Fine times in Hot Springs
An hour’s drive south of Rapid City, Hot Springs is probably best known for its spring-fed swimming pool, Evans Plunge, and the one-of-a kind Mammoth Site with its 26,000 year-old fossils. Although these attractions primarily cater to kids, there’s a grown-up side to Hot Springs as well that includes an award-winning golf course and highly acclaimed spas.
Hot Springs
Historic Hot Springs’ (population 4,129; elevation 3,535 feet) beginnings are often credited to early transportation czar and entrepreneur Frederick Taft Evans, although other early pioneers also saw wealth in the vicinity’s medicinal waters and sandstone deposits as early as the middle part of the 1870s — a decade before Evans arrived on the scene.
Evans arrived in earnest in 1885 upon hearing the news that Hot Springs might entice the Northwestern Railroad to extend its tracks into the Southern Hills. He became a one-man townsite boomer, and Hot Springs was incorporated in 1890. Evans erected a building over an acquisition he named Evans Plunge — the largest natural warm-water pool in the world — and built the magnificent Evans Hotel in 1892. Then came the Minnekahta sandstone block with rock from his own quarries, and he laid out and graded nearly all the streets in the upper portion of the town.
Hot Springs’ warm, dry climate has been a drawing card for the health-conscious since the town’s beginnings. Battle Mountain Sanitarium, the Spanish mission-styled complex run by the Veterans Affairs, has been an integral part of the Hot Springs story since 1905, as is the State Veterans Home, constructed in the 1880s.
Residents and visitors enjoy the continued use of many of those early landmarks, upgraded for modern comforts, and hike or bike along Freedom Trail, which follows Fall River. Important must-sees are the Wild Horse Sanctuary and the Mammoth Site, where visitors can view numerous skeletons of pre-Columbian and woolly mammoths.
Get your game on
Golf enthusiasts are sure to enjoy the city’s Southern Hills Golf Course, a picturesque, par-70 course set within pine-covered mountains and red sandstone bluffs. The course has been named among the top nine-hole courses in North America by Golf Digest magazine. And, in 2005, the course added a back nine and clubhouse.
If you want to enjoy the outdoors but aren’t into golf, consider visiting the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary 15 minutes southwest of Hot Springs on Highway 71. More than 500 wild mustangs run free across the 11,000-acre sanctuary that was established in 1987 as a nonprofit corporation by noted author, rancher and conservationist Dayton O. Hyde. His goal was to provide a safe haven for many of the nation’s wild horses that were rescued from overpopulated herds on government lands in the West.
Visitors can tour this remote setting along the Cheyenne River breaks to see the wild horses, as well as Indian petroglyphs, tipi rings, the Crazy Horse movie set and abundant wildlife. It is also the site where portions of the 2004 movie “Hidalgo” were filmed. Admission is charged, and regular guided tours of the Sanctuary depart several times daily from April 1 to Oct. 31. (A special Adventure Tour of the Hells Canyon region is offered, but includes a $750 price tag.)
The sanctuary also offers overnight stays in a rustic log cabin on the property. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with 2-hour bus tours leaving every hour. The last tour leaves at 3 p.m. For more information, go to www.wildmustangs.com or call 1-800-252-6652.
On your way to or from the sanctuary, plan a picnic stop at Keith Park or Cascade Falls, also found along Highway 71. Both spots offer scenic settings with natural flowing springs, picnic tables and restrooms. The cool waters of Cascade Falls are considered one of the state’s best natural swimming holes.
Relax and rejuvenate
For an afternoon of pure pleasure, indulge at one of Hot Springs’ popular spas. The spas and bath houses have been a part of the town’s history for more than 100 years. Their origins date back to when the early Indians and settlers first discovered the many hot springs in the area for which the town was named. It was believed that the warm water provided healing for all ills, and as a result, Hot Springs has beckoned to visitors to relax and rejuvenate in the therapeutic waters ever since.
