Cold Brook Lake, South Dakota

June 3, 2022

On Tuesday, we escaped the high winds of the High Plains for a bit more calm in the Black Hills.  Our campsite in Cold Brook Lake campground near Hot Springs, South Dakota was quite a gem, as it was right on the lake. 

Campground Notes: Amazing campsite right on the water! It was quiet most of the time except for one evening/morning of our neighbor running a generator, but it wasn't that loud. Very convenient to town where there is a free dump station with water. Not a whole lot to do in the immediate area, but it was a very pleasant stay.

It was rainy when we arrived, but what a view out the window!

There was a convenient free dump station in Hot Springs, South Dakota which we took advantage of on the way to the campground. Since were were only going to be there for four nights, we were able to enjoy some fairly "luxurious" water usage during our stay.

Our arrival was rainy, so of coarse I (Rick) was rushing through setup and tried to take some "short cuts", and I  managed to draw first serious blood of the trip!  I pinched my finger between two pieces of metal resulting in a short delay in setup.  Nothing too serious, but it is annoying to have a sensitive finger nail on my index finger of my dominant hand.  It will be interesting to see what happens as the nail grows out.

Julie is not as interested in seeing what happens as the nail grows out---just sayin'.

Although the view was nice, we had some neighbors who ran their generator until dark, and then again  the next morning until around 10:00.  The good news was that they only stayed one day, and the generator was not the obnoxious contractor type. Generator noise is something that we will just have to get used to in our travels.

Wednesday morning was sunny and gorgeous, and we enjoyed our coffee on the deck. So often we turn to each other to exclaim how glad we are that we have this deck. Being raised off the ground gives us a really good vantage point, and it's never muddy! 😁

Early morning mist on the lake

!

The color of the water was quite a pretty shade of green-blue.

Afterward, we took a walk around the lake.

Looking back toward our campsite

We climbed to the top of the dam.

After lunch, we decided that we would head into town and stroll around historic Hot Springs. The town is situated along the spring-fed Fall River, and there is a paved walkway adjacent. As far as we were able to determine, the water from the springs could be better characterized as "warm" rather than hot.

Apparently, there had been some pretty devastating floods in years past, so the town had fortified the river with concrete some time ago. While no doubt effective, it wasn't the most attractive feature of the town.

One of several springs in town

We didn't care to try the spring water.

An old jail made entirely of stacked 2x4 lumber

As the river flowed out of town, the concrete walls disappeared.

This area was quite pleasant. The locals use it as a swimming hole, as the water is warm(ish).

That evening we figured we would make a big meal the see how that goes in a small kitchen - we made vegetarian meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a mushroom gravy (ironically not vegetarian, but tasty).  We were originally going to have steamed broccoli with that, but by the time we got to that point we thought we had made enough dirty dishes already.  Turns out we had to run the dishwasher twice to do all the dishes, and then still had a bunch of pots and pans to wash by hand.  It was certainly tasty, and showed that we had enough counter space (we use the table as our counter), and made us very glad we had the dishwasher!

Thursday was looking to be a nice day, so we headed north to the Wind Cave national park to see the visitor center and then take a short hike which included a prairie dog town along the trail. The hike was a nice out and back hike, as we are easing into getting into shape 😀.  There was only a little bit of altitude change at the beginning (and end). The best part was the prairie dog town in the middle, although near the end, there were cliffs with swallows living in them which were pretty cool as well.

Friday started out rainy so it was time to take care of some indoor projects.  We replaced some water lines that were suspect, plugged up some holes in the floor (inside cabinets) that were leaking cold air, and finished up epoxying our grill (that Rick dropped off of a table - oops).

Once the rain stopped, we headed out for a short walk (out and back) on a trail right off the campground.

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