The Midwest's Best Winter Escape Isn't Where You Think It Is

Have the stunning Black Hills all to yourself.

By matt meltzer

Published on 23/02/2021 at 11:00 PM

“They say there’s about a thousand people living in Hill City,” the barista at the Lynx Den Coffee Shop said as he gazed out the window at an empty, snowy street. “But I ain’t seen any of them. Not lately, anyway.”

It was seemingly a setup for a horror movie. A tiny, empty coffee shop set on a frozen, abandoned street in a town designed for summer travelers visiting Mt. Rushmore, manned by a guy who was just a little too eager to chat me up, right next to a place that advertised “chainsaw art.” At best, I was going to end up running down an icy street from a maniac trying to make “art” out of me.

But what I initially mistook for eeriness, I later learned is just the beautifully silent calm that comes over South Dakota during the winter, when eager road trippers, bikers, and tourists go into hibernation. The entire state takes on a snowy, pastoral quality in the winter, and while there is a certain beauty to the prairies further east, no place captures the spirit of South Dakota winter quite like the Black Hills.

The scenery that makes this state such a gem in the summer gets a snowy layer of makeup in the winter, turning the Black Hills a stunning white and transforming the glimmering lakes of western South Dakota into iridescent frozen playgrounds. The mountains, monuments, and canyons that attract thousands in the warmer months are left for you to enjoy solo. And rather than a horror movie, South Dakota suddenly feels like the sweeping opening of an epic western set on a cold, vast landscape where anything can happen.

Warm up in one of South Dakota’s welcoming big cities

The Black Hills are dotted with cool small towns-Sturgis, Belle Fourche, Custer, and Keystone are true gems-but Rapid City is its veritable metropolis: and it has a regional airport and a Best Buy to prove it. After a day immersing yourself in a Daktoan winter, it feels like a lit-up house on a cold winter night.

The historic streets of Rapid City are filled with friendly restaurants and breweries, where people who’ve spent the day doing much of the cold-weather adventuring you just read about strip off their winter coats and dive headlong into a piping-hot plate of chislic, South Dakota’s favorite skewered meat.

About 50 minutes through the hills you’ll roll into the Old West world of Deadwood (yes, that Deadwood), which feels a little more authentic in the winter since you’ll get a better idea of the brutal conditions the miners faced when they flocked here over 120 years ago. With that in mind, the normally rowdy saloons and casinos make a welcome respite from the cold. You won’t have summertime’s gunfight reenactments or live outdoor music, but you won’t care strolling the serenely snow-covered streets with nobody but the supposed ghosts of the Wild West heyday around.

Drive a snowmobile through towering canyons

From Deadwood, it’s about 20 minutes through stunning scenery to Spearfish, a seemingly small college town that’s home to some of the most expensive real estate in the state. That money has brought big city amenities like breweries (CrowPeak is never a bad idea) and top tier restaurants like Steerfish Steak & Smoke and Farmhouse Bistro. Why all this in the seeming middle of nowhere? It’s all about proximity to Spearfish Canyon.

With stunning canyon walls cascading down into tree-filled valleys, Spearfish Canyon is one of those places where a new stop-the-car view lies at literally every turn. The ATV trails that take you into the thick of the beauty during the summertime work just as well for snowmobiles in winter. You can rent one at the Spearfish Canyon Lodge and take it past Roughlock Falls into the vast wilderness of the Black Hills.

Some places require things like “guides” and “training.” But this is South Dakota, friend. Here, personal responsibility is gospel, and what you do on your rented snowmobile is between you, the canyon, and your insurance company: You’ll speed past silver rocks and green trees blanketed in snow and vast, open prairies that glow white. Then ascend the hills and cross the border into Wyoming, where you can stop at the Cement Ridge Lookout for the best view of this spectacular region.

Hike through ice waterfalls

Even if you’re not a daredevil, the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway is a stunner. You’ll find no shortage of canyon hikes and frozen waterfalls here, but perhaps the most unique is Eleventh Hour Gulch. There are no signs for this small side canyon off the main road, and you’ll need to find the small pullout just past the parking lot for the Devil’s Bathtub to park your car. Once you venture inside, you’ll hike through a canyon that looks like it was just touched by a pissed-off Princess Elsa. The waterfalls lining the narrow gulch look frozen in time, creating a crystalline wonderland. The hike isn’t too difficult with hiking boots on and shouldn’t take you much longer than half an hour round trip.

Hit the slopes all alone

Though nobody’s confusing South Dakota with Aspen quite yet, the Black Hills do boast one full-service ski resort at Terry Peak, about 25 minutes outside of Deadwood. You won’t find any murderous backcountry skiing here, so while you’ll get a rush-slopes run from beginner to black diamond-nothing is going to terrify you. Plus, since people don’t generally think of South Dakota as a ski destination, you won’t find anything resembling a crowd on the mountain: you’ll be first in line for the chairlift when you hit the bottom.

