South Dakota's Lesser Known Tourist Stops

We went to the church service at the local church near our campground in Rapid City, South Dakota, and then were on the road by 11:00. We didn't pull off at the normal tourist stops on this route--Badlands National Park, Walls Drug, and the Missile Site National Historic Site. We made those three stops on a trip two years ago. But we did stop at two of the state's lesser known tourist stops. The first one was at a South Dakota rest area to see the "Dignity of Earth and Sky" statue.

This stainless steel statue was gifted to the state, and her clothing is patterned after the traditional garments of the Native American women of the 1850s. Three Lakota women were used as models for the face of Dignity. Not exactly a size 6, she is 50 feet tall, and 32 feet wide. Her quilt is made of 128 diamonds that are four feet across, and painted in the colors of the South Dakota water and sky. LED lights highlight the diamonds after dark, and we bet she's a beauty at night.

To stretch our legs, we took a hike down the walking path that starts at the rest area.

We took a picture from the viewpoint overlooking the Missouri River.

We hustled back to the visitor center, only to find that it closed just minutes before. But Denisa took a picture of the museum's replica of the boat used by Lewis and Clark as they made their way up the Missouri River on their great adventure. The Lewis and Clark expedition spent a night here in 1904.

We were making the long drive across South Dakota through fields of corn, wheat, and maize, and a surprising number of fields of sunflowers as we drove along I-90 all day. 

We drove through rain much of the day with an unusual weather advisory warning of "Reduced visibility ahead."

The other stop of the day was at the Sodak natural Foods truck. We learned that "Sodak" is short for South Dakota, and all the beef, pork, chicken, and lamb comes from a ranch 13 miles down the gravel road. They positioned the food truck here along I-90, and plan to build a restaurant on this same land in the near future. For now, we can say that we were one of their first customers, and our beef platter was very good.

We had reservations at our next Boondockers Welcome site just outside Mitchell, South Dakota. We parked in the field behind a local's house, and we had our first mosquito swarm of the summer. We were lucky that this was our first time to be bothered by bugs for this long trip. We had planned to eat at our host's Bistro, but they were closed for Labor Day. So instead, we took a walk down Mitchell's Main Street. This town is best known for its corn.

Mitchell is famous for its Corn Palace, and we got there when it opened at 9:00. The entire outside of the palace is covered with local grain products. In the United States in the late 1800's, there were 34 different corn prairie palaces. All the rest have come and gone, and this is the world's only Corn Palace now.

The indoor lobby has many signboards, describing the history of the Corn Palace and the celebrities that have visited Mitchell, South Dakota, for the annual Corn Festival. They also have displays explaining the process of cutting the cobs in half and attaching them to the walls. Corn is grown in many different colors to make the shading possible for the murals that adorn the inside and outside walls of the palace.

Corn murals line the arena walls in the interior of the palace.

The indoor murals have been up for many years, and are based on South Dakota history. We were surprised at the large number of people visiting the Corn Palace this morning. Then we discovered that they were hosting the state children's pedal tractor pull. 

We would have stayed to watch the competition, as they add an increasing amount of weight to the trailer as the children pedal the tractor. But things didn't start until 11:00, and we had plenty of miles to travel this day. Later this year, the Corn Palace will host the national pedal pull competition, where the state winners will all vie for the national title.

We thought the columns in the foyer were nicely tiled to look like huge multi-colored corn cobs.

The many-colored real cobs were also on display.

While the inside murals stay for years, the outside murals are replaced every year. The theme for the 2025 murals were "Wonders of the World." At one time the plans were painstakingly colored and plotted by hand. Now the images are computer-generated into a giant paint-by-number grid that will use local seeds and cobs instead of paint.

The murals were still a work in progress in August. Looking at the side of the Corn Palace, we could see that most of the work was done on the murals.

But the decorative finishes around the murals were not completed. You can see Denisa standing at the base of the wall to give some degree of the size of the palace.

We took a closer picture of the finished mural of Australia's Opera House.

Besides using corn cobs, they also make use of native grasses and seeds. This section had the grasses outlining the stars, and the golden straw stars. The star of the show in Mitchell, South Dakota is definitely the Corn Palace. Even though we drove right by some of South Dakota's biggest tourist sites, we'll give a big thumbs up to some of the state's lesser known stops.

