JOURNEY TO THE BLACK HILLS DAY 10 - BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTUARY

Well, would not you know it? We wake up this morning to sunny skies and we are pulling up stakes for Hot Springs. Bah humbug!

Hot Springs is only about 100 miles from Spearfish. We went around the Black Hills to get down here taking 90 east and then 79 south. All along our trip we have tried to take the little green dot roads and highways. The green dots indicate scenic routes. Well, here's a tip. In our opinion 79 from Rapid City to Hot Springs is the most beautiful route we have driven since leaving home some 1,000 miles ago. This road has nary a green dot.

As we got closer to Hot Springs it got darker and darker with clouds and we thought "Oh, no!". We pulled into the KOA campground around eleven am. Not usually a KOA fan we think this one is nice. We like our spot and we can get good internet connectivity. Which is very handy when trying to write my daily blogs.

When Kinsey was in the information place at Deadwood she happened to see a brochure for a wild horse sanctuary near Hot Springs. She snapped up the info cuz she is a horse lover. When we checked-in we learned the sanctuary was only about 20 miles away so we decided to make that our first order of business after lunch.

Driving south out of Hot Springs on 71 it got brighter and brighter. The landscape was crowned by bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds. They looked a lot like those clouds we love so much in Montana. You can't miss the turn off 71, there's a large monument. It's a well maintained dirt road and heads west into a canyon with the Cheyenne River running through it. The road dead ends at the sanctuary.

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

What an absolutely gorgeous location for mustangs to run free. The sanctuary is over 14,000 acres and has about 600 mustangs. I've also read 11,000 acres and 500 mustangs. Which ever it's a bunch of both. I'm not going to go into all the details if you're interested just Google The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary or better yet check them out on Facebook.

Kinsey went dippy for this photo because she saw it as symbolizing what the Black Hills Wild horse Sanctuary is all about FREEDOM

They took pity on this poor doggie and let Kinsey pull up under a tree whilst she wandered. Mercifully she did not take the two hour bus tour they offer. On her wander she saw this little pinto pony that was closely watching three mares across the way. One who already had a foal and two others that looked that were very pregnant. The pony was friendly and gentle and Kinsey liked him right away. I'm sure this is because he let her love on him.

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

She eventually ended up in the old homestead which has been converted into an information center, gift shop and restaurant. As usual, Kinsey got to jaw boning and before she knew it Cori offered to take her on a tour of the grounds. Turned out that sweet paint pony was a stud and those mares were his harem.  She also learned they were Choctaw ponies which were all but exterminated by the US government. The wisdom of our government being, take away the horses, take away the Indian spirit. There are less than 300 in existence I'll leave it to Kinsey to tell the whole story on her blog The Liberated Photographer. At the end of the walkabout Cory let Kinsey know about the sponsoring programs they have for the horses. If you sponsor one young enough you get to name it. Cory sent Kinsey off to look a group of yearlings that needed sponsoring. Whilst she was looking she thought about those Choctaw mares about to foal and she knew what she wanted to do.

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

Kinsey went back to the center and asked if she could sponsor the foal of the Choctaw paint. Kinsey chose the bay and white paint named Pearl. Pearl was Kinsey's paternal grandmother's name. She died before Kinsey was born. So, now we are kind of expectant parents. And, the gods willing, we will have a Choctaw Pony in our family for the rest of our lives. Kinsey will get to name it and the pony will live free at the sanctuary, we will provide for it every year. We say for the rest of our lives because there is one of the original mustangs still alive and she is in her thirties. Neither Kinsey nor I are likely to out live it. Maybe Kinsey will make a provision in her will that funds be set aside to take care of it for the rest of its life. But, that's getting ahead of ourselves. First we have to focus on Pearl having a successful delivery.

Choctaw Pony Pearl

WOW! What a day!

PS: We visited The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary on May 26, 2015. As far as we know, Pearl still has not given birth. We continue to send out good vibes that she will produce a happy, healthy baby.

Ciao for now,
#MollyMontana

©Kinsey Barnard

JOURNEY TO THE BLACK HILLS DAY 9 - BEAR BUTTE - SPEARFISH

Much to our disappointment it was still raining this morning and the clouds were still socked in. We decided to go to Bear Butte even though we probably wouldn't be able to see anything. We couldn't spend another minute in Clementine or we'd go crackers.

To get to Bear Butte you drive through Sturgis, SD. For those who may not know, Sturgis is a biker's mecca. They have an annual event that draws well over 400,000 peeple. Kinsey would never be able to do this event. Crowds give her the heebee jeebees. I borrowed the below photo from Google photos.

It's still pretty quiet at this time of year but I bet it's a lot of fun when things get hopping.

When we got to Bear Butte it was raining and, much as we had suspected, the mountain was all but covered in clouds. In good news, we had the whole place to ourselves. In other good news, even though this is a state park it is managed as a sacred site and there are certain hours reserved exclusively for Native Americans. Very nice to see.

