As you read about last week last time I posted (whenever that was, it’s been a while), the first stop of our March roadtrip was Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Our afternoon at the monument was spent beneath sunny skies, slathering ourselves in sunscreen as the temperature rose to an unseasonably warm 82°F (28°C).
The next morning, we woke to a soggy landscape and temperatures hovering barely above freezing, and as we headed east from Wyoming into South Dakota, there was a dusting of snow on the surrounding hilltops. Today was clearly going to be a very different type of day.
Fortunately, the first thing on our agenda today was the roughly 1.5-hour drive to the northern terminus of Spearfish Canyon. Hopefully, by the time we arrived, the weather would be slightly warmer.
It wasn’t.
As we left the town of Spearfish behind and turned into the canyon, the upper reaches of the rock walls were shrouded in fog.
The discovery of gold originally drew white settlers to the Spearfish region, and a railroad was constructed through the canyon to supply the mining camps and transport the ore. From what I remember learning, though, the mines were never overly profitable and were eventually abandoned. The railroad was later wiped out by flooding, and today Highway 14A traverses the canyon instead.
Our first stop, next to the highway just a short distance into the canyon, was Bridal Veil Falls.
Next was an old hydroelectric plant, which also serves as the starting point for the hike to Devil’s Bathtub. This was a recommendation I’d received from a friend. She and I hike together frequently and I trust her recommendations, so I had added this trail our itinerary without doing any research on it. Now that we were here, within the confines of the canyon and with no phone service, I was regretting that decision.
After wandering around aimlessly for a few minutes, unable to find a trailhead sign of any kind, my husband and I were on the verge of giving up. The only thing that looked remotely like a trail was an extremely muddy path wedged between the creek and the road that seemed to lead nowhere.
Right: the path to the actual Devil’s Bathtub trailhead
But, in fact, it did lead to somewhere. It turns out the Devil’s Bathtub trailhead is on private property, and no parking is allowed. We were parked in the correct place, and the muddy trail took us to a private driveway and across Spearfish Creek to the trailhead sign (along with numerous signs warning us to stay on the trail and not trespass onto the private property that surrounded us).
The trail almost immediately crossed a smaller side creek (the one flowing out of the canyon we were about to be hiking up) on what was decidedly not a bridge. It then proceeded to cross this creek another roughly 15 times over the course of the next 0.8 miles (1.3 km). And no, that number is not an exaggeration. This hike took us far longer than expected due to the constant creek-crossing acrobatics.
Add in the cold, damp weather (it had warmed up to maybe 40°F (4°C) and the sun had not made an appearance), wet rocks, and the muddy and, in places, snow-covered trail, and this was quickly turning into much more of an adventure than we were expecting.
It was, however, worth the effort.
The contours of the canyon became neater the further we hiked, and eventually we rounded the bend to find ourselves at the back of the canyon next to a pool that did bear somewhat of a resemblance to a bathtub.
Because of the topography, there isn’t a lot of room to explore here. It was also still pretty cold, so we didn’t stay long. Besides, we still had to cross the creek another 15 times if we were going to make it back to the car.
Our next stop, a few miles up the road, was Savoy, home to two more waterfalls, as well as a lodge and some other amenities (most of which were closed this time of year). One of the closures was the Roughlock Falls Road, which meant if we wanted to see Roughlock Falls, we were going to have to hike there.
A trail parallels the road, ascending gently for approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) up to what turned out to be a very unique, two-tiered waterfall.
The sun had now finally made an appearance, though the trail was still in the shade. The road, however, was in the sun, so we decided to just walk it back to our car.
From here, we crossed the highway to Spearfish Falls. There’s a viewpoint at the brink of the falls, but frankly it’s not a great view. Thankfully, there’s a 0.8 mile (1.3 km) round trip trail that drops down to the base and, if you’re capable of hiking down a little bit of a steep hill (and then climbing back up it on the hike out), I highly recommend it.
(That said, I recommend doing it earlier in the day so your waterfall photos aren’t backlit by the sun like mine are.)
For us, this was the end of our Spearfish Canyon adventures. Beyond this point, the canyon begins to open up and there are many private residences. The remaining few miles passed quickly and without any stops.
Our hotel for the night was much further south in Custer, South Dakota, so after emerging from the canyon we headed south along Highway 385. The road travels along the shore of Pactola Reservoir, and we enjoyed the views from various pullouts along the way.
Lastly, we stopped for a few minutes at the South Dakota State Railroad Museum in Hill City. The indoor portion was closed for the season, but we wandered around the outdoor exhibits.
We had a couple hours left in our day still and considered making a stop at Mount Rushmore en route to our hotel, but despite the sunshine overhead, there were low-hanging clouds all around us. Probably not the ideal weather for a visit to a mountain with faces carved into it.
Mount Rushmore will just have to wait until next time.
Up next: an unexpected stop at the highest point in Iowa
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