SmartAlec GPS Adventure Guide

I love a little mystery, especially if it has anything to do with history.  The historical marker near the parking lot of Halley Park is titled “Rapid City Founder Camp Site”.  I stumbled upon the marker a couple of years ago, it says

“Near a perpendicular sandstone cliff a short distance North of here and across Rapid Creek was the first camp of those hardy pioneers who founded Rapid City.  Here John R. Brennan….(listing 10 others) made their camp on Feb. 24, 1876, and the name of Brennan, where he carved it in the sandstone cliff, is still to be seen….”

Now if that isn’t an invitation for the adventurous type to stomp right on over the creek in search of the inscription, I don’t know what is!  Of course, I didn’t do it right away because I thought…’pffft, if that is true I certainly would’ve heard about it before now.  After all I grew up in Rapid City!’

Well today was a new day and I decided to throw a beautiful Friday evening to the adventurous winds and take Charles to find the camp site.  We drove over Rapid Creek on the small bridge near the back 9 of the executive golf course to avoid a long trek around the creek on foot and found a parking space.  We started down the well worn 4 wheel drive trail to “M Hill” or Cowboy Hill, and kept an eye out for a ‘perpendicular cliff.  Within 2 minutes we found it!  I thought to myself “You’ve got to be kidding me!  All this time this nugget of history has been right here on lowland, within shouting distance of the creek?”  How many people have walked by this!

Charles and I took some pictures and I searched the wall for Brennans name but to no avail.  The light wasn’t that great but the sandstone has had a lot of wear over time from a few others who thought it exciting to scribe their name on the wall.  Even though I didn’t find anything saying 1876, there is a quite obvious inscription from 1880 ( T.E. Nunnchiskeh 1880?) and another from 1886 (L.B. 1886).  I would like to invite someone with a keen eye to show me the location of Brennans name.  If you know about it, would you leave a comment below?

After wandering around the outcropping of rock looking for other names Charles and I followed a path nearby up the ridge to see what other exciting discoveries lay near by.  We followed the steep ridge up the hill, along the sandstone cliffs.  As you drive through ‘the gap’ on Omaha you can see this ridge easily, across the valley east of ‘M Hill’.  The veiw is wonderful and the sandstone is a great local hangout for rock climbers that like to do a little bouldering.  We came across a few guys using their monster trucks to climb the ridges.  I’ve always wanted one of those!

Charles was getting tuckered and I wasn’t far behind but since I’ve never been on this ridge before we pushed on to the top.  There’s also wonderful advanced mountain biking trails that weave throughout the trees and rocks.  Don’t be stupid and try to ride ‘up the hill’, to me anyways, to only enjoy the ride down.  But of course downhill is the best.

As Charles and I made our way down the hill we happened upon a sort-of creepy but yet cool memorial to POW (prisoner of war) veterans.  Someone has taken some serious effort to put colorful graffiti on the rock, fly a POW flag with empty boots hanging from the bottom, and draw a few emotional references to pain and suffering.  I admit I sorta felt like I was trespassing and that some homeless veteran might jump out from behind a rock with his ‘beating stick’ and show me the meaning of POW but I stayed long enough to take a photo or two.  If you try to find the place, be careful.  It does seem that someone may visit the location often enough to spend the night.

The dark finally started setting in so Charles and I made our way down the back side of the hill, following random trails, both animal and human, to the bottom.  I made sure to always look at the odd places, especially where there was a chance to discover something new.  After all, I felt a little short handed knowing that such a cool piece of history was so accessible at the bottom of the hill.  Maybe there is a ‘robbers roost‘ on this mountain with inscriptions from ‘Lame Johnny” or “Jesse James“.

If you have a couple of hours to burn and have a knack for hiking.  You shouldn’t miss out on the hike up this sandstone ridge.  It has wonderful views and even some mystery.  Everyone should venture the short distance north of Rapid Creek to see the sandstone inscriptions. You have no excuse now!

Have fun out there

Posted under Off the Beaten Path, Outdoors