Wall, South Dakota

Surprise! It’s supposed to snow in the area for the next few days, so we’ve taken a bit of a detour. That’s a big benefit of having a home on wheels and traveling when reservations are not necessary.

Several people we’ve talked with have mentioned that they were going to stop at Wall Drugs.

We had no idea what they were talking about until we finally Googled it after hearing out so often.

Wall Drug Store, commonly called Wall Drug, initially opened in 1931. Ted Hustead was a pharmacist who was looking for a small town with a Catholic Church in which to establish his business. Wall’s population at the time was 231.

“Business was very slow until his wife, Dorothy, got the idea to advertise free ice water to parched travelers heading to the newly opened Mount Rushmore. From that time on, business was brisk. ”

Wall Drug draws over two million visitors each year and over $10 million in sales.

How’d it get the word out? Billboards, lots of them.

Initially the billboards focused on the fee ice water.

Over 650 miles of interstate house thousands of billboards that cost Wall Drugs $400,000 each year. Not only are the billboards in South Dakota, they are scattered across the USA and the world! Here is one in Amsterdam.

Wall Drugs is now a shopping mall that consists of a drug store, gift shop, restaurants, and other stores. All entities are under the Wall business domain.

They still offer free ice water to all who visit.

They also offer a free coffee and a donut to honeymooners, priests, hunters, truck drivers, and service men and women.

*Information and quotes taken from Wikipedia.

PS I now know how they made so much money… Made in China and overpriced. 🙂

Spearfish, South Dakota

Took a tour around some beautiful ranching area on our way to Devils Tower yesterday. The picture below is from about 20 miles away showing the tower in the distance.

Devils Tower (which was supposed to be named Devil’s Tower but a typo years ago set the current name in stone) is called Bear Lodge by  some Native American tribes.

It is a HUGE geologic feature in northeastern Wyoming. “Devils Tower is a stock–a small intrusive body formed by magna which was colors underground and was later exposed by erosion. ”

“As the rock cooled, it contacted, forming hexagonal columns separated by vertical cracks. These columns are similar to those found at Devil’s Postpile National monument in California but those at Devils Tower are much larger.”

I remember visiting the Devil Postpile in California as a kid and was awestruck by it. Devils Tower elicited those same emotions.

In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument. Earlier in 1872 his actions made Yellowstone the first National Park. Both firsts can be claimed by Wyoming.

We took a walk around the base of the tower. That walk is 1.3 miles long. The boulders that have fallen off of the tower to the base are ginormous.

The tower is big! It is 867 feet tall. The circumference around the base is nearly 5300 feet. And the plateau at the top is about 200 x 400 feet in size.

While we were walking around the base we saw six climbers on their way up. You can just see one of them on the right side of this picture about a third of the way up the columns.

The tower and the area around it is sacred ground to the Native Americans. They hang prayer cloth or bundles on trees where they have offered a prayer.

Because the Native Americans are upset with people climbing the tower, visitors are asked to voluntarily not climb it during the month of June. Since beginning this, there has been an 80% reduction in climb numbers for June. (Remember the Pareto Principle?)

The area around Devils Tower is very geographically diverse as shown below.

Spearfish, South Dakota

Right next to our campground in the middle of Spearfish is the D.C. Booth Historical National Fish Hatchery and Archives. Because it is staffed with volunteers who know their stuff, we learned oodles about hatcheries.

The Booth Hatchery was built to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.

The hatchery ceased operations in the mid 1980’s. It reopened with a partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and serves as a living fisheries museum.

First stop was the museum. 

It was chock full of original tools, furniture, and supplies. The cans below were used to transport the fish to remote lakes and streams. The cans were either carried by horseback or on hikers’ backs.

Next was a replica of a train car modified to transport fish by rail car. The car housed workers in sleeping berths above the fish tanks. (I don’t even want to think what that car smelled like…)

I was surprised to see the the Department of Commerce oversaw the Bureau of Fisheries’  operation.

Of course, there were lots of fish at the hatchery…

And a wistful and wonderful bronze called Generations showing a father and daughter going fishing.

Spearfish, South Dakota

We went for a drive and a hike up the Spearfish Canyon which runs up Spearfish Creek.

Very stunning, especially with the slightest blush of fall showing.

The water in the creek is incredibly clear. That’s because it is completely fed by springs–51 to be exact.

Many parts of Dances with Wolves were filmed in areas near there.  In fact, Kevin Costner owns several business ventures in the area.

Trout were planted in the creek until the 1970’s. Now all trout in the creek are wild. We saw some trout and even saw a fisherman reeling one in.

The 1000 foot canyon walls are a combination of Englewood limestone (10-400 feet thick and reddish in color), Deadwood shale (30-60 feet thick and dark brown in color), and Paha sapa limestone (300-700 feet and buff colored that weathers to a dull gray).

The road is winding and a perfect ride for all the motorcyclsts in the road.

And there are several waterfalls to take short hikes to and visit.

Hill City, South Dakota

We stayed in Hill City for a week. It was our home base for touring the middle and southern portions on the Black Hills.

During our drives, we came across some interesting sights.

We traveled through the small town of Deerfield and saw this sign informing us that the population is 2 and on the weekend it’s 13.

Deerfield Lake is quite pretty, and there were lots of fishermen trying their luck.

There is a drive through Custer State Park called the Wildlife Loop. It’s a very pretty drive, and we did, in fact, see some wildlife including antelope, a marmot, and some burros.

The burros are descendants of animals once used for guided pack trips many years ago. After they were no longer needed, the animals were set loose. Now they cozy up to cars looking for handouts.

There are about a half a dozen tunnels throughout the Black Hills. Three of them frame Mount Rushmore as you drive through. (Not my photo.)

And there is one ‘tunnel’ that is a particularly tight fit!

And yet we all stupidly tried to fit through it… 🙂

There are a series of pigtails bridges, also known as spiral bridges. Picturesque and functional, these would be fun on a motorcycle. (Not my photos.)

I would come back to the Black Hills in a heartbeat. There is so much to do here, and you can easily get away from the crowds because there are hundreds of miles of back country roads.

Fourwheelers and side-by-sides are common sights on those roads and the highways as well.

Hill City, South Dakota

Hill City and the surrounding small towns around the South Black Hills have lots of art work decorating the streets.

In Custer City, there are dozens of painted buffalo on display on their main street.

In Hill City, some of the shops have amazing animals built out of recycled tools and metal parts and scraps.

In all of the surrounding cities, chain saw carvers work their extraordinary magic…

And there are enough wineries, distilleries, and breweries to meet everyone’s needs.