Just outside Terry Peak is the town of Lead, home to one of only two neutrino reactors in the world (South Dakota: occasionally unnerving, but always cool!), as well as Lewie’s Saloon. It’s an old, wood-covered outpost where you can end your day sipping on local beers and stuffing yourself with the Black Hills’ best burger. The crowd is an intriguing mix of hardy South Dakotans and nuclear scientists, so whatever conversation you strike up at the bar, you’re bound to learn something.

Have South Dakota’s most famous sites to yourself

Regardless of how you feel about Mt. Rushmore (and there are a lot of feelings about Mt. Rushmore), it’s kind of a must if you’re in South Dakota. And the best time to see it is during the winter, when the usual throngs of tour buses and school groups don’t dare venture out. I’ve gone twice during the winter now, and both times I was literally the only person in the park. There is something very personal about spending quality time alone with four enormous, famous stone heads.

Ditto goes for all the other monuments that people flock to see in the Black Hills in the summer. The never-ending project that is the Crazy Horse Memorial is a solid place to learn about the region’s Lakota culture, and with nobody else at the monument the staff will have plenty of time to educate you. In nearby Custer State Park-weather permitting-you can cruise the narrow passages of the Needles Highway, without having to wait for 10 RVs to clear the road for your snow-filled photo-op at frozen Sylvan Lake.

And if you’re feeling fisky, you can head an hour east to Badlands National Park about an hour east, whose Mars-like terrain is extra trippy dusted with snow and absent of bikers.

Hang out on a frozen lake

The Black Hills are dotted with deep-blue lakes that turn bright white in the winter and draw skiers, ice-skaters, and hockey players. But they’re also a place to really relish in the silence, preferably in a warm shanty.

About 20 minutes from Hill City, you’ll drive past the Deerfield Reservoir, one of many frozen-over bodies of water locals use to ice fish in the winter. To those from sunnier climates, drilling a hole in the snow and sitting next to it with a fishing pole for hours on end may sound torturous. And yes, a good number of ice fishers just use the sport as an excuse to get out of the house and drink like Homer Simpson. But there’s more to it than that.

Setting up on a frozen lake where the sound is absorbed by the snow and all you hear is rustling trees is instantly calming (so long as the wind isn’t whipping too hard). The silence is occasionally broken by a fish biting your hook, at which point you’ll reel it up, throw him back, and begin the cycle again. You’ll be stunned how quickly a few hours can pass when you’re this immersed in winter, and you may feel the most disconnected you have in months.

Later, on your way back to Hill City, stop at one of the handful of breweries along Highway 385 like Sick-n-Twisted Brewery or Miner Brewing-where a lonely bartender will happily pour you a pint to enjoy by the fire-or at the equally cozy Prairie Berry winery. South Dakota is, after all, a land of duality.

Matt Meltzer is a contributing writer for Thrillist. Follow him on Instagram @meltrez1.

Travel

Ditch your Phone for ‘Dome Life’ in this Pastoral Paradise Outside Port Macquarie

A responsible, sustainable travel choice for escaping big city life for a few days.

By Danielle Marsland

Published on 25/10/2023 at 04:04

nature domes port macquarie — Photo: Nature Domes

The urge to get as far away as possible from the incessant noise and pressures of ‘big city life’ has witnessed increasingly more of us turn to off-grid adventures for our holidays: Booking.com polled travellers at the start of 2023 and 55% of us wanted to spend our holidays ‘off-grid’. Achieving total disconnection from the unyielding demands of our digitised lives via some kind of off-grid nature time—soft or adventurous—is positioned not only as a holiday but, indeed, a necessity for our mental health.

Tom’s Creek Nature Domes, an accommodation collection of geodesic domes dotted across a lush rural property in Greater Port Macquarie (a few hours’ drive from Sydney, NSW), offers a travel experience that is truly ‘off-grid’. In the figurative ‘wellness travel’ sense of the word, and literally, they run on their own independent power supply—bolstered by solar—and rely not on the town grid.

Ten minutes before you arrive at the gates for a stay at Tom’s Creek Nature Domes, your phone goes into ‘SOS ONLY’. Apple Maps gives up, and you’re pushed out of your comfort zone, driving down unsealed roads in the dark, dodging dozens of dozing cows. Then, you must ditch your car altogether and hoist yourself into an open-air, all-terrain 4WD with gargantuan wheels. It’s great fun being driven through muddy gullies in this buggy; you feel like Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. As your buggy pulls in front of your personal Nature Dome, it’s not far off that “Welcome…to Jurassic Park” jaw-dropping moment—your futuristic-looking home is completely engulfed by thriving native bushland; beyond the outdoor campfire lie expansive hills and valleys of green farmland, dotted with sheep and trees. You’re almost waiting to see a roaming brachiosaurus glide past, munching on a towering gum tree…instead, a few inquisitive llamas trot past your Dome to check out their new visitor.

