Spearfish Canyon & Deadwood

Spearfish Falls

Today we went to Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills to find a waterfall we missed the last time we were there. Earlier, we visited two falls but could not find the Spearfish waterfall until today, as you walk down the trail leading to it, you can hear the water splashing down before you see the falls; worth the short walk to experience it.  Our favorite in this canyon is Roughlock falls, beautiful and there is a wonderful picnic area that we enjoyed again today.  "Roughlock" struck me as a strange name for such beautiful falls, I had to find out what it meant. I learned that Roughlocking is when wagon drivers would wedge a long piece wood in the spokes of the wagon wheels to lock them in place, this allowed the wagon driver to slide the wagon down steep hillsides and not wildly roll down on turning wheels.

Bridal Falls

Later we went to Deadwood and had fun checking out the hotels and saloons. Last month we binge-watched the the HBO "Deadwood" series; loved it and it cultivated a new fascination we have with Seth Bullock, Deadwoods first sheriff.  Before the sun went down we walked up to Mt. Moriah, stopped by the final resting place for Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, and then walked higher to a piece of property that Seth Bullock used to own and is now his resting place.

Roughlock Falls