Before we left, I had researched several ghost towns in the area and worked them into the itinerary. Did I bring the info? Of course not! It’s at home with my jacket!
I found several through a Black Hills travel app and decided to give those a try. The Galena ghost town was one, located off Vanocker Canyon road.
Galena was one of the mining towns that sprang up during the gold rush of 1876. Vanocker Canyon road is awesome and we plan to ride it again. Brand new asphalt curving through the fragrant pines! Stay tuned!
The road to Galena turned off of Vanocker Canyon, gravel and a bit treacherous in spots, very rocky and many ruts from water runoff. We rode for about 30 minutes until the road turned into almost a two track trail.
There was no way on God’s green earth I was going to Robbie Knievel my bike down this road. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it was incredibly rocky and steep. So we parked the bikes and set off on foot.
Until we came to this.
Yep. I came to see a ghost town and I was going to see a damn ghost town.
We made it across the pretty chilly stream and continued on a ways.
I found what I believe to be the remaining structures and equipment, but could not get close. They were across the creek and a very derelict looking RV had taken up residence next to them. (Insert appropriate movie title here.) But I got what I could with my zoom lens.
We made it back out and continued on Vanocker Canyon to Nemo road, also very scenic. We attached the GoPro to my crash bars and I’ll be uploading it soon!
The other area was off Tinton road, near Black Hills State University. We rode for a while, on much worse, washboard roads but never found it and had to turn back as we failed to gas up first. The cool thing about this jaunt is that after many switchbacks, we were at the top of one of the many Hills we see off in the distance. I was able to get this panoramic on the way down.
It was a great day. My ghost town hunting career is not over!
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Cool photos. I didn’t know the Black Hills had ghost towns. And I grew up there!
I hear you, there are some bikes just not built for travelling on rock covered, mud roads. I’d have walked as well. But it gave you a chance to get your feet wet. I also had no idea there were ghost towns … wow.
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Yes, I’d like to see what we can find in Deadwood before we leave.. 🙂