Conclude your day with a leisurely stroll along the paved Freedom Trail, which meanders along the banks of the Fall River in the heart of town and offers glimpses of the century-old sandstone buildings throughout Hot Springs. Structures to note include the four-story schoolhouse built in 1893 atop a hill in the center of Hot Springs. The building is now home to the Fall River County Pioneer Museum and pays tribute to pioneer settlers through the numerous antiques on display. (Open seasonally; for information, call 745-5147.)
On a nearby hilltop sits the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Originally built as a sanitarium, the building’s unique architecture includes a domed center and houses the Battle Mountain Museum. (To schedule tours, call 745-2031.) You can also learn about the history of the town at the Information Center, which is housed in a converted railroad depot and sits along the Freedom Trail.
For information about these and other attractions, go to www.hotsprings-sd.com.
Lake recreation
Angostura Reservoir and Recreation Area: Just 10 miles southeast of Hot Springs off U.S. Highway 385-18, this area showcases the rugged beauty of the pine trees and rusty red soils of the southern Black Hills. Although water levels are quite low, the lake is a water-lover’s haven with ample room for boating, fishing and swimming, as well as 36 miles of shoreline and some of the finest sandy beaches in South Dakota. The site is a great spot for picnics and includes playgrounds, campgrounds, hiking and biking trails. Cabin rentals are available throughout the park. Entrance fee is required
Always something happening at Hot Springs
Badger Clark’s Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering
Cowboy poetry is distinctive enough, but when you mix it with rodeo metophors, you get something truly unique. On Sept. 26-28, Badger Clark’s Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering combines with The National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in the Hot Springs Mueller Center — marking the 10th year of cowboy poetry, cowboy singing and all-around old-time enjoyment in the rustic setting of the southern Black Hills.
The two-day competition is organized as much like a rodeo as possible. Each contestant pays an entry fee and may enter any one, or all, of four events. Each poet’s “ride” is judged by a panel of experts. The top half of the poets from the first day’s go-round advance to the second go-round. The highest four final scores in each event receive prize money, a Black Hills Gold championship buckle and an invitation to perform in the Saturday night show.
For more information, visit www.hotsprings-sd.com or call 605-645-4140.
Evans Plunge
Since 1890, Hot Springs has been the home of Evans Plunge, still the world’s largest natural warm-water indoor swimming pool. Named after controversial town father Fred Evans, who built many structures in Fall River County, the site was built over several small springs and one enormous warm-water spring.
Inside the Evans Plunge building, those springs continue to flow up through the pebble bottom of the site’s pool. At the flow rate of nearly 5,000 gallons per minute, Evans Plunge is never the same water, changing entirely every half hour, ensuring fresh clean water at all times. The mammoth spring at the north end of the pool is the original spring that Native Americans used for drinking water and year-round source for bathing, believing it had the power to heal.
For more information, call 745-5165 or go online to www.evansplunge.com.
The Mammoth Site
Since its discovery in June 1974, the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs has become a main attraction for many folks visiting the Black Hills in South Dakota. The facility is open year-round with guided tours of the largest in situ (bones left as found) mammoth dig site contained and protected by a building.
At what is now the Mammoth Site, 26,000 years ago large Columbian and woolly mammoths became trapped in a spring-fed, slippery-sided sinkhole near the southern edge of Hot Springs.
In the summer, a program called, “Junior Paleontologist Excavation,” June 1 through August 15, allows children ages 4-13 the opportunity to participate in a simulated dig. Reservations are required, call 605-745-6017.
For more information, go online to www.mammothsite. com or call 605-745-6017.
VA centennial
The Hot Springs campus of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Black Hills Health Care System will celebrate 100 years of service to veterans Sept. 14-15.
All are invited to participate in the birthday weekend — enjoy the walking tour, open house, tea, parade, community picnic and carnival, celebration ceremony and much more.
The events and activities scheduled will celebrate a long history of providing excellence in health care and customer service to veterans.
For more information on the centennial celebration, call the Hot Springs VA Medical Center at 605-745-2031.