Take a Break in The Black Hills of South Dakota
The Black Hills of South Dakota are an isolated mountain range extending through into Wyoming. They are on Interstate 90, America’s longest freeway system that stretches all the way from Seattle to Boston. This makes a South Dakota RV hire vacation for a great drive featuring two of the longest floating bridges in the world. Moreover, we have a well-positioned rental motorhome pickup point to the east in Chicago at your service.
The Black Hills of South Dakota were once the home of the Cheyenne and Lakota people, until General Custer muscled in following the discovery of gold. Nowadays visitors are more likely to be tourists anxious to explore the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and the Inyan Kara Mountain sacred to the Lakota people.
South Dakota RV Hire Vacation in the Black Hills
Rapid City at the Approach to The Black Hills of South Dakota
Rapid City is the second largest settlement in South Dakota, and thus a great place to stock up on first essentials for a campervan or other type of RV rental. Moreover, it’s a surprisingly sophisticated place in the middle of the Bad Lands. Hence, they have a playhouse, a symphony orchestra, and an ‘art alley gallery’ if you are into these things. Not interested in that? No worries. Find a great little pub somewhere that does a decent cheese burger and fries instead.
The Black Hills of South Dakota are a geologist’s dream come true, with rich precambrian, paleozoic, mesozoic, and cenozoic deposits. But we prefer to just take in the incredible view, and we have to admit the up to four-billion-year-old rocks make some mighty attractive formations. Out of season the place is remarkably peaceful, with just clear sky above you, and a sound like the universe is roaring.
Diverse Bio Systems Belie This Remote Rugged Place
We discover a surprising abundance of wildlife here, as as long as there is water nearby in the ponderosa pine and spruce forests. There are also large patches of mountain meadows and lowland grasslands. The rivers teem with trout, the plains with bison, and the woodlands with deer. In the high places mountain lions hunt for pronghorn, and bighorn sheep.
There are also many smaller mammals such as prairie dogs, martens, squirrels, and marmots. The bird life is superb too, with pinyon and grey jays, three-toed and black-backed dippers, american dippers, and ruffled grouse to mention just a few. Where there is water, there is always life.
Once through The Black Hills of South Dakota, we follow Interstate 90 west as far as Billings, South Montana. The people at the motorhome drop-off are super friendly. They insist on calling a taxi for us to Billings Logan international Airport. We’ll be back in Montana country soon. That’s a promise!