Tag: spearfish canyon

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Spellbinding Spearfish Canyon

By Christian Begeman

There is a place in the northern section of the Black Hills that can legitimately be called a”must see” destination for every South Dakotan. That is purely my opinion, but I’ll bet you’ll agree with me (if you don’t already) after stepping foot in the area where Little Spearfish Creek joins Spearfish Creek at a place called Savoy. It is a landscape that will simply take your breath away. This is true for all seasons of the year, but if you can, visit the area in autumn. Come early on a sun-filled morning. Come and marvel at the yellow, red and orange of aspen, birch and oak coloring the canyon walls. Add deep greens of ponderosa pine as well as the rich blue sky above and it won’t take long to fall under the spell of one of the state’s most beautiful places.

I was in grade school the first time my dad turned the wheels of the family car up the scenic Spearfish Canyon byway. I remember looking out the backseat windows in awe. I also remember daydreaming about flying a fighter jet through the canyon chasing some alien spaceship. Quite an imagination for a farm kid, I guess. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to linger in the beauty. I’ve also learned that it is a superb yet challenging place to take nature photos. I took some of my first long exposure waterfall photos in Spearfish Canyon. Roughlock Falls to be exact. I was in college and at that time there wasn’t much for groomed trails or any viewing decks. Nowadays the Game, Fish and Parks Department maintain an interpretive trail, as well as wide walking trails and sturdy viewing platforms in what is called the Roughlock Falls Nature Area.

Last week I was able to spend two full days in the area. The fall colors were nearing their peak as I hiked the trails with my tripod and camera gear. Just below Latchstring Inn is a trail that leads to Spearfish Falls. It is one of my favorite places in the whole canyon. Further up Little Spearfish Creek is lower and upper Roughlock Falls. In between these waterfalls is the trout-filled Little Spearfish Creek which affords many opportunities to spot wildlife and wildflowers. There is a small dam along the way that allows for fly fishing and/or watching the trout glide through crystal clear waters. I spent at least an hour watching and attempting to photograph brown trout feeding on aquatic insects with quick strikes to the surface.

Driving further up the Roughlock Falls road towards Cement Ridge on the Wyoming border has become another favorite trip for me. The winter scene from Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning film, Dances with Wolves, was filmed in this area and there is a sign pointing out the exact place. Mature aspen groves, as well as thick birch stands, add brilliant colors to the drive. Abundant wildlife such as deer, squirrel, chipmunk and marmot can also be found along the way.

The approaching drive from Spearfish to Roughlock Falls Nature Area is also beautiful. Bridal Veil Falls is a well-known pull-off for tourists. You’ll often pass bikers peddling away as well as motorcycles cruising through the scenery. Photographing such a place is both easy and hard. Easy, because it feels as if anywhere the camera is pointed, a great shot can be taken. Hard, because good fall foliage photos require compelling composition, good light and interesting detail. Each of these aspects can be daunting in their own right, but combining all three takes a lot of thought and patience. I’m still learning myself as often the euphoria of the autumn scene in front of me at Spearfish Canyon can turn my photographic brain off. That is why I took the time to linger in the canyon this time around. I went back at different times of day to discover and enjoy the different moods and scenes spread out before me. I’d do it again tomorrow if I could. It’s really that good, but don’t take my word for it. Get out and see it yourself!

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog. To view Christian’s columns on other South Dakota state parks and recreation areas, visit his state parks page.


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Black Hills, Mining, Land and the Lakota

By Cory Allen Heidelberger

I hear cries in the occupied wilderness this week.

The Lawrence County Commission met in Deadwood today to consider Valentine Mining’s application to dig for gold in Spearfish Canyon. Some Black Hills locals spoke in favor. Some spoke against. All were white folks.

After three hours, an Oglala Sioux woman, Charmaine White Face, took the microphone. She urged the commission not to approve the permit. Among other reasons, White Face questioned the authority of any white person in the room to approve this mine. She read back to us President Grant’s 1875 order to the Army to stop blocking miners from entering the Black Hills, the effective abrogation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. This treaty violation, said White Face, means no white person really owns any part of the Black Hills. No white commission can exercise any sovereignty over this stolen land.

The organization leading the fight against the 21st century miners calls itself the Spearfish Canyon Owners Association. Owners. Perhaps I project, but White Face’s white allies in the room seemed to remain uncomfortably silent through her talk.

Meanwhile, an hour to the south, some of White Face’s compatriots want to buy 2000 acres of grassland in the heart of the Black Hills. The Lakota call this place Pe’ Sla; we call it Reynolds Prairie. Pe’ Sla is as sacred to the Great Sioux Nation as Bear Butte, Harney Peak and Devil’s Tower. It goes up for auction Saturday.

“The Black Hills are not for sale,” the Sioux declared in 1980 when they refused a hundred-million-dollar settlement of their demand for the return of the Black Hills. But the Black Hills are for sale, say the white owners of Reynolds Prairie. To save Pe’ Sla from the sacrilege of subdivision, tribal activists are raising money to bid in Saturday’s auction and take back their country by the white man’s rules of gold and green.

In Deadwood, a Native woman says we whites cannot own, let alone mine, the Black Hills. Just down the road, Lakota people believe that, to protect the holy land, they must buy that which is not for sale from those who do not own it.

We cannot speak of the Black Hills without contradiction.

Cory Allen Heidelberger writes the Madville Times political blog. He grew up on the shores of Lake Herman. He studied math and history at SDSU and information systems at DSU, and is currently teaching French at Spearfish High School. A longtime country dweller, Cory is enjoying “urban” living with his family in Spearfish.

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There’s Gold in Spearfish Canyon: Leave It There!

By Cory Heidelberger

Last month, the state Board of Minerals and Environment approved Wharf Resources’ proposal to mine more gold near Terry Peak. Our state officials are now talking with Valentine Mining about gouging out another chunk of the Black Hills. Gold miners would like to make the Ragged Top Mountain area, just over the rim of Spearfish Canyon near Savoy, a little more ragged.

Ragged Top was first mined back in 1886. Gold mining there petered out after 1914, since which time Spearfish Canyon has become known as one of the most scenic drives in South Dakota. Tourists flocking to the canyon for the fine fall colors make September one of Spearfish’s best months for sales tax revenue.

The Ragged Top site is on a list of what the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources calls”Special, Exceptional, Critical or Unique lands.” State statute defines such lands as territory of great ecological sensitivity and influence and/or”scenic, historic, archaeologic, topographic, geologic, ethnologic, scientific, cultural, or recreational significance.”

Spearfish Canyon region is clearly special, exceptional, critical, and unique. Frank Lloyd Wright recognized this fact during a trip through the canyon in 1935:

“But how is it that I’ve heard so little of this miracle and we, toward the Atlantic, have heard so much of the Grand Canyon when this is even more miraculous. All the better eventually … that the Dakota are not on the through line to the Coast … My hat is off to South Dakota treasures.”

Expanding the non-sustainable gold industry makes little sense. We could rev up another gold mine in the Northern Hills, drive more industrial traffic up Highway 14A, and hack up some more trees and mountaintops, just for the sake of increasing the supply of a metal used mostly for non-essential purposes. But we can only mine gold once, and such industry threatens the other natural assets of the region. The autumn rush for golden leaves enriches Spearfish Canyon and its visitors time after time, for as long as we preserve the area’s natural beauty.

Cory Allen Heidelberger writes the Madville Times political blog. He grew up on the shores of Lake Herman. He studied math and history at SDSU and information systems at DSU, and is currently teaching French at Spearfish High School. A longtime country dweller, Cory is enjoying “urban” living with his family in Spearfish.