Pigtails, Tunnels & Keystone

 Our geocaching road trip included a drive on Iron Mountain Road. We don't drive that road often usually because we are driving the truck and it is very busy with motorcycles this time of year. Although a very scenic drive, it is also full of hairpin curves, one-way tunnels, and pigtail bridges so the driver and in my case, the passenger keep eyes on the road and the on-coming traffic.

CC Gideon and Peter Norbeck rode horse from Custer Game Lodge to design the Iron Mountain Road that was finally built in 1932. The elevation drop presented major engineering challenges for the design. Norbeck wanted to keep the road rustic and it remains so to this day; a NARROW two-lane paved road with bridges, tunnels and hairpin curves.

the road at the top of the pigtail bridge

the road at the bottom of one of the pigtail bridges

a two tunnel on the road

one of four tunnels we drove through

the tunnels are large enough for tour busses

and the reason for the drive on iron Mountain Road

Then we spent some time in Keystone. And probably for the first time on one of our Black Hills visits, we did NOT stop to shop! Again, the town was busy with visitors, but not as busy as it has been on some of our visits. We also noted some new eating/dining options and more family entertainment options. We were there to visit Historic Keystone.

We had been to the cemetery before in 2013 to find a geocache and that was the reason for this visit.

click to enlarge

unusual fencing at the entrance

The Keystone School was built between 1899 and 1901.  Located on the hillside overlooking the booming gold town, it was a very large and impressive building of Victorian architecture which made the Keystone community of more than 2000 residents very proud. 

now a museum

Built for 300 students the first enrollment in January 190l was 158 students which also was the largest. The school had 5 large classrooms and a library.  After the Holy Terror Mine ceased operations in June 1903, the population of Keystone rapidly dwindled. Soon the school hired only two teachers. Classes continued until 1988 when the school had only eight students. Over the years many clubs and organizations used school rooms for their meeting. The Catholic Church used a room for a couple of years. It is now on the Historic Register.

This is the original hand-hewn log school built in the early 1890s. It was originally located on Second Street and was moved to this location in 2003. It housed forty students in eight grades and one teacher with few books.

The classroom supplies consisted of one globe, one map and a very small blackboard. (As a retired elementary teacher I cannot imagine 40 students in that building and teaching 8 grades at a time!) Miss Mary Wheelock of Harney was Keystone's first teacher.

Because of geocaching we got to revisit Historic Keystone. A fun day learning about the Black Hills area.

creeping bluebell

fleabane

John Wayne Trail of Geocaches

 We are RVing in The Black Hills for some R & R, geocaching, visiting, a little baseball, and some rodeo. This post is about the geocaching we completed earlier in the week.

Team BC created a trail of 140 geocaches, each one about a movie in which John Wayne had a role. I was not surprised at the number of John Wayne movies, after all, we had visited The Duke's birthplace and museum in Winterset IA in 2020. 

We did the series in two days. The first day was overcast, but the hills are green and the native grasses have turned brown and golden.

caches were in trees in the ditches or on fence lines

gravel road caching; not much traffic

spring babies

a herd grazing along the road

Bear Butte in the distance at the north end of the trail

this guy was watching Hubby

some rain drops on the second day

The Black Hills in the distance

the one and only grouping of wildflowers

chicory

The Black Hills MUST See

 It would not be a visit to the Black Hills without a visit to Mt. Rushmore. This year we visited because of a couple of geocaches that were not there on previous visits. Last year we visited with all the family and geocaching was NOT on the agenda that day. Cell service was irritating; it worked in the parking lot, but was touchy within the monument sites we needed to visit. I am pleased to say the National Memorial was busy; not as crowded as on some of our visits, but visitors enjoying the rock sculpture.

I use this location every visit for a photo

it doesn't't change

I just like the framing

The profile view of George along Highway 16 on our way to Hill City.

one of the reasons for our visit

The Pine Rest Cabins sit on the outskirts of Hill City. JHS Class of '68 stayed at the Pine Rest Cabins in May 1968 on our senior class trip. The cabins are still rentals 54 years later. Mom and I were reminiscing about that trip last weekend as she was one of 4 or 5 chaperones. Classmates also reminisced at our 50 year class reunion in Hill City four years ago. 1968 was my first trip to The Black Hills.

It would not be a trip to Hill City without stopping at the Alpine Inn for lunch. It was good timing today. We arrived at 1:45 and were seated immediately. It closes at 2:30 and opens again at 5 for the evening meal of two entree choices: Filet Mignon or a vegetarian pasta dish. Dinner is always excellent, but we prefer the lunch options.

lunch menu includes 5 German choices

I had the Rachel

no dessert today

The Beginning of Butts & Boots Season

 We are RVing in The Black Hills for some R & R, geocaching, visiting, a little baseball, and some RODEO. Rodeo = Butts & Boots season. The first was the Wild West Wednesday Rodeo at Hart Ranch. 

Hart Ranch brought rodeo back to HR the summer of 2013. (See blog post Yee Haw! Ride 'Em Cowboy!) The rodeo was successful enough it has continued to grow and expand each year since. 

picturesque setting for a summer rodeo

she brought her own horses to the rodeo

we got there so early, we beat the contestants

some rigs are small

just one area of rig parking

some rigs are much larger

that AC unit is for the humans, not the horses

these boots sparkled in the sunlight

the sisters were very proud of their boots, according to mom

dad and the kids in their boots

I can not get close to the cowboy staging area like I can and do at the Deadwood Days of '76 Rodeo. Booty shots are from across the area.

these boots look brand new on the visitors from Cleveland

the son's boots

look at the eyes of this horse (click to enlarge photo)

strange, aren't they?

there were some good rides

About half or more were young men, high school to college age, trying to get some experience, make a name for themselves, and win some money. One of the bull riders was just 16 years old. There were no 8 second bull rides. 

this was the crowd in lawn chairs

there were 3 sets of bleachers which were also full

Kids age 12 and under were invited into the arena and told to remove their shoes before heading to the far end for a race. They ran back to the pile of shoes, put them on, and ran back to the far end and high-fived the rodeo clown to win a bag of Tootsie Rolls. There must have been 100 kids!

the rodeo clown

Scot's mother is Hubby's second cousin, once removed. So what does that make Scot??? We saw his act with the grandkids on our visit in August 2017.

look at the braids in this horse's mane!

These horses did not participate tonight. Since the only event using a rider's personal horse was the barrel racing event, I am thinking these were barrel racing horses getting the night off.

Most of the boots in the photos were on the feet of kids. The boots on the adults who wore boots, were usually well-worn, work boots...not new and shiny like those of the folks from Ohio.

the setting sun

MORE RODEO THIS WEEKEND