Ekman

Back woods of the Black Hills South Dakota

The K River Campground is located on 100 acres in the Kiamichi Mountains near Antlers, OK. We offer treehouses, glamping tents, cabins, tent sites, tubing, kayaking, canoeing and so much more! Check out our list of amenities: Beer garden Petting zoo Laundry room Free wifi Volleyball court Horseshoes Fenced dog park Clubhouse with beer, snacks & supplies Fishing & swimming Canoe & kayak rental Floating coolers rental Tubes rental Float mats rental Gold panning Venue (stage, smoker & pavilion) Corn hole boards Public showers & restroom ATV nature trails ScootinAmerica museum Full public kitchen RV dump station

https://blackhillsvisitor.com/see-and-do/take-a-hike-cathedral-spires/ https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/needles-highway-explore-natural-wonder-custer-state-park This trail is right off the Needles Highway, within Custer State Park

The George S. Mickelson Trail is a rail trail in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The main trail route extends 108.8 miles (175.1km), from Edgemont to Deadwood, with approximately nine miles of additional branch trails, including a three-mile (5km) paved link from Custer to the Custer State Park completed in 2007. Intermediate points along the route include the towns of Custer and Hill City, and a short branch provides access to the city of Lead. Nearly all of the trail follows the route of an abandoned railroad branch line constructed by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1890-91 and last operated by the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1986. The trail's route is mountainous, forested, and scenic, traversing the heart of the Black Hills and largely within the boundaries of the Black Hills National Forest, although there are parts of the trail that pass through privately owned land, where trail use is restricted to the trail only. The trail alignment includes four tunnels and more than 100 converted railroad bridges. There are fifteen established trailheads spaced along the route, all of which include vehicle parking, self-sale trail pass stations, vault toilets, and tables. The trail surface is packed crushed limestone and gravel. The trail is maintained by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks. The first segment of the trail was opened in 1991, and the entire route was completed in 1998, and is the first rails to trails project in South Dakota. The trail is named after George S. Mickelson, the South Dakota governor who helped spearhead the project. https://bikemickelson.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Mickelson_Trail

A great place within the Buffalo Gap Natianal Grassland, here in South Dakota to ride dirt bikes, jeeps, side-by-sides and quads and just play in the dirt… Aug 13th 2023 https://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/parks-monuments/buffalo-gap-national-grassland

Riding my Motorcycle on (The Old Hill City Road) that parallels the old Black Hills Central Railroad system of 1880 which is still in use today, the train is used for tourist now and only travels from Keystone, SD to Hill City, SD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hills_Central_Railroad

Victoria Lake Road, between HWY 385 and Sheridan Lake Rd in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Keystone is a town in the Black Hills region of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 240 at the 2020 census. It had its origins in 1883 as a mining town, and has since transformed itself into a resort town, serving the needs of the millions of visitors to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, which is located just beyond the town limits. Keystone was heavily damaged in the 1972 Black Hills flood. The town took its name from a local mine, which most likely was named after the keystone Masonic symbol.

The Hotel Alex Johnson is a historic hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota that opened in 1928 The Hotel Alex Johnson is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_City%2C_South_Dakota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Alex_Johnson

Dignity (a.k.a. Dignity of Earth & Sky) is a sculpture on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River near Chamberlain, South Dakota. The 50-foot (15.24 meter) high stainless steel statue by South Dakota artist laureate Dale Claude Lamphere depicts an Indigenous woman in Plains-style dress receiving a star quilt. According to Lamphere, the sculpture honors the culture of the Lakota and Dakota peoples who are indigenous to South Dakota. Assisting Lamphere were sculptors Tom Trople, Jim Maher, Andy Roltgen, and Grant Standard. Automotive paint expert Brook Loobey assisted with the colors for the quilt, and Albertson Engineering of Rapid City, SD ensured the sculpture would endure the strong winds common in the area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_(statue)

