In researching this post, I found some interesting data on the topic that reveals nature’s perfect plan for those four periods of time we call the seasons. I’ve selected a few images we captured in the Hot Springs area over the past year to illustrate.

There are four key dates in the year. These occur on the 21st day of March, June, September and December.

March 21st is the Vernal Equinox and represents the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. It is the point at which the Sun crosses the Equator as it travels northwards. At this time day and night are of equal length, hence equinox – ‘equal night’. Here in the southern Black Hills, spring is a time of new beginnings as bright green grassy fields emerge from their winter sleep, and newborn baby buffalo calves and deer fawns make their entrance:

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

The 21st of June is the Summer Solstice or Midsummer’s Day in the northern hemisphere, when the Sun has reached its further point north of the Equator (Tropic of Cancer). As more sunlight reaches the northern hemisphere the days last longer than the nights. The day after, the sun begins to travel south and the days start to shorten. In our area, it’s time to grab a bucket and harvest juicy wild mountain raspberries, serviceberries, and chokecherries, found in abundance all over the Black Hills, ripe for the picking:

Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world. ~Ada Louise Huxtable

September 21st is the Autumnal Equinox when the sun crosses the Equator going south. The colors of Autumn in the Black Hills are particularly striking and varied. Wildlife are readying for winter, most of our summer visitors have returned to their homes, and the quiet, crisp beauty of this time of year is both relaxing and inspirational:

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

December 21st is the Winter Solstice and is shortest day in the northern hemisphere; it is the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere. The Sun has reached its furthest point of travel south – the Tropic of Capricorn. The Hot Springs area offers some of the most awe-inspiring sights you’ll find anywhere in the winter months. With warm, spring-fed Fall River winding its way through town, you’ll find a breathtaking view of ethereal steam against the crisp new-fallen snow each morning:

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ~Edith Sitwell

The seasons are, of course, reversed in the southern hemisphere – autumn in March, winter in June, spring in September and summer in December.

If you grew up in a place where you were able to enjoy the changing seasons, but moved to another climate, you might find yourself missing the beauty of these four special times of year. If those magical, mystical seasons are beckoning you back, there’s no better place to enjoy their loveliness than in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Here we enjoy mild winters, an arid climate that keeps summertime temperatures comfortable, and breath taking scenery at any time of year.

We don’t want you to miss a thing.

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