Black Hills National Forest understand · Black Hills National Forest tourist information
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Black Hills National Forest tourist information
Black Hills National Forest tourist information
The Black Hills National Forest is public land owned by the federal US government and operated by the US forest service.
The Black Hills national forest is one of the most road-built national forests in the country. Due to the odd history of South Dakota, the forest service land is actually patchworked in and out with private land, state highways, forest service roads, and etc all through the area.
Within the federal land are several cities, such as Deadwood, Lead, and Custer. On the edge of the Black Hills are towns such as Spearfish, Hot Springs, and Rapid City.
The Black Hills of South Dakota are a lone series of mountains in the middle of the Great Plains. The nearest rocky mountains, the Bighorn Mountains, are about one hundred miles to the west. The nearest mountains to the east or south are several thousand miles away. It was formed by unknown means when some kind of 'uplift' occurred many millions of years ago.
The Black Hills are possibly named black because of the Ponderosa Pine trees that grow there; young trees have black bark that turns orange as the trees mature.
The Black Hills are sacred to Lakota people and were a refuge during harsh seasons on the plains. The hills unique ecosystem also provided many plants not found on the prairies that could be used for foodmaking or medicine. Nowadays the Lakota live mostly on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation a few miles to the south.
The Hills unique formation of limestone rocks being shifted by the 'uplift', and then eroded and deposited-upon by water, make wonderful conditions for caves to form, and the area is dotted with many that you can visit. The federal government has taken over two of these via the National Park Service; Wind Cave and Jewel Cave. You can go on guided tours through these. There are several commercial caves owned privately by companies that also give tours.
Tourism is a big business in the Black Hills. In summer the temperatures rise and tourists flood in for a variety of reasons. Thus there are many touristy type shops, restaurants, casinos and so forth usually with a western theme, banking on the 'Wild West' image of Deadwood and the surrounding area.
There are also lots of mountain climbers, and therefore several mountain climbing schools and equipment supply shops. Devil's Tower which is a famous climbing destination lies a few hours to the West of the area in Wyoming.
The hills are mostly populated lower income white people, farmers and ranchers, and Indians, but in recent years lots of people from California, driven out by high land prices, have invaded the area. Many of the old citizens have sold their land to incoming Californians for a good price and have moved farther from the Hills.
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Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Black Hills National Forest - updated May 2024
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Black Hills National Forest Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.