Hills of South Dakota have always been, at the least, semi-pro.
Where else can you see live alligators, live kangaroos, giant Jackalopes, stuffed and mounted horses, singing cowboy robots and buildings that [...] Read more:Weird
, America
Trails Day — Take a Hike! 2008-06-07 03:00:08 The first Saturday of June is celebrated as National Trails Day. And today there’s a second reason to celebrate: It also marks the 40th anniversary of the National Trails System Act.
Forty Years ago, President Lyndon Johnson and Congress approved the act that created the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail and other well-known pedestrian [...]
Shoot Deadwood for NPS photo contest 2008-06-06 12:47:51 History-minded photo buffs might want to cast a lens toward Deadwood this month. The National Park Service is sponsoring a photo contest of National Historic Landmarks.
And here’s the sweet part: The entire city of Deadwood is a National Historic Landmark. Anything you shoot in town will be eligible contest entry.
You could shoot Mount Moriah Cemetery, [...] Read more:Shoot
The Travel Twitter Experiment 2008-06-10 18:42:41 All right, I admit it: occasionally, I find it really hard to sit down and blog. Some days it’s hard to string one coherent sentence together, let alone a whole paragraph of them.
(Personal note: this seems to have an inversely proportional relationship to the amount of caffeine I’ve had. Further study warranted.)
Fortunately, a guy named [...] Read more:Travel
, Twitter
, Experiment
Wallflowers to headline Deadwood Jam 2008-06-10 11:02:42 Don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Wallflowers, fronted once by Jakob Dylan, will be the Saturday night headliner at the 18th annual Deadwood Jam.
The annual music festival in downtown Deadwood, is set for Sept. 12 and 13. The event is staged in the Visitor Center parking lot next to Deadwood’s main road.
The Wallflowers had [...]
History Channel visits Mammoth Site 2008-06-12 03:00:23 (Photo courtesy of the Mammoth
Site: Dr. Larry Agenbroad is interviewed by a film crew from the HistoryChannel
in the bone storage area at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs.)
–
The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs is one of my favorite places in the Black Hills. It’s a paleontology dig and a museum rolled into [...] Read more:History Channel
Flying Fortress to land in Rapid City 2008-06-11 12:04:07 A reminder: If you’re near Rapid
City this weekend, you might want to stop out at Rapid City Regional Airport for a look the fully restored B-17 “FlyingFortress
.” You can get access to the aircraft display at the Westjet Air Center.
The Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force will land its B-17 bomber, [...]
Daily Commute: Coffee, Check. Music, Check. Elk… Check. 2008-06-12 04:14:45 When most people commute to and from work, they have to deal with traffic, the inevitable fender-bender, and probably a line at their favorite coffee joint. In the Black Hills, you don’t have much of that. Instead, we’ve got elk.
No, not the kind that elect exalted rulers every year (though we have a few of [...] Read more:Music
, Commute
, Check
, Daily
, Elk
, Coffee
Rushmore adorns postage stamp — again 2008-06-13 15:59:38 For the fourth time in its history, the image of Mount Rushmore
National Memorial has been appeared on a U.S. Postal Service postage stamp. The new Priority Mail stamp ($4.80) was issued on Thursday.
To commemorate the release of the stamp, officials from the U.S. Postal Service and the National Park Service held a first-day [...]
Tipis and Telescopes in the Badlands 2008-06-17 12:53:26 One of the best places to see the night sky is Badlands
National Park. Not only are there no city lights to obscure the glow of the stars, but there aren’t any trees to narrow the visual range.
I remember sleeping outside in the Badlands as a youngster and seeing for the first time a satellite [...]
State to show off new Roughlock Falls 2008-06-26 16:43:27 Roughlock Falls
is an idylic spot in Little Spearfish Canyon. It’s just up from Savoy, also known as the Latchstring Restaurant. It has a great little picnic area, and on a hot day there is no better place to go wading. There was always lots of kids and dogs and grownups splashing around under the [...] Read more:State
Live Chat Launches on BlackHillsVacations.com 2008-06-26 11:27:22 More than a few people have looked at the popularity of chatting, texting and instant messaging and prophesied the downfall of civilization. “No one will know how to talk to each other anymore!” “We’re raising a generation of kids with no social skills!” “Darn kids, get off my lawn!”
I agree. Not only do the neighbor [...] Read more:Live Chat
To geologists, Black Hills are a rock star 2008-06-24 10:29:01 Every summer, I see vanloads of college students from places such as Ball State, Northeastern University, Eastern Illinois University and other schools, parking, camping lunching and peering at rocks. They always look like they’re having fun. Not suprising, because they are geology students.
And if you’re into rocks, the BlackHills
have lots of them.
College [...]
Festival of Presidents in downtown RC 2008-06-19 15:30:53 Rapid City is taking its presidential theme to extremes. First, there’s Mount Rushmore, of course. Then there’s the City of Presidents
, a project to place bronze presidential statues on just about every downtown streetcorner.
The newest presidential thing is the Festival
of Presidents, which takes place among the bronzes June 27 and 28.
It’s more about the [...]
Recommend Site To A Friend
