Bear Butte

Bear Mountain or Mathó Pahá as it's called by the Lakota peoples, is the leftover remnants of an ancient volcanic plug. The mountain weathered away, to leave the harder igneous formation, for which plains tribes have been coming to for sacred communication with their Creator for 10,000 years. This place is akin to Uluru in Australia in terms of sacredness. You can feel that the moment you see t...

Biking the George S. Mickelson Trail is a very popular activity for many people in the Black Hills, locals, visitors, and tourists all enjoy the Mickelson Trail.  Not only can you bike, but you can run, walk, or even ride horses, and you most definitely do not have to do the entire length of the trail. There are numerous trailheads (15) along the trail to start or stop your ride, and make it ho...

To get to the trailhead for Mt. Roosevelt, you will need to travel about a mile north of Deadwood, on HWY 85, then you will see signs for it near the Lodge of Deadwood, from there you will eventually hit a gravel road and it is about 2.5 miles from the highway. The trailhead has picnic tables, and a vault toilet for amenities.  The trail is very well maintained and prominent! Along the trail yo...

After reaching the trailhead, the first couple miles are forest service road. You'll want to follow the main FSR, do not branch off onto any of the smaller dirt roads. The turn off to go down into the canyon is very easy to miss. It will be on your right hand side after a small patch of trees, there are also some fairly large boulders at the turning point, so keep your eye out!  Once you start ...

There are a multitude of frozen waterfalls throughout Spearfish Canyon. Some require a short hike and others can be seen from the road. This adventure will describe how to access the three largest frozen falls.Take Spearfish Canyon Highway south out of the town of Spearfish SD. After roughly 6 miles, there will be a pullout on your right and a small wooden deck on the other side of the street. ...

To get to the trail for Lookout Mountain there are 2 trailheads. One trailhead is just a few blocks from downtown on Nevada St., the other trailhead is on the East side of town. This post is using the Nevada St. Trailhead as the starting point. From this trailhead to the top of Lookout Mountain it is 1.2 miles and 860 feet of elevation gain.  Once you get to the trailhead you will see a map, th...