Early American Musings

We drove from Rapid City through the Black Hills. We came upon the Black Hills expecting to see hills, but instead, we saw mountains, at least as grandiose as the Appalachians. The name ‘Black Hills’ comes from the Lakota words Paha Sapa, meaning ‘hills that are black.’ From a distance, the densely forested slopes appear dark against the prairie, hence the name.  Indeed, when we first saw them as we drove West towards Rapid City, that was precisely how they looked.  We drove from Rapid City past Mount Rushmore and onto Hill City and then continued on the Needles Highway through the heart of the hills. The Highway was stunning. The road winded through towering rocks, with barely room for cars to pass in each direction, and several times plunged through tiny needle-hole tunnels, where one car could barely fit. The views were literally breathtaking. It was one of the most scenic journeys I have ever been on, and I had no idea that the Black Hills were so beautiful.

The Black Hills cover a region about 125 miles from north to south and 65 miles from east to west, covering roughly 5,000 square miles. The highest point in the range is Black Elk Peak (formerly Harney Peak), which rises to 7,244 feet. It is the highest point between the Rockies and the Alps.

The topography of the Black Hills is rugged and varied, ranging from steep granite spires and dramatic canyons to rolling pine-covered hills and high meadows. The northern hills tend to be lower and wetter, with dense stands of ponderosa pine and mixed hardwoods, while the southern hills are higher, rockier, and more arid.

I can easily understand why this area was so sacred to the Lakota Sioux and other tribes and why they refused to surrender the land to the United States. If you spent most of your life on the Plains, this is an entirely different environment, and it must have also provided a range of other animals and plants that could be exploited. The fact that the hills could be seen from such a great distance must also have given them a special place in Lakota cultural and spiritual life.

I was shocked at how green everything was and how the ponderosa pines grew up from dense grassland, not at all like the woodland in Britain. It had the look of a park. The rocky outcrops of the mountains rose grandly from the forest, and I knew I recognised the landscape, but I couldn’t think where. It all felt so familiar, even the occasional deer running through the woods. Then I realised, this was Red Dead Redemption 2. I have been very interested in the ways that Red Dead Redemption has recreated the feel, rather than the exact detail, of Western landscapes and of the Western story. But this dose of reality shook me.

Of everything we have seen so far, I think the Black Hills were the biggest surprise.