The Last Weeks of the Keystone Season

October is the quiet month in Keystone. The buses thin out, parking opens up on Winter Street, and the hillsides above town go gold where the aspen stand in among the pines. Mornings start cold enough that you want your hands around something warm. By two in the afternoon you are carrying your jacket.

It is also the last stretch of our season. The Keystone shop is open spring through October, and when the month runs out we clean the kettles, pack what is left, and move the whole operation up the road for the winter. If a trip to Keystone is on your list this year, these are the weeks.

What the shop is like right now

Better, honestly. In July you wait behind a family of nine deciding between maple nut and penuche. In October you walk up to the case and take your time. We still pour fudge most days, and the marble slab out front is still the best show in the shop — hot fudge spread thin, worked with a scraper until it loses its shine and starts to set.

The ice cream counter stays on until we close, which surprises people in a 45-degree breeze. Jumbo scoops, soft serve, malts, specialty sundaes. Plenty of folks order one anyway and eat it in the car with the heater running. That is a Black Hills tradition as much as anything else here.

One thing to know: our hours shorten as the month goes on, and they move with the weather and the traffic. Most days we are open well into the evening, but late in October it is worth a phone call before you drive up. Keystone is (605) 666-4675.

What to take home before the door closes

Everything we make keeps better than people expect, which makes the last visit of the season a good time to stock up.

• Fudge. Cut thick off the slab. Chocolate and chocolate nut move fastest, but penuche — brown sugar, no cocoa at all — is the one that converts people.
• Bear paws. Pecans or cashews or almonds, our own caramel poured over the top, then dipped. A Black Hills staple and usually the first thing a regular asks for.
• Caramels. Cooked in copper, cut by hand, wrapped one at a time. The sea salt ones in dark chocolate are the ones we hear about.
• Taffy. Buy a bag, forget it in the glove box, find it in January, and it is still good.
• English toffee. Buttery and brittle under the chocolate. It travels well and it keeps.

There is a full sugar-free selection too — clusters, caramels, toffee, bear paws — for the people in your group who usually stand by the door and wait.

The roads close before we do

If you are building a drive around the visit, check the roads first. South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks says the Needles Highway closes to vehicles with the first snow of the season and does not reopen until April 1, or later depending on conditions. Iron Mountain Road stays open longer but closes off and on through the winter, depending on how fast the plows can get it cleared.

Mount Rushmore itself is the steady one. The National Park Service keeps the memorial open every day of the year except December 25, though the buildings and programs run on shorter winter hours starting in November. Worth checking the park’s own hours page the week you travel rather than trusting a schedule you saw in July.

We are just down the hill from the memorial. Most people come down off the mountain, find the light fading, and want something sweet before the drive back to Rapid City. That is most of our October afternoons.

After October, find us in Hill City

When Keystone closes for the winter, our Hill City shop keeps going. It is open year-round at 205 Main Street, and it is the one with the European-style coffee bar — espresso, cappuccino, a quiet table by the window while the snow comes down on Main Street. Same fudge, same bear paws, same ice cream counter. The slab out front runs all winter.

Hill City stays busier in the off-season than people assume. The 1880 Train runs out of Hill City from May through December, the galleries stay open, and November and December bring the kind of weekend where a warm shop with a coffee machine is exactly where everybody ends up.

Or we put it in a box

If you are not getting back out here before spring, our online shop ships anywhere in the United States, and orders over $50 ship free. Fudge, bear paws, caramels, truffles, toffee, taffy, the sugar-free selection — all of it, packed the same week it is made.

We have been making candy by hand, in small batches, since 1977. Some years that means a July line out the door. Some years it means a Tuesday in late October with four people in the shop and the whole counter to yourself. We like both, but the second one is a little easier to recommend.