Regina Brave remembers the moment the first viral picture of her was taken. It was 1973, and 32-year-old Brave had taken up arms in a standoff between federal marshals and militant indigenous activists in Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Brave had been assigned to guard a bunker on the front lines and was holding a rifle when a reporter leaped from a car to snap her photo.

She remembers thinking that an image of an armed woman would never make the papers — “It was a man’s world,” she says — but the bespectacled Brave, in a peacoat with hair pulled back, was on front pages across the country the following Sunday.

Brave had grown up on Pine Ridge, where the standoff emerged from a challenge to the tribal chair, whose alleged offenses included scheming to accept federal money for Paha Sapa, also known as the Black Hills. Brave’s great-grandfather Ohitika had helped negotiate the 1868 treaty preserving Lakota stewardship of the hills, but after white settlers found gold there, the lands were wrested away.

Today, Brave and other Lakota elders are staring down yet another encroachment on their historic lands: a 10,600-acre uranium mine proposed to be built in the Black Hills. The Dewey-Burdock mine would suck up as much as 8,500 gallons of groundwater per minute from the Inyan Kara aquifer to extract as much as 10 million pounds of ore in total. Lakota say the project violates both the 1868 U.S.-Lakota treaty and federal environmental laws by failing to take into account the sacred nature of the site. If the mine is built, they say, burial grounds would be destroyed and the region’s waters permanently tainted.

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One of the great things about road tripping around America is that there is always more to discover. One of the the regions of the U.S. that may really blow you away is the Black Hills of South Dakota. Explorations will take you through vast windswept prairies, up pine-forested mountains, and around jagged rock formations carved by elements over millions of years.

The Black Hills region also features enticing outdoor adventures, a plethora of wildlife, and jaw-dropping scenery around every bend. If you haven’t added the Black Hills of South Dakota to your target list, do it now.

To encourage you to start planning your outdoor adventures in the Black Hills, Back Road Ramblers has created a list of some of their favorite things to do in the Black Hills region with a strong emphasis on getting outside.

The most important thing to know before heading to this beautiful spot is that the area was originally owned, and is still inhabited by the Lakota people. In fact, treaties made between the US government and the Lakota in 1851 and 1868 ensured that the Black Hills would remain as native territory. In 1877, the land was confiscated by the United States, an action that was condemned by the U.S. Supreme Court more than a century later.

The Lakota people consider the Black Hills to be sacred and are continuously working to reclaim their land. Outdoor enthusiasts and visitors to the Black Hills region should be aware of this struggle and walk respectfully on the land.

OK, see the suggestions…

You can also check out my trail reports from the Black Hills here…

When you’re looking to get a good overview of the “above ground” features of Wind Cave National Park, what better way than to climb to the highest point. Fortunately, that’s easy to do with the Rankin Ridge Nature Trail. This one-mile loop takes you to an old retired fire tower with views into the Black Hills and as far away as The Badlands. Watch for wildlife and wildflowers along the way. My brother Dave and I hiked Rankin Ridge Trail on Thursday, May 24, 2018 beginning about 8:30AM and finishing at 9:15AM. This was a nice tuneup for a longer hike later in the morning.

Rankin Ridge Trail Map

We stopped at the Visitor Center for Wind Cave National Park to talk with a friendly ranger about above ground hiking recommendations. Since this was our first visit to the park, he suggested three, to get our feet wet. Boland Ridge in the far reaches of the park and known for wildlife, the Lookout Point/Centennial loop in the heart of the park, and this one that features access to a fire tower at the highest point in the park, and therefore offers a good overview of all that surrounds the ridge.

We chose to do Rankin Ridge first. It’s easy to get to and on the way to Boland Ridge. Plus it’s only a mile loop.

The trailhead is a short drive up a hill off Hwy 87 in the northern part of the park. It starts deep in the woods, in a pine forest, and climbs gently to the ridge. We were treated immediately, just past the trailhead, to a wealth of wildflowers including bluebells and pink shooting stars. I’ve seen white shooting stars before, in the Smokies, but these were my first pink ones.

Soon, there are views to the north through the trees of the craggy Black Hills in the distance. Some of those crags would be on our hiking agenda later in the week. As we approached the ridge line, the terrain got rockier. A summer intern project had done a nice job years ago building a stone stairway through the outcrops.

As we topped the ridge the wide expanse of the South Dakotan horizon came in to view. Far in the distance to the east is Buffalo Gap, a natural pass through the mountains in this area. Beyond that, even farther east, we could just make out the Badlands area where we had been the days before.

There’s a fire tower at the high point, still climbable. Far below there was a lone bison grazing amidst the pine forest. From this perch we could see the vast prairies, one of which would be our next hike, the canyon area we would be hiking the next day, and the forest that is intermingled amongst it all.

The return to the car is a simple stroll down the old dirt road that used to carry the park rangers to the fire tower when it was still in use.

This short nature trail was a good recommendation by the park ranger. It helped us get a good feel for the lay of the land that makes up Wind Cave National Park. This is typical western South Dakota — with prairie, hills and forest. Most people come to Wind Cave for the massive caverns found below ground. Don’t cheat yourself, however, by not exploring the fantastic scenery that is also found above.

This post was created by Jeff Clark. Please feel free to use the sharing icons below, or add your thoughts to the comments. Pack it in, pack it out. Preserve the past. Respect other hikers. Let nature prevail. Leave no trace.