Spearfish Canyon

Hi Blog. After visiting the Center of the Nation, we drove through Spearfish Canyon. Spearfish Canyon is a deep but narrow gorge carved by Spearfish Creek just south of Spearfish, South Dakota. It is located on the northern edge of Black Hills National Forest. Many tourists drive through the canyon, drawn to the region due to its wide range of plant and wildlife, geology, rock formations, and waterfalls. Here is our first view of the canyon walls as we start our drive into the canyon.

Spearfish Canyon is often studied by geologists due to the extreme old age of the Precambrian rocks exposed by the Creek bed. The Canyon's high walls are of three dominant rock types. Deadwood shale at the bottom can be identified by its brown color, is multi-layered in appearance and ranges from 10 to 400 feet thick. Englewood limestone in the middle is pink to red colored and is 30 to 60 feet thick. Paha sapa limestone, the top layer, is the thickest (300 to 600 feet) and is buff colored and weathered gray in appearance. We tried but we couldn't get all three in one photo.

Approximately 600 million years in the Precambrian, the area was covered by global sea. As waters subsided and land masses began to appear 60 to 30 million years ago (between the Paleocene and Oligocene epochs), drainages such as Spearfish Canyon formed as softer rock was eroded away. This area is truly a crossroads, and trees and plants from Rocky Mountains, eastern woodlands, northern forests, and the Great Plains areas can be found here. The canyon is so large it makes Great White look small.

In areas of Spearfish Canyon you can see evidence of dark grey rocks called igneous intrusions. They were formed when pressure and heat were applied to molten rock which was being pushed through the less resistant sedimentary layers. The best example of this is in the Bridal Veil Falls area. As you can see, rock upon which Bridal Veil is formed is vertically jointed and shows no horizontal layering as do those rocks above the falls. Igneous rock is much more resistant to erosion and, at one time, Spearfish Creek which flows below the falls was about the same height as the top of the falls. Bridal Veil was originally named for the filmy flow of water over the 40-foot face of the cliff.

Spearfish Creek holds populations of rainbow and brown trout and is dammed in several spots, affording fishing opportunities. Stocking of trout in Spearfish Creek was discontinued in the 1970s and all trout in the creek today are wild. After wading through the Creek, Kathy can attest the water is definitely cold enough to support trout.

Frank Lloyd Wright, a nationally renowned organic architect, visited Spearfish Canyon in 1935. Upon his return to his home in Wisconsin, he wrote an inspiring expose of his Canyon experience that was published in the Huronite Newspaper in Huron, SD.

"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."

We couldn't have said it better, Frank.

We have ten more days to get out and about in South Dakota. We are hoping to come back into Spearfish Canyon on a day where we can spend more time hiking and exploring.

We left the canyon and drove over to Lead (pronounced Leed). The city was officially founded on July 10, 1876, after the discovery of gold. The city was named for the leads or lodes of the deposits of valuable ores. It is the site of the Homestake Mine, the largest, deepest and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002. Our destination was the Chophouse Restaurant located in the refurbished Black Hill Roundhouse.

The Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad Roundhouse was built by the Homestake Mining Company, in early 1901.  The facility serviced and repaired engines and rolling stock for 2 railroads:  The Black Hills–Fort Pierre Railroad and The Deadwood Central Railroad. In keeping with its railroad history, dinners could enjoy their meals in a replica engine or club car.

While this was a little more upscale than our usual dinning establishment, we thoroughly enjoyed a local South Dakota red, Spearfish micro and buffalo gyros.

On the way back to the campground, we drove through Deadwood. Unfortunately, there was a car show in town and all the parking lots were filled with antique cars. Since there was nowhere to park, we decided to leave Deadwood for another day.

Stay tuned for more South Dakota adventure.