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If you like going off the beaten path then I suggest hiking the Mickelson Trail, hiking Harney Peak, Boulder Peak, or Storm Mountain, and spelunking in one of the many caves of the Black Hills. There's so much to do in the Black Hills for the adventurist!
If you go to Hill City, try eating at the Alpine Inn too!
SCGranny,
According to your last post, you are a “off the beaten track” type of person. Wow, my kind of individual!
For you and all those on this forum that enjoy using satellite image maps to find your way around, there is a new image site that I think blows all the others out of the water. It is called Flash Earth. Simply type in “Flash Earth” on any search engine, and within seconds, Flash Earth can be on your screen. “No lengthy downloads to wait for”. All the maps can be zoomed in and use arrow keys to move around. When the screen comes up there is a 4” x 5” insert which describes it. Flash Earth is so easy you don’t even need to read those instructions. Simply click the insert with your left mouse button and it disappears leaving you on the Flash Earth map. In the upper left corner, choose “Microsoft VE (labels)”. This is by far the best choice. That gives you all the names of the roads, streets, creeks, towns, trails and lakes, etc. etc. Believe me I have tried all the other categories. If you know ahead of time the Lat & Long, this can be typed into the box in the lower right corner. Once your description is typed in, click on the small magnifying glass, and the map immediately takes you to the area you want. You can also type in a town or a full address. Don’t forget the zip code.
SCGranny, here are a couple interesting sites you will not want to miss. These are all very near Keystone, SD.
Ingersol Mine:
Lat = 43 54 37N
Long = 103 27 11W
The Ingersol is owned by a gentleman from Montana. He has given the Ingersol to the SD School of Mines, providing they clean up the road to the mine so cars can drive it and make the area safe. The owner wants it to be made available to “off the roaders” and rockhunters for their enjoyment. Great specimens of Lepidolite can be found here. A very velvety purple crystal.
Beryl Mine
Lat = 43 53 39N
Long = 103 26 32W
Mount Rushmore
Lat = 43 52 44N
Long 103 27 32W
The one thing to remember when typing in the Lat & Long is Lat numbers are always first. Spaces and commas need to be exact. Example:
43 space52space44Ncomma space 103space27space32W
You might also check out the mining museum in Lead where the old Homestake mine is. They do not give tours of the mine any more, and they do not mine gold any more, but I hear the mine will be used by the National Science Foundation. I agree you should go to Spearfish Canyon. Things can be pretty frozen still in March, but there is definitely still plenty to do.
From Hill City to Custer, on Highway 16. This is a list of the mines that are within a half mile of the highway. Almost every one of them has drivable access. Won't be any tours, these are all old and abandon now. Some have the original shacks, entryways to the mines and even barrels, tools, carts, etc.
Exercise extreme caution. The forestry department and the state have tried to clean these up and make them safe, but they can only do so much.
Tin Chance Mine
Wolfram Lode
Gertie Mine
Olympia Mine
Naiad Queen Lode Mine
Sally Cavanaugh Mine
Butte Group Mine
Tin King Mine
Deacon Wright Load Mine
Oreville Spar Mine
Louise and Hunter Mine
Cheyenne Lode Mine
High Climb Mine
Gira and Ainesleys D*I*K*E Mine ( take out the astericks. The curse filter wouldn't let me spell it normally. haha)
Sky Lode Mine
Tenderfoot Group Mine
Saw Lode Mine
Old Bill Mine
Gold Fish Group Mine
Golden Crown Mine
Old Jeff Mine
Ballard Mine
Crown Mine
Homestead Number 3
Homestead Number 2
All of your information is great, my wife and I are comming up to Rapid city in May, around the 17th. We will be there for around 3 or 4 days. It is our annual anniversary trip. We will also be scouting the area for the possibility of moving there when we retire in 2009.
Wow, thanks for all the recommendations! I appreciate you all!
This is going to be fun!
Grin.
SC, have you or anyone from your family been to the Black Hills area? I have a feeling that once you get there, you may have found your new relocation area.
LOL no Jammie, that's why we are going. I have always wanted to visit there; we love the mountains, but want to look for farmland, and rocky mountains are not always conducive to growing things.
We are content with being in the hills and having proximity to rocky areas and their views and vistas. I don't want to have to buy cattle and horses that have their off-legs shorter than their opposites just to stand! LOL
After we have a great 3-day weekend visit, my son and his wife have to go home to Las Vegas (they are in college) and my daughter and I will spend the next two weeks looking at properties. We have a list of 6 already; in ND and NE, although unfortunately have not found any listings, for what we want in our price range, in SD. We hope to see more when we get there!
PS I sent the links to my son and daughter for this page, so that they could see what ya'll recommended, and they were totally amazed at how helpful ya'll were to strangers. They are looking forward to seeing everything ya'll have described. Thanks a bunch! My daughter Tammy said last night, "Mama, I knew you could make friends anywhere, so I wasn't really worried about you moving, but wow! Those folks are great! Good choice!"
SC, what a day brightener!!! Yesterday someone posted something very complimentary and now you did, too. How uplifting cause some of my days don't go like this.
We were down in SC a couple of years ago, and we thought the people down there were friendly, too. I do believe that certain areas of the country are friendlier then others. People themselves may be a lot alike, but some areas just don't seem to emit the feeling that you can approach someone and I guess that's the way they just live. Maybe it's a safety issue or something???
I think I understand what you're looking for now. The only thing is~if you tour some of the areas you're looking at, your mind will still keep wandering back to the Hills. Those old Paha Sapa are pretty mystical.
Ingersol Mine:
Lat = 43 54 37N
Long = 103 27 11W
The Ingersol is owned by a gentleman from Montana. He has given the Ingersol to the SD School of Mines, providing they clean up the road to the mine so cars can drive it and make the area safe. The owner wants it to be made available to “off the roaders” and rockhunters for their enjoyment. Great specimens of Lepidolite can be found here. A very velvety purple crystal.
My dad used to mine the Ingersoll. I spent a lot of time where when I was a child. We lived just down the mountain. My brother and I knew every nook & cranny of the mill. Ah, nostalgia.
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Mines
Comming in May
