Friday, March 27, 2009

Dances With Wolves campsite

If you're familiar with the last scenes of "Dances With Wolves" and the winter teepee encampment, here's what the site looked like this winter.


Located in the northern Black Hills, this spot is three miles up the gravel road from the Spearfish Canyon Lodge parking lot. To experience it in winter as it was in the movie you'll need a snowmobile, as the road is open only to them during snowy months.

I believe the howling wolf in the closing shot of the movie was perched on that rock to the left.

4 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Last month was my third time to
    Spearfish Canyon to try and locate the winter camp, and I still wasn't able to find it. When you go up past Roughlock Falls, will the site be on your right or your left? thanks for the help, I'm hoping my fourth trip will be successful!!!

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  2. Sorry you are having a rough time. If you are traveling from Spearfish Canyon Lodge and go past Roughlock Falls the campsite will be on the right hand side of the road approximately 3 miles from the lodge.

    In my picture above the camera is looking back down the canyon toward Roughlock Falls and the lodge. There is a small turnout area where there used to be a wooden sign marking the spot. I'm not surprised the sign is no longer there, it was vandalized quite often.

    Next time out I'll try to get GPS coordinates that will help some people. You might also stop and ask at the lodge, maybe they can give you more specific directions.

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  3. Thanks for the additional info, I think it'll help. I'm planning to go back mid-september, so if you get a chance to get the gps coordinates between now and then, I'll keep checking back here, just in case...

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  4. I made it there and my latest post on the home page includes the GPS coordinates as well as good news about the sign marking the spot.

    Good luck, I bet you'll find it next time!

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