Ghost Canyon

Yesterday I headed out for Mt. Rushmore. It was a gorgeous sunny day, but being a Saturday and the first day of warmer weather in awhile, that meant that everyone else was hitting the road as well. So barely south of Rapid City, I decided to get off the main routes...Plan B was chucked when I reached Hwy. 40 NE of Keystone. I took a detour, realized it was heading into the N part of Iron Mt. Rd. (Yikes! A very long, winding route into the NE corner of Custer Park) and while trying to decide what to do, I passed a county street sign for Ghost Canyon Rd. Aha! It was the NW entrance...I've seen the SE entrance to this dirt road many times on my way to Custer Park and had been curious about it, so I flipped a U turn and happily traveled this new back road... 

Some of the ranch and farm homes have been around awhile...I know nothing about these structures but I'd guess that this is a storage unit, not a mine.

This huge rock formation was standing free of the small canyon wall section that was back behind it...

Driving through a rocky canyon-like area, I stopped to take photos of wildflowers...along came a lovely painted lady, showing off her spiffy patterns...

This cinquefoil (rose family) was growing at the top of the rock wall by the road...I managed to capture an insect in flight...nothing unusual about that...there are many types of cinquefoil growing in the Black Hills.

I'd stopped in this spot because of the low larkspurs...I'd rounded a turn and there they were growing all over a large niche in the rock above the road, where rain water was also trickling down...larkspur is a deep, rich purple color and photos rarely do the color justice...

Just down the road from the larspur-covered rock I found a patch of more larkspur, including this rare white cluster! I've also seen rare white thistles, bee balm, and harebells. My botany books don't even mention the possibility of white larkspur...

A serviceberry bush was growing on the other side of the road, near a tiny stream. Serviceberry is from the rose family, like the cinquefoil...

Darkthroat shootingstars growing on top of another large mossy rock wall, also with rain water trickling down over the top edge.

Two Canada geese at a ranch pond...I didn't realize until I cropped the photo that I'd also captured two goslings  :o)

A paint horse with a startling face pattern...looks like someone's five year old took black paint to the poor horse...this was near the Ghost Canyon B&B...

An Eastern kingbird didn't seem to mind posing...there's a spider web caught in the tip of its tail...

A lone male antelope, gazing intently at something far off...

Passing by a modest farm, at first I thought these mushrooms must be fake, ha! They're larger than they appear and very prominent sticking up out of packed-down hay and manure in a vacant corral.

While snapping the 'shrooms, a turkey vulture flew up over the low canyon wall behind the farm and landed in a dead tree growing out of the rock...why do they always appear on these eerie, gnarly bare branches?!

I visited other areas yesterday also...will share more photos soon.  Happy Sunday!
And, Happy Birthday Sis!!