The city was officially founded on July 10, 1876, after the discovery of gold. The city was named for the leads or lodes of the deposits of valuable ores. It is the site of the Homestake Mine, the largest, deepest (8,240 feet [2,510m]) and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002. By 1910, Lead had a population of 8,382, making it the second largest town in South Dakota. Lead was founded as a company town by the Homestake Mining Company, which ran the nearby Homestake Mine. Phoebe Hearst, wife of George Hearst, one of the principals, was instrumental in making Lead more livable. She established the Hearst Free Public Library in town, and in 1900 the Hearst Free Kindergarten. Phoebe Hearst and Thomas Grier, the Homestake Mine superintendent, worked together to create the Homestake Opera House and Recreation Center for the benefit of miner workers and their families. Phoebe Hearst donated regularly to Lead's churches, and provided college scholarships from Lead–Deadwood school which holds a staff of over 130 to the children of mine and mill workers. In the early 1930s, due to fear of cave-ins of the miles of tunnels under Lead's Homestake Mine, many of the town's buildings located in the bottom of a canyon were moved further uphill to safer locations. Lead and the Homestake Mine have been selected as the site of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, a proposed NSF facility for low-background experiments on neutrinos, dark matter, and other nuclear physics topics, as well as biology and mine engineering studies. In 1974, most of Lead was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name of the "Lead Historic District". Over four hundred buildings and 580 acres (230ha) were included in the historic district, which has boundaries roughly equivalent to the city limits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%2C_South_Dakota

Full Throttle Saloon The world's largest biker bar, the Full Throttle Saloon, is the epicenter of the infamous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an annual celebration in South Dakota each August that attracts roughly 700,000 partygoers.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota, and the surrounding Black Hills region of the United States. It began in 1938 by a group of Indian Motorcycle riders and was originally held for stunts and races. Since then, the rally has become a pluralistic endeavor that consists of events put on by many different groups. Attendance has historically been around 500,000 people, reaching a high of over 700,000 in 2015. The event takes place over 10 days and generates around $800 million in annual revenue.

Adventure down Colorado Way June 2022

On the field

Aerial overview of some new construction in my area here in PrairieFire addition in Rapid City SD (April 2022)

Tracking from above in the Mojave Desert on an afternoon ride 25 miles from home

The Alabama Hills was a popular filming location for television and movie productions, especially Westerns set in an archetypical "rugged" environment, nearly every major Western actor of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s rode their horses amid these rocks: John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, Gene Autry, Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Robert Mitchum, William Boyd, Roy Rogers, and many others. The Alabama Hills were named for the CSS Alabama, a Confederate warship deployed during the American Civil War

The first European to enter the valley was Pedro Fages in 1772 The San Joaquin Valley was originally inhabited by the Yokuts and Miwok peoples. The Tejon Indian Tribe of California is a federally recognized tribe of Kitanemuk, Yokuts, and Chumash indigenous people of California. Their ancestral homeland is the southern San Joaquin Valley, San Emigdio Mountains, and Tehachapi Mountains.

Reptile Gardens is a Black Hills attraction that houses the largest collection of reptiles in the world, and is a perfect attraction for the whole family. Located within Rapid City, South Dakota

Morro Rock Bay and surrounding coast from Summer of 2019

Flight over the historical mining town of Randsburg Ca and the annual "Old West Days" from Sep 2019 https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/california/randsburg/ The Gold discoveries in and around the future town of Randsburg came at a time when much of the mining west was experiencing a depression. The district would go on to be Southern California's largest gold producer. The first gold discovery was at Goler (between Red Rock Canyon and Randsburg) in 1893. This discovery drew many miners to the area and the surrounding hills were heavily prospected. In 1895 a party of prospectors found placer gold at the foot of Rand Mountain and soon traced the source of the gold to an outcropping near the top of the mountain. This discovery would become the fabulous Yellow Aster mine, and a minor rush to the new Rand district was on.

Footage from my drone flights from 2019 over the Mojave Desert and one point of interest within the vast open land... B-Roll

This H2o Tower is a "Point of Interest" and a beautiful subject to record

Lake Pactola in the winter time in the Black Hills SD