Roughlock Falls in May 2016

As you head further west in South Dakota, you start finding some really beautiful scenery. One of those places is Spearfish Canyon. It’s definitely got the western feel to it. Spearfish Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are two of the popular waterfalls in the canyon. Bridal Veil Falls is the easiest to visit, right off the road. Spearfish Falls isn’t difficult to visit, just a bit hard to find at first. Roughlock Falls is the third main waterfall, and it too is pretty easy to find.

Roughlock Falls is on Little Spearfish Creek, with Roughlock Falls upstream and Spearfish Falls downstream (on the same creek) just as it merges with Spearfish Creek. You can take a longer hike to get to the falls from the Roughlock Falls Trailhead near the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. It’s a beautiful hike along the creek, and comes in at just under 1 mile one-way. I remember the hike being pretty easy. If you decide you don’t want to walk that far, there’s also a parking area only about 400 feet from the falls. I didn’t regret the longer hike one bit.

I did show up at a time of day when the sun was out and intense. It made photographing these and the other falls a bit more difficult, but you can’t predict what the weather is going to be like. It was early May, and yet the temperatures were rather warm. It did get a bit cold at night, so make sure to bring layers. (And early May seemed to be a great time to visit. Some of the hotels were running $40 a night. Later in the summer, good luck trying to find a room.)

Directions:

1. In Spearfish, follow the signs for Spearfish Canyon. This will be US-14 ALT. Continue along this curving road until you reach an intersection where you’ll find the Latchstring Restaurant and Spearfish Lodge.
2. At this junction, head west along Roughlock Falls Road. The trailhead for the longer hike is right after the lodge. Drive further down to get to the other parking area.

Accessibility: 10/10 (easy from parking area), 8/10 (easy/moderate from trailhead)
Height: ~30′
Hike: 0.2 miles round-trip from parking area; 1.8 miles from trailhead

Where in the World is Roughlock Falls?