Out in the parks
Jeff McManus is scheduled to present his program Wagons of the Emigrant Trails on Tuesday, June 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the wagons on the Oregon Trail Pathway, just west of the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitor Center.Join Jeff, a member of the National Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association, as he describes the essential features […]
Celebrate National Trails Day with a guided afternoon hike into Hell Canyon, one of the quieter limestone canyons in the southern Black Hills. A Black Hills National Forest guide leads the way with stops for geology, cultural history, and long canyon views.The route follows the Hell Canyon Trail, a roughly 5.3-mile loop rated easy to […]
Park ranger and photographer Eric Grunwald tells the story of Scotts Bluff National Monument through his own images, from the wildlife that lives here to the rugged terrain that funneled hundreds of thousands of emigrants west along the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails. Each photograph opens up a different side of the monument, and Eric […]
Throw a spear the way hunters did for thousands of years. Join a Nebraska National Forest ranger at the Pinnacles for a hands-on look at the atlatl, an ancient spear-throwing tool that came long before the bow and arrow, then step up and launch one yourself.The program covers how the atlatl worked, why it mattered […]
Step into the hidden world beneath the Black Hills. A World Below Us is a family-friendly afternoon all about caves: how groundwater shapes them, what they record of the earth’s history, why they are havens for unusual life, and the local caves of the Black Hills region.Drop in any time between 1 and 4 p.m. […]
National Grasslands Visitor Center staff will be presenting interpretive programs every other Monday at Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Amphitheater throughout the summer.
Join BHPFA education specialist Tom Tonkin for a light hike while learning about “the language of nature” at Jewel Cave National Monument.Learning the language of natureWould you like to be able to tell if a hawk or coyote is nearby just by what the birds are saying to each other? In this adventure, you’ll learn […]
Spend a June evening singing by the water at Pactola, the largest reservoir in the Black Hills. Sally Svenson, the Songbird of the Black Hills, brings her guitar to Pactola Campground (Loop B) for a campfire sing-along of original songs and the Black Hills stories behind them. Music starts at 7:30 p.m.Getting there: Pactola Campground […]
Bark the Beaver is a real kind of Black Hills story. A beaver doing her work along Rapid Creek picks up two bright yellow stripes from a road-painting truck, then a ranger moves her up to Willow Creek on the edge of the Black Elk Wilderness, where she rebuilds a whole wetland and brings back […]
The rock under your feet has a story millions of years in the making. Digging the Past, Shaping the Future looks at how the geology of the Black Hills formed, how it still shapes our lives today, and how we put it to use every day.Drop in between 1 and 4 p.m., talk with a […]
Join Black Hills National Forest staff for an evening hike along the Reuter Springs Trail to see how the Forest grows its next generation of trees. Forestry Technician Jed Burgers will walk you through the tools and techniques used to collect cones from native ponderosa pine and explain how those seeds become the seedlings that […]
Spend a Saturday evening singing by the water at Bismark Lake, a small lake tucked into the pines just east of Custer. Sally Svenson, the Songbird of the Black Hills, brings her music to the Bismark Lake Day-Use Area for a campfire sing-along of original songs and the Black Hills stories behind them. Music starts […]