Welcome to South Dakota

It was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and the crowds were beginning to filter into the Big Horn Mountains just as we were hooking up the trailer to leave. It was 46 degrees when we were leaving our camp site on this August weekend. After several days with clouds and rain and a shady site, our lithium battery was down to 40%--the lowest of this journey. While Mark was outside getting ready to leave, a moose cow and calf ran right beside him. What a nice farewell from the Big Horn Mountains! We drove four miles out of our way to dump the tanks at the very nice forest service dump station. (You know you are a hard core Rver when you describe dump stations as "very nice.") Since we were leaving on a steep road we wanted to get the weight of the water out of the tanks.

We found lots of warning signs as we left the top of the Big Horn Mountains. The road out was a very steep 9% grade!

We saw four different signs warning us that this steep grade was hard on brakes. A mandatory brake check requires vehicles with trailers to stop.

It was also interesting that the maximum speed for trucks coming down this mountain road was 20 miles per hour.

In the distance we could see the tallest knob on the mountain. That was where we hiked to the fire lookout tower a couple days before.

The pickup and driver handled this steep drive like experts. The drive took us through the fire damage from last summer's wild fires. Whole mountains were burned all the way to the town of Draper.                

We wound through miles of sharp curves making that steep descent.

We filled up with gasoline in Montana right before we crossed the South Dakota border, where prices went up fifty cents per gallon. Welcome to South Dakota--the 12th state in this journey.

We traveled 282 miles this day, a very large number for us. We were obviously hurrying to get back home. We packed a picnic lunch to eat early because we wanted to be especially hungry for our special treat dinner tonight. We pulled into Three Flags RV Park, a Passport America discount campground in Rapid City, South Dakota, for a one-night stay.

Then we drove several miles to Fort Hays, where we had reservations for the chuckwagon dinner and show. While the buildings at Fort Hays look like they were circa 1880, they were actually built in 1989. This was the movie set for some of the scenes in the movie "Dances with Wolves."

Kevin Costner played the role of John J. Dunbar, and they had a multitude of movie souvenirs displayed around Fort Hays.

This was the room where Dunbar was given his posting orders in one scene from the movie.

Mark stood on the "x" on the floor where Kevin Costner stood while they were filming.

A saw mill and supply house were actually operational and also used in scenes for the movie.

This movie set would have been torn down, but a man by the name of Herman Jones decide to buy it and make it into a South Dakota landmark. Mr. Jones still works in the rope shop, where he shows tourists how to make ropes the way they did it in the 1880's.

This particular rope was made from toilet paper, showing that even quite soft material can form a tough rope when wound tightly enough. While working on his rope, Mr. Jones quoted bible verses and ended his demonstration with a prayer.

We also stopped in at the Tin Shop, where they were making tin pans using a machine from the 1880s. These tin pans can be stamped and personalized for purchase, and they let child volunteers help. Any tin pans not purchased are used as plates for the chuckwagon dinner.

We came for the chuckwagon show, but anyone can stop by to see the outdoor exhibits and photo ops at Fort Hays. They have a recorded tour, with information about each building. We listened to most of them while we waited for the dinner bell.

Visitors can also buy a ticket for the roller coaster that whisks passengers down the mountain. From the top of this hill we could see far into the Black Hills of South Dakota with Mount Rushmore in the distance. Another draw for tourists to visit Fort Hays was the breakfast, with unlimited pancakes.

It was raining when we arrived at Fort Hays. But by the time we rode the bison, the skies were a beautiful shade of blue.

The dinner bell clanged at 6:30, and we formed a line. They piled our tin plate up with our choice of beef or chicken, baked beans, a flattened baked potato, and chunky applesauce. They laid a piece of waxed paper over that layer to add biscuits, honey, and a slice of spice cake on top. We were handed a tin cup filled with our choice of coffee or lemonade, and then we were seated at long lines of picnic tables. Seated close to the other tourists, we soon got to know our neighbors. This Labor Day weekend we ate with a couple celebrating their 29th anniversary, a young couple from Colorado married 14 months ago, and a couple visiting from North Dakota. We realized how small the world was when we found that the husband from North Dakota was actually raised in Oklahoma. When we asked where in Oklahoma, he replied that it was a tiny place that we would have never heard of--Slapout. Doesn't everyone know where Slapout, Oklahoma is?!? He was raised on a farm just 15 miles from where Denisa grew up. Even though we were divided by a different school district and a decade of time, we found we had many friends in common. After visiting and eating, the show started and we had a good hour of wholesome entertainment. Welcome to South Dakota!

We're not wet--yet and Moose day #3

We were up at 6:00, eating a fast breakfast of cereal so we could get out quickly for another moose hunt. Temperatures were in the low 40s, when we spotted our first moose of the day--

a cow and calf moose heading across the open meadow. 

We saw that our camping neighbor had beat us out of the campground this morning. They were already parked at one of our favorite willow spots, counting the moose.

We watched as a moose cow and calf approached the fence. That fence was no obstacle for the long-legged mother.

The clouds and her silhouette made one of our favorite pictures of the morning. The clouds made it look like it could rain any time, but we're not wet--yet.

The moose calf looked a little bewildered on what he should do. That fence was an obstacle to him.

That gave us an opportunity to show how this year's moose hunting was harder than our previous trip. The last time we were in the Big Horn Mountains, when we spotted a black dot in the distance we knew it was a moose. But with the ranchers leasing the late summer grass, there were cattle everywhere. That black dot was usually an Angus cow this year. We found that it was not unusual for the cattle and moose to co-mingle.

Along with our camping friends, we found seven moose at that stop. That included mature bulls . . .

and more calves hunkered down in the brush.

Just in case you would think that we only take pictures of moose, we can say that the deer population seems to be doing well in these mountains as well.

We headed five miles down highway 14A to see if the three resident bulls were in sight this morning. Just like clockwork, they were nibbling the willow shoots in the valley.

But we noticed a little animosity among the group this morning. They were clashing antlers in a little jostling match to see who was the toughest of this trio.

Just like a group of school boys on the playground, they stopped their games and came to attention when a female sauntered by.

We spotted a bull with a much larger rack striding near the fence on the other side of the highway.

He stopped to pose for the group of cars that had paused along the highway to see him. We love it that Highway 14A is a less-traveled road with wide shoulders that allow for safe stopping to watch the wildlife.

Another moose cow and calf also stopped for a photo opportunity.

But the bull with the most impressive rack of the day was the star of the show. We continued to watch him for a quarter of a mile.

When he got to the corner of the fence, he easily jumped over and headed up the mountain.

It was a good morning to be out moose hunting, and we weren't wet--yet. Our morning wildlife totals were:

24 moose

19 deer

1 marmot

We stopped in for a piece of pie at Bear Lodge, as well as to send a couple text messages using their free wifi. Then at 9:00 a.m., we head south on Highway 14 towards a hike. On the way we spotted another big group of domestic sheep.

While not as impressive as the thousands we saw on a different day, this time we spotted a sheep dog among the flock.

The dog was standing at attention at the edge of the flock of sheep--all displaying numbers on their backs.

It was still in the 40's this August morning, with no break in the clouds. But we weren't wet--yet. The rocky outcrops made for a pretty landscape picture . . .

and if you look carefully, you can spot two moose in the valley below. We verified with binoculars that they weren't Angus.

While the wooden rail fences certainly can't keep the wildlife in, they usually do a pretty good job with the cows. But this morning, a couple of cowboys on horseback were wrangling a bunch of cattle back into the fenced area.

The hike for the day was down dirt forest service roads. At first we found lots of trailers pulled off and enjoying some free boondocking spots on these little-traveled back roads.

It took us an hour to drive the 18 miles on Forest Service Road 26. We went slowly over the washboard roads past Flue Campground and Dead Swede Campground. Driving on these narrow roads was like hiking--but our legs didn't get tired because we were riding in the pickup. There was an occasional signpost that explained this was an old stagecoach road. Another sign pointed out the remnants of a flu dam that was used to float fallen logs down the mountain.

It seemed like this should be an ideal spot to see wildlife. But these two deer were the only thing we saw on our long drive.

