Welcome!
Meet your hosts
Tally, Rita and Autumn Chapman.
We have owned and
operated Happy
Trails Cabins since 1995. We
own 5 cabins. The Signature
Cabin, Tree Cabin
and Cottage are on the same property as our house, yes, the Signature
and Tree Cabin are literally side by side. We also own the Log Cabin
and Boxcar
Cabin, these 2 properties
do not adjoin our commercial property therefore, according to the county we
cannot use them commercially. We discovered this after 10 years of being
in service. In order to continue building our client base we decided to
continue making these cabins available for free. We also manage the Bullion Cabin which was once part of the historic Silver Mountain Lodge .
We recently took on management of a vacation home 4 miles south of
Silver City. The Kooper Place is a nice
5 bedroom vacation home and is an alternative to traditional lodging. We love what we do and our goal is for you
to have a clean, welcoming cabin for you to relax in. Your vacation is important to us.
History
Happy Trails Cabins
first started in 1956 as Silver City Motel. In 1976 the Silver City
Motel was purchased by Tally’s folks and renamed Wagon Wheel lodge,. When
we bought the place we again renamed it, Happy Trails Cabins, in tribute to our
love of hiking and mountain biking and the wonderful trails that surround
Silver City.
Happy Trails Cabins
and Silver City have a long history of accommodating summer guests in the Black
Hills. The Tree Cabin and Signature Cabin were built in 1928 as dormitory
cabins for a Baptist Church Camp. Young adults called these cabins home
during their summer retreats. This camp was named Bear Gulch, as the name
was somewhat scary it was renamed Camp Judson. Camp Judson was located in
what is now Pactola Reservoir, the cabins were moved out of the flooding lake
to their present location in the 50’s. The Cottage has a similar
history and came from a different church camp. We haven’t tracked
that down yet.
Our Log Cabin was
built in 1946. We are the 3rd owners in it’s history. We bought it
in 1999 and did a major renovation in 2001.
We were given first
refusal on our Boxcar Cabin and we are sure glad we did not refuse. This
cabin started in 1933 as a boxcar moved onto the site. It has had
numerous additions. The roof was always flat and always leaked. To
stop the leaks once and for all, we took on the task of putting a gabled roof
on. It was a hard job but we are sure glad it is done.
Things to DO
Both of us have lived
in South Dakota since we were 12 and our daughter has lived here all her
life. There are unlimited activities available in the Black Hills from
kayaking, inner tubing down the creek, rock climbing, cross country or downhill
skiing, hunting, running, geocaching, fishing, it is up to your imagination. We love being outdoors. Mountain
biking, running and hiking are our favorite activities in Silver City.
Tally is the mountain biking trail expert and Rita has the running trails
dialed in. If you are not too fast we may even join you. We have chickens, bees and a garden, weeding
is always available for those interested.
Ask for information anytime. By the end of July the raspberries
are getting ripe and the season continues through 3rd week of August. It is not hard to find a wild patch.
We would love to
share our little slice of heaven with anyone in need of a place to “get away
from it all”.
Extras