To fully capture the awe of inhabiting a geodesic dome for a few days, a little history of these futuristic-looking spherical structures helps. Consisting of interlocking triangular skeletal struts supported by (often transparent) light walls, geodesic domes were developed in the 20th century by American engineer and architect R. Buckminster Fuller, and were used for arenas. Smaller incarnations have evolved into a ‘future-proof’ form of modern housing: domes are able to withstand harsh elements due to the stability provided by the durable materials of their construction and their large surface area to volume ratio (which helps minimize wind impact and prevents the structure from collapsing). As housing, they’re also hugely energy efficient – their curved shape helps to conserve heat and reduce energy costs, making them less susceptible to temperature changes outside. The ample light let in by their panels further reduces the need for artificial power.

Due to their low environmental impact, they’re an ideal sustainable travel choice. Of course, Tom’s Creek Nature Domes’ owner-operators, Cardia and Lee Forsyth, know all this, which is why they have set up their one-of-a-kind Nature Domes experience for the modern traveller. It’s also no surprise to learn that owner Lee is an electrical engineer—experienced in renewable energy—and that he designed the whole set-up. As well as the off-grid power supply, rainwater tanks are used, and the outdoor hot tub is heated by a wood fire—your campfire heats up your tub water via a large metal coil. Like most places in regional Australia, the nights get cold – but rather than blast a heater, the Domes provide you with hot water bottles, warm blankets, lush robes and heavy curtains to ward off the chill.

You’ll need to be self-sufficient during your stay at the Domes, bringing your own food. Support local businesses and stock up in the town of Wauchope on your drive-in (and grab some pastries and coffee at Baked Culture while you’re at it). There’s a stovetop, fridge (stocked as per a mini bar), BBQs, lanterns and mozzie coils, and you can even order DIY S’More packs for fireside fun. The interiors of the Domes have a cosy, stylish fit-out, with a modern bathroom (and a proper flushing toilet—none of that drop bush toilet stuff). As there’s no mobile reception, pack a good book or make the most of treasures that lie waiting to be discovered at every turn: a bed chest full of board games, a cupboard crammed with retro DVDs, a stargazing telescope (the skies are ablaze come night time). Many of these activities are ideal for couples, but there’s plenty on offer for solo travellers, such as yoga mats, locally-made face masks and bath bombs for hot tub soaks.

It’s these thoughtful human touches that reinforce the benefit of making a responsible travel choice by booking local and giving your money to a tourism operator in the Greater Port Macquarie Region, such as Tom’s Creek Nature Domes. The owners are still working on the property following the setbacks of COVID-19, and flooding in the region —a new series of Domes designed with families and groups in mind is under construction, along with an open-air, barn-style dining hall and garden stage. Once ready, the venue will be ideal for wedding celebrations, with wedding parties able to book out the property. They’ve already got one couple—who honeymooned at the Domes—ready and waiting. Just need to train up the llamas for ring-bearer duties!

An abundance of favourite moments come to mind from my two-night stay at Tom’s Creek: sipping champagne and gourmet picnicking at the top of a hill on a giant swing under a tree, with a bird’s eye view of the entire property (the ‘Mountain Top picnic’ is a must-do activity add on during your stay), lying on a deckchair at night wrapped in a blanket gazing up at starry constellations and eating hot melted marshmallows, to revelling in the joys of travellers before me, scrawled on notes in a jar of wishes left by the telescope (you’re encouraged to write your own to add to the jar). But I’ll leave you with a gratitude journal entry I made while staying there. I will preface this by saying that I don’t actually keep a gratitude journal, but Tom’s Creek Nature Domes is just the kind of place that makes you want to start one. And so, waking up on my second morning at Tom’s —lacking any 4G bars to facilitate my bad habit of a morning Instagram scroll—I finally opened up a notebook and made my first journal entry:

‘I am grateful to wake up after a deep sleep and breathe in the biggest breaths of this clean air, purified by nature and scented with eucalyptus and rain. I am grateful for this steaming hot coffee brewed on a fire. I feel accomplished at having made myself. I am grateful for the skittish sheep that made me laugh as I enjoyed a long nature walk at dawn and the animated billy goats and friendly llamas overlooking my shoulder as I write this: agreeable company for any solo traveller. I’m grateful for total peace, absolute stillness.”

Off-grid holiday status: unlocked.

Where: Tom’s Creek Nature Domes, Port Macquarie, 2001 Toms Creek Rd
Price: $450 per night, book at the Natura Domes website.

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