Thunderhead Falls in South Dakota

 

My son Nick is actually the one who told me about Thunderhead Falls.  It’s very close to Rapid City, just 10 miles west on Highway 44.  The attraction is open May 1 – November 1 and it is $6 per person to get in.  Here’s a link to a brochure with more info: http://www.thunderheadfalls.com/Welcome_files/ThunderheadFallsTrifold.pdf

The actual falls (and do you say falls when you are actually seeing only one?) are located 600 feet inside the mountain.  When I first heard that I thought, WOW!  But it’s really not that far.  Its’ gushing 8 cubic feet of water (and I don’t really know what that means) falls vertically for more than 30 feet.  Unfortunately not many of my pics inside the tunnel turned out because the lighting was not very good. 

It was a nice quick walk to the falls.  You really can’t see much but it was very cool inside so keep that in mind when you are visiting.  Depending on the weather you might need a light jacket but for us it felt great on such a hot day.

Here’s Mom and Dad and then me and my hubby as we are about to go in.

 

This is one of the falls right near the entrance.

 

Mom and Nick waiting while we bought our tickets.

 

Notice my hubby paying close attention to the warning sign.  It says, “This is a historic site.  Please do not pick up rocks or deface the area.”  Let’s see if he behaves while we are inside.

Hiking the 600 feet in.

 

Things you see on the way…

Traces of copper

Drill marks

 

Quartz veins (like the ones in the pic) sometimes held rich gold deposits

Here’s my less than awesome pic of the falls.

 

For those of you that know my Mom we actually had to physically hold her back from jumping in to get all the money in there.

And that’s about it.  Not a whole lot to it but fun to see. 

 

(((hugs))) ~lisa