Larry A. Smail's Blog

Inside the lodge

Our eastward expansion crossed into the border of South Dakota. At the town of Spearfish we began heading southerly and there they were the magnificent Black Hills. The route to our lodge was squeezed between high steep rocky hills. These jutted from the ground level and mostly went straight towards the sky! The lodge we would be staying is the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. (Some scenes from the movie “Dances With Wolves” were shot a few miles from this lodge.)  

Spearfish Canyon Lodge

I stared in amazement at those grandiose rocky hills. Many glowed orange-yellow from the rays of the early evening sun. No wonder the Indians held the Black Hills with such reverence!

The glow!

   A few native American tribes known to have inhabited this area of South Dakota were the Cheyenne; Kiowa; Pawnee; Crow and in the 18th century the Sioux. (Lakota) The latter arrived here from their earlier Minnesota range. The westward movements and the discovering of gold would eventually lead to war. The defeat of Custer in 1876 was  the result of this war. Wounded Knee is another well-known event because of this war. many Sioux women; elderly and children were massacred because of the American government’s need of these lands.                                

From this lodging site we would be visiting such places as the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Morse Memorials and Devil’s Tower. (More of these adventures in a separate entry.)                                                    

Early in the following morning I would be exiting the lodge for a few hours of hiking. I left at 5:35A.M. This hike was in hopes of seeing the sun rising and illuminating the western rocks. I, also hoped to see wildlife. The hike was very photogenic, but all I saw was a Great Blue Heron and two kingfishers this morning. The thrill of wondering what was to be found around the next bend was exciting to me.

Later while traveling to see some of the earlier sites we were able to see superb landscapes. I mentioned to Laurie how I could envision painted Sioux warriors quietly moving their ponies through the pine forests and grassy knolls. I could see these great men as if they were actually there!  Weird huh!           

Little Spearfish Falls

The following morning allowed a shorter time for a hike. I emerged early again and headed up the Little Spearfish Creek. I wanted to see the Roughlock falls. I edged the watercourse seeing  great blue herons and a little gray bird known as the Dipper. this amazing bird feeds while walking underwater in fast-moving streams.

I discovered the falls and after some photographs I headed downstream again hating to need to cut this hike short. I approached a sizable pool of clear water and I could see many Cutthroat trout swimming about. If I only had a rod and reel!(The Cutthroat trout gets its name due to red colors on the gill cover.)        

Roughlock Falls

Over the last copy of days I was noticing a number of white-tailed deer. I would see a lot of these deer over the next several days! We saw the broad-tailed Hummingbird too.