Hill City to Keystone, SD by Train

Dean loves trains - I guess it's the little boy in him. But then I enjoy riding them also. Usually you get a different perspective on the countryside, see things that you sometimes don't see from the road. This ride was no different.

This ride was over rail that was used by mines in the area to transport various mineral from the area's many mines. If I remember correctly, the narrator said that there where over twenty different minerals mined in the area. There never where passenger trains on these tracks until the 1880's train started for tourists. I believe it was in the 1960's.

We boarded in Hill City on one of the morning trains going to Keystone, SD. Going this direction the train climbs about 600 feet in elevation with most of it right outside Hill City. At some points a 6% grade which for trains is almost unheard of. After the initial climb we leveled off in a meadow area and stayed pretty level until just before Keystone where we descended a little.

The countryside was very interesting as we passed some very old buildings that where left over from the mining days and some huge gorgeous new homes. We saw a lot of deer both coming and going along with llamas (on a farm).

We chose to stay in Keystone for several hours and catch a later train back to Hill City. We spend our time there looking through all the shops and having lunch at the Ruby House Restaurant, right on the main street. We opted to eat on the patio where we could enjoy watching the people and traffic going through town.

It was a very nice day and one where I didn't have to drive on a road with a lot of curves, hills and tight places - thank goodness!

Some pictures of this trip are posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos