Outdoor Adventures

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-Spearfish Canyon Hikes
-Hiking Crow Peak and Lookout Mountain
-Other outdoor activities
-Day Trip to the Southern Hills
-Day Trip to Devil's Tower in Wyoming
-Deadwood

Outdoor hikes and other adventures: All of the adventures in this first section are within easy reach of Coyote Ridge Lodge. The day-trip entries in the next section require at least an hour of driving.

Bridal Veil Falls: You can’t miss this drive-by waterfall, on your left about 6 miles up the canyon road. Lots of pull-off parking and usually lots of people. Impressive if
there is water in the Hills; not so much in dry seasons. But it can form a huge, beautiful ice curtain in winter.

Roughlock Falls is the most popular falls, and with good reason. Halfway up the canyon, at Savoy, turn right at the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. About a mile up the road is a nice picnic area with restrooms. Little Spearfish Creek, clear and cold, meanders through the picnic area and forms a spectacular falls just below. You’ll find excellent walkways and viewing areas and you can make a lovely, gentle downhill hike all the way back to the Spearfish Canyon Lodge on the main road (except then you have to get back to your car).

Spearfish Falls: Park at the Latchstring Inn in Savoy, across the main road from Spearfish Canyon Lodge, and take the trail down below the Inn to a view of Little Spearfish Creek falls tumbling over a rocky cliff. It’s another very nice hiking path above and below the falls.

Squaw Creek and Devil’s Bathtub: A more challenging but also beautiful hike, up Squaw Creek, will take you to a magnificent natural pool – Devil’s Bathtub. The cold creek water sluices down a natural rock slide and into the pool. The hike is a little adventuresome – you have to cross the creek several times; hard not to get your boots wet – but very worthwhile, especially on a hot day. To get there drive up Spearfish Canyon road, turn left at the ‘Cleopatra Place’ sign and park, then cross the bridge over Spearfish Creek and look for the trail head. This is a favorite with locals.

Hiking: Endless possibilities in addition to Spearfish Canyon. Try Crow Peak (west of Spearfish) or Bear Butte (in Sturgis); lots more. Check out the Black Hills National Forest office at the north end of town for maps and more information. You can also find extensive hiking guide in the Spearfish website: www.visitspearfish.com.

Hiking Crow Peak and Lookout Mountain:  Although it’s not exactly the heart of the wilderness, the Lookout Mountain hiking trail is close by and will take you through pine forest, rocky ravines and up to a dramatic summit overlooking Spearfish. You will also get sweeping views of Crow Peak, Spearfish Mountain, Bear Butte and the northern prairie. Easiest access (as you’re going into town): Turn left from Christensen Drive onto Colorado Blvd. Then take the next right onto Sandstone Hills Drive (cross under the interstate). Then right on Branding Iron Drive; then left onto a short spur called Pony Express Lane. (Clearly the person in charge of street names wears cowboy boots.) You’ll find a small parking lot there, and the trail head. (If you’re using navigation, the house address next to that parking lot is 2011 Pony Express Lane.)

Crow Peak is another nearby hike, more challenging but also much more pristine and quiet. Also has great views from the summit. The first half is a gentle climb; the second half is rocky and steeper, with many switchbacks. The trailhead is on Higgins Gulch Road, just west of town.

A third hiking option, just a mile down the road from the cabin, is the top of the ridge at the State Game, Fish and Parks HQ. If you turn left from the Maitland Rd. onto Christensen Drive going toward town, you’ll soon see the HQ sign. Take a hard right into the driveway and then turn left where you see a parking sign and drive up the short hill to a parking lot. From there hike up to the hilltop and surrounding fields. You are certain to see deer, sometimes in the hundreds, and we occasionally hear coyotes as the sun is going down. When summer thunderstorms are rolling across the prairie north of Spearfish this ridge is a perfect viewing stand for spectacular lightning displays. Parking lot GPS: 44.454115 -103.812367

Tubing Spearfish Creek: right through town (chilly water though). You may have to bring your own tubes. I haven’t found a place that rents them.

Other Outdoor Activities:

Golf: Spearfish Canyon Golf Course. Left at the canyon entrance. Can’t miss it. More courses nearby.

Sand Creek: (just over the Wyoming border) is beautiful, and popular for fly fishing.

Ranch A: (further up Sand Creek Canyon) is a large, beautiful log lodge built by Moses Annenberg in 1932. Notice the dovetailed log corners and other details of Finnish log building techniques. It has a storied history.

Fishing: fly fishing – in Spearfish Creek (the Canyon is beautiful, but experts say there are more and bigger trout in sections where the Creek runs right through town). Also try Sand Creek. New Outfitter on Main St., next to Leone’s Creamery.

Rock climbing: limestone routes in Spearfish Canyon; dozens of nearby locations. Tony Goodson, the Coyote Ridge Lodge caretaker, is an expert climber, knows good routes and can take groups. 

Mountain Biking: the Centennial Trail, or the Mickelson Trail (old railroad bed; goes through tunnels and over old trestles), lots more. Bike rentals may be available at Spearfish Canyon Lodge. There are also four used but serviceable mountain bikes available for use at the cabin.

Caving and Rock hounding: especially in the southern hills.

Birding: great bird habitat, especially for meadowlarks, thrushes, hawks and eagles, grouse, turkey, and my favorite the water ouzel (now called a dipper) which walks on stream bottoms.

Day trip to the southern hills: Mt. Rushmore (about one hour and twenty minutes from the cabin) and the many other attractions in the southern Black Hills (including Crazy Horse/ Custer State Park (Bison herds on the Game Loop)/ Harney Peak (energetic day hike)/ Sylvan Lake/ Hill City (1880 Train, excellent small dinosaur museum) and many that are not mentioned here) constitute more great stuff than anyone could do in just one day. See the last page for a suggested loop tour. Below are some highlights:

Mt. Rushmore: Love it or not, Gutson Borglum’s mountainside sculpture is a fascinating piece of art with a fascinating history. People-watching there is almost as fascinating; nowhere will you see a more diverse cross section of global humanity. Parking and walking can be a major expedition on crowded days. If there’s a long line of cars on the road coming from Rapid City, drive past it and turn around at the pull-off point where you can see Washington in profile (also a great view). The line is usually much shorter coming from the west.

Crazy Horse Memorial: The Crazy Horse Memorial is Korczak Ziolkowski’s enormous, mountain-size monument, a fascinating alternative to Borglum’s Mt. Rushmore in several ways — Native American vs white men, full 3-D sculpture vs faces, no federal funding, will take generations to finish. It’s about 30 minutes west and south of Mt. Rushmore on Hwy 385. To many people the visitor’s center is a genuine tourist trap; if you want to skip that (and the entrance fee) you can get a pretty good view from the side of the highway, especially with binoculars. (I should add, though, that the Ziolkowski family doesn’t take any government money, as Borglum did, and depends on its fees and visitor’s center sales to support work on the mountain.)

Custer State Park: The 18-mile game loop in Custer State Park, winding through open grassland and pine forest in this terrific preserve, is one of my favorites. It can take hours depending on how often you stop. You are almost certain to see white-tail and mule deer, wild turkeys, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, burros (they’ll stick their heads in your car windows looking for a snack) and a herd of massive, snorting, shaggy bison (aka buffalo). Also white mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk and coyotes if you’re lucky. Sometimes the buffalo herds are crossing the road and you’ll get a truly up-close experience.

Hill City: Dinosaurs and the 1880 Train: About an hour south of the cabin on the way to Mt Rushmore (if you take Hwy 385 via Deadwood), Hill City has two authentic attractions that I really like. One is the Black Hills Institute, a small but fascinating dinosaur museum jam-packed with amazing fossils and fossil replicas; including, of course, a T-Rex. Another is the 1880 train, a vintage, narrow-gauge steam train that will take you on a two-hour, 20-mile trip through the hills to Keystone (very touristy town) and back. At the station is a great collection of restored locomotives, carriages, freight cars and cabooses.

Sylvan Lake: A beautiful, placid lake with picturesque boulders, Sylvan Lake is also the starting point for several great hikes. Most notable is the climb up to Black Elk Peak (used to be called Harney Peak). After hiking about 4 miles (1100 vertical feet), you arrive at the highest point in the Black Hills. You get a spectacular view from the top (7300-ft elevation) and it’s common to see snowy white mountain goats along the way.

Horsethief Lake: About 2 miles northwest of Mt. Rushmore on Hwy. 244 is a nice swimming and fishing lake. Take the first entrance road on your left heading west from Rushmore. Near the parking lot is a trail head that leads to some of the best hiking in the Black Hills. Beautiful forest, small clear creeks, and scores of majestic limestone outcrops that tower over the pine forest. You can climb up the flanks of these rock towers for great views and perfect picnic spots.

The Needles: These dramatic granite spires, rising like tall ships out of the sea of pine forest, are what make the southern hills especially popular and beautiful. Drive the winding, 14-mile Needles Highway (Hwy 87), a National Scenic Byway, or choose any of hundreds of hiking trails that wind over and around these limestone outcroppings all over the southern hills.

Hwy 385 – Rapid City Loop: For a southern-hills day trip starting from Coyote Ridge Lodge, you can make a nice loop by going on up the Maitland Road to Deadwood and then taking Hwy 385 right through the heart of the Black Hills. This route will take you through Hill City and on to other destinations of your choice. At the end of the day you can swing through Rapid City and take I-90 back to Spearfish.

Day trip to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming (including prairie dog town): There are nice hiking trails around the base of this spectacular tower (made famous in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). You can often watch climbers on the walls of the tower.

Devil’s Tower: This awesome 860-ft.- tall standing rock formation in the middle of ranching country in Wyoming is about an hour west of Spearfish. There’s an excellent visitor’s center and an easy paved walkway (1.3 miles) all the way around the base of the tower. You can almost always see climbers working their way up the tower walls. You will also find a large prairie dog town just past the entrance and a beautiful picnic area and campground by the Belle Fourche River that flows through the prairie below the tower. Halfway around the paved pathway, on the opposite side of the tower from the visitor’s center, a rough path (maybe unmarked) leads uphill to a rocky shoulder of the tower. This is often a good spot to watch rock climbers up close and gives you a breathtaking view of the valley spread out below you. Devil’s Tower was our first National Monument, established by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. As noted above, people my age will remember it from the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” You can get there via I-90, but a nice state-highway alternative is to go north from Spearfish on Hwy 85 to Belle Fourche and then turn left onto Hwy 34 (which becomes Hwy 24 as you cross into Wyoming). This route (only about ten minutes longer than the Interstate) will take you through beautiful prairie and ranching land, the Bear Lodge hills, and two small towns, Aladdin and Hulett, on the way to the tower.

Deadwood: Old-time town nestled between steep canyon walls. Lots of gambling options, restaurants, gift shops, Main St. Shoot-out, Saloon #10 (where Wild Bill Hickok was shot), Mount Moriah (burial place of Calamity Jane & Wild Bill). Some people find it a little too touristy and commercial nowadays. There’s a good restaurant called The Social Club above Saloon #10, and another one in the basement of the picturesque Franklin Hotel.