Bryan's secrets of the Black Hills

Much of the Black Hills is contained within the Black Hills National Forest. Huge stands of shady Ponderosa pines, winding gulches, and rocky peaks make up this vast protected space. Within the forest, you’ll find 11 reservoirs stocked with fish, 450 miles of hiking trails, and tons of scenic routes along Forest Service roads. Hike to Roughlock Falls for a mind-blowing view, or up Harney Peak for a more challenging hiking experience: It’s the tallest peak east of the Rocky Mountains. Leash up your pup, and bring him or her along to explore!

Mount Rushmore is one of America’s most iconic landmarks: No road trip through South Dakota is complete without a stop at the mountain carved with the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abe Lincoln. But perhaps the coolest part of Mount Rushmore is something that few know about, and even fewer get to see: the secret room hidden inside.

Yep, there really is a secret room in Mount Rushmore! Original plans for the monument included a Hall of Records, which would contain important texts and documents from American history. However, the plans for Mount Rushmore were scaled back quite a bit, and even though the Hall of Records had been started, the project was abandoned… temporarily. Reportedly, in 1998, enamel tablets etched with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the story of the presidents, among other documents, were placed in a box in a titanium vault and sealed shut with a 1,200-pound capstone inside the Hall of Records, to be left untouched for thousands of years.

For more Black Hills beauty, head to Custer State Park, which encompasses 71,000 acres of land. Here, you can watch the largest publicly owned herd of bison stop traffic on Wildlife Loop Road, explore historic log cabins, horseback ride at a mini dude ranch, rock climb up the sandstone formations, and hike through miles of gorgeous scenery with your dog. If you visit in September, you might be lucky enough to watch cowboys and cowgirls round up the herd of bison.