Tag Archives: Black Hills

SoDak July 2026

We took our annual “run back to South Dakota over the 4th” trip this year and it was a little different because we ended up having a very large family gathering too.

We were staying up in the hills near deadwood / lead and had a fabulous time. The most amazing things:

A giant solar flair, an M-class and strong X1.3, whatever that means, hit the earth and showed us beautiful, but faint, northern lights. This is my first time seeing northern lights in South Dakota!
The galactic core of the Milkyway was out!!! I don’t see the Milkyway any more since I live in a large urban area, and, the Rapid City area has grown enough such that it’s not easy to see the Milkyway in town anymore. It was definitely a treat! One of the photos of the northern lights has part of the Milkyway; it was a rare treat to see both and not have clouds, the moon, city lights, and whatever else ruining the view.
It’s still wet enough to grow wild rose, wild raspberries, serviceberries, and other neat fruits / plants in the wild. I don’t recall seeing a lot of this growing up in the hills and it’s definitely a treat whenever I get to see them.
We had an unobstructed view of the fireworks over the Homestake open cut pit. It was super neat to see!

All in all, it was another fantastic trip :). Enjoy the photos!

Chris W.

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SoDak 2024

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Another trip to South Dakota in the books – once again a bit of a surprise. The Black Hills are still very wet so there were tons of flowers around, including flowers I’ve never seen before, and, I explored new-to-me areas of the hills. It was funny to find areas I passed by for years ended up having great hiking.

It was a bit surprised I could pick enough flowers to make a bouquet. Wild daisy, blanket flower, and, others were in abundance. It was wild to see. I really don’t remember so many flowers in the hills when I was younger. Maybe because it was a lot dryer?

There is a hiking area called the “Rock Maze”. It’s a lot like what it sounds: hiking between large rocks. I’ve driven by the area probably about 1,000 times and I had no idea the Rock Maze was there. I think the advent of hiking apps and social media has made it a lot easier to spread the knowledge of hidden gems and make everywhere a bit more accessible.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip out to SoDak :).

Spring 2024

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Once again, lots of different zip codes were visited this spring.

it was shocking to visit Talladaga only to find the area around talladega is extremely rural, and, the city itself is 16,000 people. Proportionately, Talladaga punches wayyyyyyy above its weight culturally considering its status in the country music scene. It was odd driving around Talladega National Forest and being inundated with forest fire smoke, very black hills-esque, and, another reason why east central / east-north-central Alabama reminds me so much of the black hills.

I think I finally found my peach pie filling recipe I’ve been searching for the last eight years with some hints from a random woman selling home made hand pies in the rural Talladaga National Forest.
Otherwise, it was fun travel out and about in the Midwest especially considering how warm and beautiful the spring has been.

I’ve spent a lot of time in South Dakota including Sioux Falls. It’s been neat to explore a new part of the state even though it’s quite ugly.

Enjoy the photos, enjoy the spring!!

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Summer 2023

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Such an odd summer for Minnesota. First we had rain. A lot of rain. Then flooding. Then it stopped raining entirely, drought set in, and smoke from Canada moved in. It’s been brutally hot. Summer has been… crap. Rapid City, where I grew up, was neon green over the 4th of July. I even saw a bunch of wild roses growing in the hills while hiking – something I’ve never seen.

Despite the crap and strange weather, we still have had a great bounty from our fruit trees and garden. It’s been fun to hike in the area, and, it’s been fun to visit new state parks in the area.

We’ve gone hiking in Wisconsin a bit more because we can go to Interstate Park so many times before it gets boring. We’re lucky the Driftless area extends as far north as it does because it makes for some neat hiking.

I guess we make do 🙂

Chris W.

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