True to our emerging Summer pattern, we headed East to the Black Hills after going West to the Bighorns the week prior (any guesses which way we're headed next week?)
This was actually our second trip to Devil's Tower in the past month. On our previous foray, we hiked every last foot of the 8 miles of trail--not a great distance but a lot of variety. This time, we did some bouldering at the base of the tower, then re-visited the prairie dog town and the birdy hill adjoining it (we've seen red headed woodpecker, eastern kingbird, black capped chickadees, prairie falcons, Bullock's orioles and lark sparrows all in the one 1/3 mile segment pictured above).
After bidding our farewell to the black-tailed prairie dogs, we headed onward to Spearfish, where we enjoyed the hospitality of Ginger's WanderInn B&B. But first we climbed up Crow's Peak (el. 5,760), where luckily we ran into a bloke kind enough to snap a photo for us.
Spearfish is a very laid-back little town in a great natural setting. It has a quaint main street, great natural foods store, good restaurants and a well-developed trail system. With thousands of bikers rolling into nearby Sturgis soon, we appreciated the quiet and calm.
Spearfish is also a great place to start an exploration into Spearfish Canyon. The photo above is of Roughlock Falls. Amazing how the trout make it up these things.
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