We finally arrived at the trailhead for the Saw Mill Lakes Trail. We headed out through the forest, and we're not wet--yet.

This trail included three lakes. We arrived at the first reservoir just as we met two fishermen leaving. They explained that the area drought meant the lake was down four feet in the last two weeks. Our lake pictures would have been better with blue skies. But we weren't wet--yet.

The fishermen also noted that it was tough to get around the big rocks on the side of the lake, so we shouldn't attempt that. To Mark, that sounded like a challenge.

He obviously got up and around those big rocks.

To Denisa, the fishermen's words sounded like good advice. Besides, she had a date with the raspberries growing on this side of the big rocks.

They were red and ripe for picking!

From afar, Denisa zoomed into Mark's sketchy attempts at getting back down off those steep rocks.

We headed further down the trail through the forest . . .

to the second . . .

and third Saw Mill Lakes. We loved finding these isolated mountain lakes! The water on the third lake was like glass, and would have made for a beautiful picture if it weren't for all those gray clouds. But we weren't wet--yet.

On our hike back to the pickup, we stopped along Coney Creek for a picture by a waterfall. If this picture had sound, you would hear the deafening roar of that creek tumbling over all those rocks.

We had hiked 2.8 miles with little elevation gain on the Saw Mill Lakes Trail. After a lunch at a picnic area just down the road, we decided to take advantage of the long drive to take another hike. We decided to start on the Twin Lakes Trail. The clouds were gray, but we weren't wet--yet.

From this vantage point we could see both of the twin lakes in one photo.

To get a good view of the second larger twin, we had to hike the entire length of the dam. As we climbed over the dam we got the view of the lake . . . and the view of the approaching rain storm. The mountains in the distance were completely shrouded in the rain that was headed our way.

We picked up our hiking pace, and we had an amazingly fast time on the trip back to the pickup. After a day under the clouds, we can no longer say that we weren't wet. We were in fact very wet. We had added another 1.3 miles to today's total, but we probably pushed our luck too far.

Back inside the warm and dry pickup with the heater blasting in August, we shared the melting coconut cream pie from Bear Lodge. We're keeping up our one-pie-per-day challenge.

The 18-mile trip back down the long washboard road was in different degrees of rain showers. In all that hiking time and over two hours of driving time on dirt roads in remote locations, we saw only a few vehicles and just two deer. Obviously all the moose were hanging out at the highway!

We headed back to Bear Lodge to use the wifi to plan the last couple stops on our journey home. Then we headed back to the trailer to cook dinner. This was our last evening for a moose hunt, but the rainy day and cloudy skies made it feel like it was getting dark early. We drove our usual route, but found few moose. Had the rainy weather changed their schedule? The sun finally came out, with a rainbow in the sky, and we got one good shot of a bull among the willows.

A fellow wildlife spotter reported he saw elk near the woods, so we headed in that direction. Sure enough, we saw several standing in the shadows of the forest.

We saw more when we moved to a different vantage point. And then HE showed up.

Out of the shadows of the woods, a ten-point buck elk stepped out. He posed in the open, even giving us a side view so we could count the points.

Just as quickly, he turned around and headed back into the woods. We're not sure how he could navigate among the trees with that huge rack on his head.

We were actually looking at the other side of the highway, where the sun was lighting up the meadows. After a day of clouds, it was nice to see the blue skies this evening

That's when Mark turned back to the woods to see that a herd of a dozen elk cow and calves had emerged from the woods.

It was like watching a nature documentary, as the big bull later came out of the woods to check on his harem.

He threw back his head and bugled a warning to any elk bulls in the area. That sound of an elk bugle gave us happy goose bumps!

Then he herded his women and children back into the safety of the forest.

The moose totals were low this evening, with only 16 on our tally sheet. But the elk were the stars of the show this evening, and made up for it. It was getting too dark to spot wildlife, so we headed back to our campground seven miles away. We enjoyed the changing colors of the clouds as the sun was setting.

This was an amazing area that we both love! As we pulled into our camp site, we saw the bushes moving. A moose was just a few feet from our trailer! While it was too dark for a picture, we'll count that as moose number 17 for our last evening in the Big Horn Mountains. It was another great day--even though we did get wet.