Hay Creek Ranch- Nemo, South Dakota

 

Sign outside the Hay Creek Ranch office

This might have been Ari's least favorite place to stay in the Black Hills area. Mostly because of the flies - so many flies and wasps, just annoying and driving him nuts.

But, also the lack of cell service and internet, it just wears on you having to drive some place to check for messages and emails and read the paper, etc. Ari likes to check his stocks every day because he wants to make daily trades (this helps pay for our expenses) and without internet he gets pretty frustrated.

We had a nice campsite among the trees near the horse corrals (and not too far from a large pile of manure - which probably contributed to the fly issue). We had electric and water hook-up, no sewer.

The horses were in uncovered corrals. There are large pens where you can put two or more horses or 10 ft x 10 ft enclosures for single horses. Because Ari's horse has decided to pick on Mercy, we put them in the individual small corrals.

This campground is around 6500 ft elevation and I was definitely feeling the altitude. On our second day, I told Ari to join the group trail ride and leave me behind. Doug, the campground owner, takes out all the guests every morning (except Sunday) and shows them the trails. 

Doug rides a Frisian Morgan cross mare. Ari says she is one of the few horses that has no problems keeping up with Lennox.

There were at least two dozen riders on that morning's ride. One of the riders was on a green four year old that refused a water crossing. Doug spent a good half hour working with the horse to get her to cross the water. 

At that point, Ari was ready to leave the group and head back to camp on his own. It took two hours for him to go out and 48 minutes to return.

It took him so much less time because he wasn't slowed down by the other riders.

Ari has been nagging me to get bloodwork done. It has been over a year since my Calcium and Iron levels were checked. For the past month, I have been experiencing shortness of breath and fatigue, but I am chalking it up to the altitude.  I figured since this is the last place in a while where we are close of any kind of medical facility, I might as well get checked so Ari would settle down. 

All my lab work came back normal. The doctor was very thorough and I am in good health.

She agreed that it was most likely altitude and the heat affecting me.

After my time at the clinic, we walked around Deadwood for a while. It is a pretty cool little town, similar to Tombstone. Lots of gift shops, saloons, and casinos.

Deadwood does a shoot-out re-enactment which is pretty popular. As you can see from the video, the town is packed with tourists.

This is the water crossing that the green horse refused to cross.

Public shower house and bathroom

The RV dump is on the right of the driveway

Group pavilion for BBQ 

We are loving all the wildflowers in the Black Hills

This is the approach to the water crossing. It is pretty muddy which might have contributed to the horse's reluctance to cross. Most horses don't like mud.