Spearfish stands at the northern edge of the Black Hills, where the prairie of South Dakota lifts into a dark, forested dome of ancient rock and pine. The town, with about eleven thousand people, is a university town as well as a gateway, and its old brick main street, its trout stream and its neat tree-lined blocks give it a calmer feel than the more touristy places further south. The Black Hills themselves are sacred to the Lakota, who call them Paha Sapa, and the land was the subject of a long and bitter dispute after gold turned up in 1874.
That gold rush brought thousands of settlers, and Deadwood, only sixteen kilometres away, became one of the wildest towns in the West, the place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead at a poker table in 1876. Today its historic streets are lined with casinos and period buildings, and the Mount Moriah cemetery above town holds Hickok's grave and that of Calamity Jane.
Spearfish Canyon, however, is the real reason riders come. The scenic byway, US 14A, runs about forty kilometres through a limestone gorge, with tall pale cliffs rising above Spearfish Creek and dense stands of spruce, aspen and birch on the slopes. The road is a calm run of smooth bends that follows the creek, with waterfalls beside it, including Bridal Veil Falls, which drops right next to the road, and Roughlock Falls, a short walk off the main route. Parts of the film Dances with Wolves were shot in the Black Hills. Autumn, with golden aspens against the dark pines, is spectacular.
The canyon road can get busy in summer, particularly in August when the huge Sturgis motorcycle rally takes over the region and hundreds of thousands of riders arrive. Traffic then is thick, and it is much more peaceful in June or September. Watch for deer and for the occasional rockfall, and stay within the limit, as the canyon is patrolled.
Fuel, food and rooms are all easy in Spearfish. The historic fish hatchery on the edge of town, dating from the nineteenth century, has a small museum and pleasant grounds. Services in the canyon are sparse, so fill up before you go.