Travel

South Dakota

April 17, 2025 /

Our fourth grandchild/Ama/Apa trip was amazing! Our granddaughter is a horse lover and her father suggested taking her to a dude ranch! It was the perfect idea! We settled on a working horse ranch in South Dakota, where she could ride everyday and help with horses!

South Dakota was actually where we went on our first grandchild trip! We were very excited and careful not to repeat any experiences. We wanted each child to have a trip custom made to their desires, only for that one child.

Here we go…

Our first stop was Wall Drug. Our dinner here included the best cheesecake any of us had ever had!

We arrived, checked out the ranch and settled in early!

Breakfast of champions!

We dined el fresco for breakfast every morning!

First up for the day was the wildlife loop at Custer State Park.

Lovers Leap is a beautiful 4 mile hike in Custer State Park. Native American legend describes two lovers voluntarily leaping to their deaths, to be together for eternity.

I was wondering if we would see a snake and no sooner than I thought it, there one was.

The Black Hills of South Dakota are known for their deposits of gold. The gold rush started in 1874 when Horatio Nelson Ross accompanied General George Custer to the Black Hills. The purpose of their journey was to verify claims of gold. Ross and his partner, William McKay, discovered gold in the gravel of French Creek on July 30,1874.

We returned to the ranch for our afternoon ride!
Our granddaughter has taken lessons for the last few years. My husband arranged for her to do some free lance riding, which she had never experienced before! She loved it!

Every morning we watched our wrangler Ian, bring the horses up from pasture!

Helping ready the crew was one of her favorite activities!

We took a steam train to Keystone!

My husband and granddaughter went zip lining! The thought of this literally makes me nauseous! Spanning over one mile of forest, are 5 side by side zip lines reaching heights up to 400ft! I was able to capture four of them on video!

Taking the train back to Hill City.

After dinner we perused the streets of Custer and had ice cream at Horatios! He is famous for more than discovering gold!

More on Horatio Nelson Ross!

Our ride this morning is into the mountains.

Sorry for the bumpy video.

Castle Rock Butte is the backdrop for our photo. The distinctive castle-like silhouette served as a lookout for Native Americans, explorers and early settlers, as you had quite a vantage point with an elevation of 3,768 feet. Dr. Edwin James, who was a botanist on Long’s Expedition of 1820, thought the butte resembled a castle, hence the name “Castle Rock”.

On our way to Spearfish Canyon, we drove along the Needles Highway, stopping to take in the surrounding view of The Cathedral Spires of South Dakota. They are truly spectacular! The spires are slender granite pinnacles, literally coming out of the ground!

We hiked into Spearfish Falls!

Spearfish Canyon used to only be accessable by horseback! The 1000 foot walls are truly spectacular!

Every night we would watch the horses go back to pasture!

After dinner we saw a beautiful rainbow!

A campfire on our last night!

It was hard to say goodbye to our ranch! It was like a gem of serenity carved into the mountains!

We rode thru the Badlands on our way out!

One more grandparent/grandchild trip is in the books! It was absolutely wonderful!

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