We spent the day driving around the southern part of the Black Hills. It was another beautiful, hot day!
These first couple of photos are overlooking Pactola Reservoir. The reservoirs in the Black Hills were build after WWII, in the 40’s and 50’s to help with flooding, but mostly for irrigation downstream.
This is Sheridan Lake (another reservoir):
In Hill City is the west end of the “1880 Train” / Black Hills Central Railroad (between Hill City and Keystone). Brian is beside one of the permanent displays… Steam Engine #7, 1919, hauling timber out of the Black Hills:
We stopped at Crazy Horse Memorial… still under construction. This first photo is what it looks like today:
This photo shows where they plan to take the mountain:
And this photo is of a to-scale sculpture of how the Memorial is expected to look, once finished:
Here’s a zoomed look at the Memorial:
We went up to the Mt. Coolidge Lookout, and we were able to see Crazy Horse:
We could also see George Washington over at the Mount Rushmore Memorial, but photos just didn’t do it justice. Here’s Brian, spy-glassing from the Mt. Coolidge Lookout:
We stopped in at Wind Cave National Park, hoping to into the caves. Unfortunately we were unable to get into the caves… the 1934 elevator was closed for repairs.
We ended our southern Black Hills day in Hot Springs for supper in one of the local bars, and a visit to the Farmer’s Market, complete with live music!