Spearfish Canyon, SD
August 2004
Welcome to my world as a professional motorcycle photographer. It is great job. I travel to most of the major bike events, I bring beautiful women with me, I shoot some of the hottest bikes out there and have some of the nicest bikers as my customers. I rub elbows with celebrities and get told great stories about finding knuckleheads in bushel baskets in barns. I work closely with my boyfriend and my friends are always around us (see the above mentioned beautiful women). So why is Sturgis Bike Week reserved as a vacation destination to people who have this much fun working? Simply put, the riding.
When BigShots is on the road, we have lots of fun, but we do work hard. We set our platform at our location and man it as many hours as we can; riding is reserved for trips to and from the hotel and the occasional night cap at the end of the day. That is exactly the reason that J.P. and I enjoy going to Sturgis as tourists.
Sturgis Bike week is something that every biker should see at least once in his life. The party is big; the people are fun but the time we do spend in Sturgis we wished we had a liquid-cooled engine because even on two wheels, traffic can easily back up for miles and hours.
The best part of Sturgis Bike Week for this girl is leaving the city and hitting one of the many great rides in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This year’s favorite was Spearfish Canyon.
The city of Spearfish is located approximately 20 miles west of Sturgis and 15 miles North of Deadwood (another must-see destination when in South Dakota). This year J.P. and I stayed at a beautiful Bed-and-Breakfast located 7 miles south of Deadwood called the Black Hills Hideaway (http://www.enetis.net/~hideaway). Kathy and Ned were fabulous hosts, great cooks and the location locked away in the mountains was just the kind of solitude that one needed after a full day of biking, eating, biking, drinking, biking, dancing, biking, gambling and then a bike ride home again. This location also lent itself well to the Spearfish Canyon Ride.
Taking I-90 West out of Sturgis to Spearfish and then following Route 14 Alternate to the south, you can ride through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The end of Route 14 comes out just South of Deadwood and for those who are not returning to Ned and Kathy’s B&B, following 14A back around to the East takes you right back into Sturgis.
Scientists tell us that Spearfish Canyon was formed 30 to 60 million years ago. Originally, a great sea covered this area. When the waters started to subside, the canyon was carved out by water eroding away the softer rock. The land was also pushed up from underneath by volcanic action. After many years, the water carved out the channel we have come to call "Spearfish Canyon".
Spearfish Canyon is full of Ponderosa and Spruce Pine trees that are adept at finding any little crevice or crack and putting down roots. Some of them look as if they are growing right out of the rocks themselves. The banks of Spearfish Creek support Aspen, Birch and Oak. Bridal Veil Falls located about mid-way through the canyon spills from apparently nowhere down the sheer rock face.
The origins of the name "Spearfish" can be debated. Many people believe the Indians speared fish from Spearfish River (now called Spearfish Creek), while others think that white men simply coined the name because it looked like it would be a good area to spear fish from. The Sioux Indians in the area were very resourceful and if there were fish to be speared, they probably did. Spearfish Creek use to be called Spearfish River because of the huge volume of water it had back then.
The first commercial transportation through the Canyon was by train in 1893. It was a difficult area to make a road in, and some early attempts failed, so most travelers accessed the canyon by horseback or train. When a flood damaged the rail line in 1933, it was abandoned and the main vehicle road was finally made. Much of the road was made directly on the old rail line bed. Later, Highway 14A was constructed allowing more people access to this breathtaking, scenic wonder. As you travel though, you’ll notice how high some of the walls go, and how narrow the canyon actually is.
The wildlife in the canyon is worth the trip itself. Whitetail and Mule Deer can be seen anywhere along the canyon. If you don’t see a chipmunk or two, then you must have your eyes closed! If you watch, you can also see Raccoons, Porcupine, Squirrels, Mountain Goats and every once in a great while someone will report a Bobcat. Many of the different types of birds that frequent the Black Hills can also be seen in the Canyon. Eagles have been known to swoop down and pluck out fat trout. Brook, Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat trout can all be found in Spearfish Canyon Creek. Trout are not native to the Black Hills. The trout were actually brought to the Hills from Colorado by the US Bureau of Fisheries at the very end of the 1800’s. The Historic DC Booth Fish Hatchery, located in Spearfish, and is one of the great free attractions in the Northern Black Hills.
So, from Behind the lens, I would call Spearfish Canyon worth your time to visit next time you are in the Black Hills. I’ll be the one with the camera.
-Colleen
P.S. I would like to thank to thank BlackHills.com for additional research for this article.
