Pactola Reservoir, Buzzard’s Roost, & Reva Gap

Trip to Minot, ND Day 3 | Badlands National Park to Reva Gap Campsite | Kayaking in Pactola Reservoir | Hiking to Buzzard’s Roost | September 2022

We awoke on the morning of our third day of travel to beautiful pastel skies, with the sun rising over the buttes and the Harvest moon setting. Charlotte stepped outside to sit and take it all in, and it was reminiscent of when we camped in another South Dakota grassland in September 5 years ago, when we were moving to Hawaii. Only this time, it was under much happier circumstances because this trip would result in just 3 days in Minot instead of 3 years stuck on an island!

After packing up, we continued our drive West. We hadn’t planned on going to the Black Hills on this trip, but we realized that tonight’s destination was only 5 hours away and we needed some way to fill the day. The Black Hills offered plenty of dog-friendly options, beautiful scenery, and wasn’t too far off our route — plus we could continue our tradition of getting Culvers in Rapid City — so to the Black Hills we went!

When thinking about what we wanted to do there, the first thing that came to my mind was the beautiful lakes/reservoirs that we had hiked around last year while backpacking the Centennial Trail. I remember seeing Sheridan and Pactola lakes and thinking that I’d give anything to be not walking — to be out kayaking on those peaceful waters. And so today, we made that happen!

We took SD-44 West through Rapid City and into Black Hills National Forest, then after a short drive South on US-385 we arrived at the North boat launch for Pactola Lake. Curtis set up the kayak while I walked Charlotte around, then we hopped in the boat for a lovely (though a bit windy) paddle around the lake. We spent an hour leisurely paddling East and enjoying the pine trees, the crisp mountain air, and reminisced about our through hike. You can see our Alltrails recording for this ride here.

After kayaking, we wanted to go for a short hike to finish out the morning. We decided on Buzzard’s Roost since the trailhead was right along SD-44, and it was a short and easy trail. Over the summer we had noticed that Charlotte sometimes gets stiff after longer walks, so I was really concerned about her overdoing it. She had been on joint supplements for almost a month at this point, but I was worried that this would be too much for her and didn’t want her to be in pain for the rest of the trip. We took it slow and easy, and took water breaks in the shade often — she actually drank water during those breaks, which is an improvement from how she normally is! There were several points where I wanted her to stop and sit and to let Curtis finish the hike alone, but she would have none of that, and ended up making it all the way to the end. We were very pleased with how well she did, and she didn’t seem to have any pain afterwards, so the supplements seem to be doing their job! The cooler weather also likely played a part in how well she did.

Besides all that, we really enjoyed the hike — it wasn’t too crowded, the weather was perfect, and the views were great! We also saw the ‘buzzard’s roost’ with at least 4 buzzards, so the hike certainly lived up to its name. The hike was 3.3 miles and had about 500 feet of elevation gain. You can see our trail recording here.

Once we were finished, we returned to Rapid City where we got Culvers for lunch. We shared everything with Charlotte to reward her, and she seemed to appreciate that. Finally, we got on the road and continued on with our drive for the day.

We took I-90 to Sturgis, then took SD-79 North all the way to Reva. While driving, we spotted a few other memorable spots from our through hike, such as the trail going under the interstate, Fort Meade, and Bear Butte State Park. Then we continued North for a few hours, enjoying the mostly empty highway, big skies, wide open scenery, and the occasional butte.

As we drove, the large escarpment known as Slim Butte came into view. This region of light forest stands in stark contrast to the wide open plains and served as a refuge and landmark for many during the 19th century.

After Custer’s defeat at Little Bighorn, General Crook marched his army across the Dakotas looking for the Cheyenne and Lakota tribes that had defeated the 7th Cavalry. The natives were generally returning to their reservations at this time, and had no interest in further fighting. On September 8th, 1876, a forward force of Crook’s column stumbled upon the tribe of American Horse, a Minneconjou Lakota chief. Fortunately, a general massacre was averted, and many of the tribe was able to escape, but American Horse, having harassed the Army from a dugout, surrendered and ultimately died of his wounds. Furthermore, the material possessions of American Horse’s tribes were captured, including a considerable store of preserves intended for the winter. A string of similar losses in the following months, became increasingly difficult to overcome and would directly result in the surrender of many of the war chiefs by the end of winter.

We drove by a roadside monument just West of Reva that gave the history of the battle, located near where American Horse’s camp was located, before continuing back onto Slim Butte itself. There we found a campsite with a view of the plains and buttes to the West and set up camp for the night. Around sunset, we went for a short walk at the end of the campground to see the Castles to the East. We then enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful night of sleep in what turned out to be my favorite campsite of this trip.