Bear Butte

There is a two mile trail up the mountain. Kinsey left me in the car as dogs are not allowed. I was able to keep an eye on her because there was not much point in going too far. Not only could you not see the mountain the trail was a muddy mess. As far along as she got the trees along the trail were covered with prayer cloths. The offerings were more colorful and elaborate than those we have found on the Blackfeet Reservation where we have spent a lot of time.

Bear Butte

Bear Butte - Prayer Cloths

Kinsey was very disappointed she couldn't see the mountain but what are you going to do? It is what it is.

Bear Butte

On the way back to Spearfish we saw signs for all kinds of trails we would like to hike but it was raining too hard and the trails were too muddy. I think we have to come back here. Even if the weather hadn't been the pits we would not have been able to do all the things we would like to do. This area is a hikers paradise!

Back at the RV park we had lunch and a nap. After our repose and even though it was still raining we took off on a walk. There are walk ways and paths all over. We headed out along Spearfish Creek. They have mailboxes with poop bags and trash cans all over. And, we never saw a piece of trash on the ground. Other cities could take a page out of Spearfish's play book. If you make it easy for people to do the right thing they are more likely to do it.

Spearfish Poop Station

 Even the "graffiti" in spearfish is in good taste.

Spearfish graffiti (aka wall painting)

Honestly, I think if we weren't so happy in Montana we might just pack our bags and move down here. It's beautiful, the people are friendly and for two walking/hiking fanatics such as ourselves, it just doesn't get any better. Kinsey is already talking about coming back in the Fall. I sure hope we do!

If you haven't already, you can read the story of why we ventured to the Black Hills here.

Ciao for now.
#Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard

JOURNEY TO THE BLACK HILLS DAY 7 - THE BLACK HILLS - THE STORY OF THE BUFFALO

Today we got our first opportunity to really get into the Black Hills. Nothing to be said for it but WOW! The road in the north follows along Spearfish Creek. Kinsey couldn't help but take a bunch of photos of it. Out on the plains there are rivers that aren't as big. I keep forgetting to get Kinsey to find out what's up with "spearfish". What the heck is a spearfish?

The Black Hills -Paha Sapa - The Heart of Everything That Is

It was sprinkling when we got up. And, I got news for you, it was "cloudy all day" on the range. We don't mind cloudy and we love cool.

There are many truly wonderful things about the Black Hills not the least of which is, it is managed by the US Forest Service which means I can use the trails. So, today was my day. We ended up on the Little Spearfish Trail. Their are so many trails out there it's hard to choose. We could spend months exploring them all. Little Spearfish Trail is a nice easy trail that goes along, of all things, Little Spearfish Creek. This creek is home to a whole bunch of beavers. There must have been a beaver dam every fifty feet. Darn but we didn't see any beavers.

Kinsey set me loose and I zipped around and splashed in that creek with reckless abandon. Got so muddy there wasn't much white left on me. Kinsey was completely out to lunch and didn't take any photos of my frolic. After awhile we saw someone coming up the trail so Kinsey called me in and I came a runnin' Kinsey just loves it when I do that. Turned out it was a man walking two beautiful Boxer dogs.

Kinsey really isn't much interested in tourist traps, like Deadwood, but after our hike we went over there anyway just to see. It's your typical western town with all the western bells and whistles. Gunfights, outlaws, gambling, and a hundred ways to spend your money. Kinsey says, If you've seen one you've seen them all." Being Memorial weekend the place was jumping.

Deadwood South Dakota

As it turned out it was a good decision to go over there if for only one reason. Kinsey has been complaining that all the history displayed for the tourists focuses on the white man. It's almost as if the Indians didn't exist. We came here to learn about the Native Americans. I guess when you are the victor it's all about you. But, Kinsey did stop in at the Visitor Center to check things out. Whilst she was looking around she heard one of the staff talking about "Tatanka" and The Story of the Bison. Turns out Kevin Costner built a place to tell the story. This was a place Kinsey wanted to see.

I can't tell you much about what happened as I wasn't allowed to go in. She was in there quite awhile and when Kinsey came back she was very excited. I'm sure she will write about it on her blog The Liberated Photographer. I can show you some pictures. The sculptures were amazing. Unfortunately, the sun was smack dab in Kinsey's face so it was a bit dicey on the photos. But I think you can get the idea.

Tatanka

Tatanka

Tatanka

Tatanka

By now the day was pretty well shot. So we headed back to Spearfish. We took a twenty minute nap and decided to visit the fish hatchery that is part of the city park where we are staying. Kinsey almost didn't take us here either because she's seen a lot of fish hatcheries. She's never seen one like this. The hatchery is named after the first superintendent D.C. Booth. Man, that guy lived the life of Riley! As fish hatcheries go Kinsey says this is one to see.

Spearfish Fish Hatchery

Ciao for now.
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard