Parks & Monuments

Unless you can rock climb, or have made contact with aliens, there is no way to the top of Devil’s Tower. This geological marvel was made famous in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of a Third Kind and if you stand really still you can hear that 4 note melody… on the … Read More

Simply put, Custer State Park may be the nation’s very best state park. It is 71,000 acres of forests, lakes, dramatic granite spires, hiking trails, historic lodges, fine dining, a professional theater company, and a bison herd. If this park doesn’t trip your trigger, you should probably consider taking an … Read More

What’s the dumbest thing you can do while visiting the Black Hills?  Several things come to mind, including ill-advised encounters with big, nondomestic animals.  Also ranking up there would be saying,”Let’s skip Mount Rushmore.  I saw it as a kid and obviously nothing’s changed.”Actually there have been big changes over … Read More

What’s the fastest way to land yourself in jail in the Black Hills?  Federal trespassing in an attempt to climb up to the Mount Rushmore heads gets the job done in a heartbeat.But it’s an entirely different story at the other Black Hills mountain carving, Crazy Horse Memorial.  Twice a … Read More

The Black Hills region is cave country.  Officially it’s home to two of the world’s top ten longest caves, but tell that to some locals and they’ll just roll their eyes.  That’s because they’re pretty sure the two caves are actually one, although connecting passageways haven’t yet been mapped and … Read More

Enter through the gates of Devils Tower National Monument, shoot some pictures of prairie dogs wreaking havoc just inside the gates, but then don’t turn into a sheep.  You don’t have to follow the herd of cars headed to the visitor center parking lot.  Instead keep a lookout for Joyner … Read More