Black Hills National Forest

When I entered into the Black Hills in the morning they weren’t black at all, I wanted to call them the White Hills because the ground, rocks, and pine trees were covered with a fresh blanket of snow. The snow did not make it easy to drive among the hills which were really like mountains. They truly were a beautiful sight to see. As the day went on the snow melted away to revile the 2.5-billion-year-old blackish Precambrian granite. But due to the winter conditions I couldn’t access many of the roads that took you to the locations of the well know Black Hills Needles and the higher elevated scenic areas.

The Black Hills just look like massive rocks in a sea of pines, but if you take a closer look at them you can see the variation of colors due to the life that the rocks support. It is an amazing ecosystem that supports a variety of living things. But the Black Hills aren’t just known for their beauty above ground, below ground you can explore many of the caves in the area as well.

Another neat thing about the Black Hills was how many movies were shot around the area. There were signs that stated which movies were filmed where, like North by Northwest with Cary Grant. And I know what your thinking... I did not see Nick Cage looking for the City of Gold.