Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota

Photos.

Bob at Bridal Falls

Whenever I ride through Spearfish Canyon, I think to myself that I would like to be there in winter -- surrounded by mountains, evergreens, bubbling stream along the winding road. I should keep my mouth shut, because when I make that observation, the reaction is one of near outrage. Bob loves to regale me with his motorcycle rides here, and of course, there are always a lot of riders who certainly are not thinking of winter.

There was a lot of traffic on Sunday, but it wasn't overwhelming. We loved the optical illusion of apparent downhill driving when, in fact, the elevation was rising almost the whole way from Spearfish to Lead.

We stopped to see Bridal Falls, but the waterfall is a mere trickle at this time of year. After Yellowstone, it would have been disappointing, except for the spectacular loveliness of the "total experience".

We didn't stop in Deadwood, a tourist trap full of people and cars, but instead rolled on to Hill City, our destination for the night.