Hanging Out in Hot Springs, SD

We decided to spend some time in the southern end of the Southern Black Hills this year. In the past we've not spent much time in this area. It's a good hour drive from Rapid City, and like most people, we simply drove through the area while driving loops through the area. Hot Springs might be a lunch stop. However, we've always liked the sandstone buildings in Hot Springs and thought we'd enjoy spending a little more time there. 

Our first stop was at Angostura Recreation Area. They have four electric only campgrounds and we enjoyed the relative quiet. There's a five-mile paved bike path that we rode a couple of times. Harold even played a round of disc golf. We had played disc golf once before a couple of years ago. This time we did not lose a disc in the chasm on hole 9.

Angostura disc golf

We moved on to the KOA outside Hot Springs. I really like full hook ups. We took a day trip over to Shep's Canyon Recreation Area. It's on the far side of the Angostura reservoir. We ruled out the campground at Shep's because it was six miles down a dirt road. 

Hot Springs is a road construction mess right now with width and length restrictions on the main road. Ugh. We did our part to help the local economy by treating ourselves to malts and milkshakes after walking the river trail. If you want a good stair climb, try the Battle Mountain Grand Staircase leading up to the VA hospital! On 9/11, Challenge Dakota holds a stair climb.

Hot Springs is home to a number of hot springs as the name suggests. Though sorely tempted to try the adult only spa-like setting at Moccasin Springs, we opted to try the original Evans Plunge. It opened in 1890 and is currently operated by the town. The water is around 87° and is refreshed at a rate of 5000 gallons per minute. It's a water park, primarily indoors. The outdoor portion hadn't opened for the season when we were there. We're glad we tried it, but would recommend a morning time before school lets out. It got a bit noisy and crowded by mid afternoon. 

We didn't get photos of those gorgeous sandstone buildings in the area. Not quite sure how we missed those photos other than with all the road construction it was hard to get a decent photo.

Cascade Falls

River trail falls

Kidney Springs 

Evans Plunge

Where Are We Going Next?