The Black Hills

Horseback riding in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Forget HBO's Deadwood; This was the REAL Wild West

The gorgeous, deeply forested Black Hills of southwest South Dakota are a vacation dreamland, offerig everything from Wild West culture in the famous old gambling den of Deadwood, to the amazing preponderance of wild animals in Custer State Park, to the sculpting-gone-wild ethos of carving sculptures out of entire mountains at Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. Speaking of which...

These Black Hills were sacred to the local Native Americans—first the Cheyenne, then the Lakota Sioux who conquered them—and the United States gave the entire area to them in perpeturity under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868... until 1874, when local (white) prospectors sneaking around discovered there was gold in them thar' hills and the U.S. Government sent a hothead General named Geroge Armstrong Custer to goad the natives into breaking the treaty so the U.S. could simply steal the land and kick the Sioux over to new reservations in the desolate Badlands.

Favorite Black Hills drives

Local tourism inforamtion

The Black Hills, Badlands, & Lakes Association (605-341-1462, www.blackhillsbadlands.com) and Black Hills National Forest (www.fs.usda.gov/blackhills).

Tours Under $995 G Adventures


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This article was by Reid Bramblett and last updated in June 2012.
All information was accurate at the time.


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Copyright © 1998–2013 by Reid Bramblett. Author: Reid Bramblett.