Day 15: Crawford to Hot Springs, South Dakota

October 7, 2015

Today is the first sunny day since day 6. It's hard to believe I had 8 consecutive overcast days in the arid Great Plains. Of course the sunshine also makes the weather warmer. High of 75F (24C) today.

I got up at 7 and left the motel at 7:20 to go down the hill to the Downtown Diner for breakfast. On the road at 8:05, pedaling north from Crawford on NE 71.

Looking west. Fort Robinson is behind those sandstone cliffs.

The wind was a south tailwind in the morning, but in the afternoon it shifted to a northwest wind that alternated between crosswind and headwind.

North of Crawford I could look west and see the Nebraska badlands. I had dreams of visiting Toadstool Geologic Park, the most impressive badlands area in Nebraska. Unfortunately it's 13 gravel miles off the highway.

Looking west at an area of Nebraska that is similar to the South Dakota Badlands. Toadstool Geologic Park in the distance.

There are no feedlots or irrigated farms north of Crawford. Just grass land. I expected the warm weather to cause the flies to be a nuisance again. But there were very few flies today, maybe because the area has so little livestock.

Trees, ponds, and creeks (with water) become increasingly common.

I pedaled several miles in Oglala National Grassland. The warm sunny weather made it seem especially pleasant. Here it's easy to imagine what the Great Plains looked like before white men arrived. This area is restored to its original state, minus a million buffalo. Much more of the Great Plains will look like this after the Ogallala aquifer runs dry.

This spelling must best represent the Sioux pronunciation. Ogallala is the common spelling for the aquifer, town, and Indian tribe.

Today has more climbing than any previous day of the tour. Many big rolling hills, plus a 400 foot climb before crossing into South Dakota and another 550 foot climb after crossing Hat creek and the Cheyenne river.

Nothing much changed when I crossed into South Dakota other than the highway number changing to SD 71. I did a 9-day tour in South Dakota in 1993, so it's not a "new" state for me like Nebraska and Kansas.

Just past the state line is the "town" of Ardmore, South Dakota. It still had 3 occupied trailers, but it appears that most of town has been only recently abandoned. It will surely be a ghost town in 10 years. The town site won't be converted to farms because this area is no longer being farmed.

A few miles north of Ardmore the wind shifted from a south tailwind to a 10 mph northwest headwind. Fortunately SD 71 goes northeast, so it was a crosswind more often than a headwind.

Traffic was light all day because this region is no longer actively farmed. Today's route is excellent for bike touring.

Every major stream now has flowing water. The creeks are lined with cottonwood trees, and sometimes even the ditch alongside the road has a few trees.

The last 15 miles to Hot Springs are in the foothills of the Black Hills, in a sheltered canyon. Wind will be less of a factor for the remainder of the tour because I will be surrounded by hills and trees most of the time.

Approaching the southern foothills of the Black Hills.

In the canyon I followed a spring-fed creek upstream with a major gradient. I stopped at two Black Hills National Forest recreation areas. Cascade Falls recreation area has two nice waterfalls on the creek. It was closed, possibly because it has many un-fenced cliffs where people could fall and get seriously injured. I went around the gate and had the whole place to myself. It would be a fun place to swim during summer.

Upper falls at Cascade Falls Recreation Area.

A short distance upstream I stopped at Cascade Springs recreation area, the headwaters for the creek I've been following. 6 seeps in the area form the largest single spring in the Black Hills, flowing at 22.5 cubic feet per second. The 67F (20C) temperature is slightly warm, but not as warm as the giant spring up the road in Hot Springs. I didn't get in the pool but would have had a short soak if the sun was still shining. Unfortunately the sun just set behind a hill and the temperature dropped to the low 60's.

Cascade Springs Recreation Area. This wading pool has 67F water bubbling in from the sandy bottom.

SD 71 climbs a couple more miles after Cascade Springs, then descends for 3 miles to the city of Hot Springs. Population 3711, a big town by Great Plains standards. First 2 miles of suburban-style development. Then finally into the historic downtown area.

The 1892 Evans Hotel is now senior citizen housing.

Hot Springs rapidly developed into a resort town in the 1890's after railroads made it easy for wealthy vacationers to get there. The town has had electricity and city water since 1893.

I passed through Hot Springs a century later in 1993 but it didn't make much of an impression on me. Now I'm very impressed with the town. I don't remember seeing so many stone buildings or the downtown creek and waterfall. The sandstone buildings are very impressive compared to most of what I've seen during this tour. I don't know how I missed seeing the beautiful spring fed creek and spring fed waterfall along one side of the main street.

Waterfall and walking path in downtown Hot Springs.

I really like Hot Springs. It's historic, scenic, and very different from the surrounding area. It was once a bustling tourist resort, but now it's a low-key tourist and artist town. Still quite prosperous thanks to a Veterans hospital.

Hot Springs has 170 warm springs. The largest spring supplies the indoor swimming complex Evans Plunge with 5000 gallons per minute of 87F water. Hot Springs, South Dakota reminds me of Eureka Springs, Arkansas which is also a historic resort town with many springs in a canyon like setting.

I passed several motels on the south edge of town but I want to stay in the downtown area. At 5:50 PM I got a $56 room at America's Best Value Inn in the middle of downtown. Perfect location, very low price, with an excellent view of the sandstone buildings across the creek. Dinner was at a busy bar and grille on the downtown strip.

Today was a fairly long day, with a couple hours of headwind and no services between Crawford and Hot Springs. Fortunately the warmer sunnier weather made it very pleasant. I really enjoyed the sunshine and the change in scenery from grasslands to the south edge of the Black Hills. It was a great day.

The weekend is coming up and the next 3 nights will be at tourist towns in the Black Hills. Tonight I reserved motel rooms in Custer, Keystone, and Hill City to ensure that I won't roll into a town full of No Vacancy signs. Totally unnecessary, it turned out.

Tonight I also reserved a 1-way car rental from Rapid City to Roseburg, Oregon. Pickup on the morning of October 12. The final 4 days of the tour have a fixed schedule now, for better or for worse.

Distance: 68.6 mi. (110 km)
Climbing: 2120 ft. (642 m)
Average Speed: 10.0 mph (16 km/h)
Walked 2 mi. (3.2 km) in Hot Springs

Today's ride: 69 miles (111 km)
Total: 835 miles (1,344 km)

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