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HILL CITY, S.D. — Calendars and catalogs tell us that fall color is best served as an array. It is red, orange, yellow and every burnt shade between. Fall colors are so broad and brilliant that the English language can’t keep up to name them all.

In the Black Hills of South Dakota, however, fall presents itself in one primary shade: yellow. But within that yellow are many yellows: canary, school bus, lemon peel, banana peel, daisy, mustard and maybe even Big Bird. There is orangey-yellow, reddish-yellow and lime-green-yellow.

Rather than bowl you over, the yellows tickle you like a feather — a subtle, luminous feather always peeking out from the next piney turn in the road or dark, craggy canyon. When backlit by a warm afternoon sun, look out. Those yellows turn electric.

The eastern side of South Dakota is the flat, humid edge of the Midwest; the Black Hills are the edge of the West: bright, vertical and awash in vigorous mountain air. It is a hard and beautiful land, and the hardness not only makes the yellows dazzle, it makes them dazzle differently than they would, say, on a New England country road clogged with thick sweaters and mugs of cider.

Western fall color, which usually peaks here in early October, offers little cider. It is hiking boots and fly-fishing, buffalo burgers and Indian tacos, vertical rock and sparse population. It is the perfect time to visit this legendary landscape; the summer’s 90-degree days have fled, and so have the tourists that turn small towns into traffic calamities in mid-July.

And then there are the yellows.

I began chasing them immediately after picking up my convertible from the rental counter at the Rapid City airport. Top down — when it comes to fall color, go big — I cruised directly to Harney Peak, which at 7,242 feet is the tallest mountaintop between the Rockies and Europe.

Up I went, climbing past towering rocks that reached from the earth like giant fingers and the dense pools of yellow. The occasional tourist, myself included, paused on the edge of the trail to photograph that color below, usually tall, thin aspen and birch trees. Halfway up, I passed a couple in their late 50s. I asked about the view ahead.

“Marvelous,” the man said. “Glorious colors. And there are two seminude women just ahead of you. So it’ll be a good view for sure.”

That got the lead out. In 40 minutes I was at the top with three Germans and two young American women in shorts and tank tops.

“Were you two seminude?” I asked the Americans. “I passed a guy on the trail who said there were two seminude women ahead.”

“I had my tank top halfway up,” one said. “That’s about it.”

Fine, then. Back to the color.

And in the Black Hills, the way to find it is by car. I buzzed on to Palmer Creek Road, south of Hill City, which I never would have known to look for without the advice of a local. It’s a dirt road that would be easy to miss, hugged by aspens whose leaves were somewhere between yellow-green and yellow-yellow. I didn’t pass another car there.

I spent much of the next couple of days like that. I would wake early to explore every wrinkle of the Black Hills I could by daylight, gliding slowly across the scenic roads: Vanocker Canyon Road, Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road and Spearfish Canyon, where the sherbetlike yellows leapt out from the evergreens. The best part: All are within about 100 miles of one another.

There was a simple joy in taking the drives and winding curves at speeds you’d never employ when simply trying to get somewhere. Amid the color, clean air and elbowroom, you’re constantly where you’re trying to be.

The way to make the drives last longer, of course, is to stop often, and it was during one of those stops that I met Gary Steinley, a trim 70-year-old standing above a pond in Spearfish Canyon, painting the autumn landscape.

“I’ve been in fall to the Adirondacks, where there are 200 people everywhere you turn,” he said. “That’s not the case here. I like that.”

I asked if he missed fall’s other colors.

“Not in the least,” Steinley said. “Someone spoiled by Eastern falls and those brilliant colors might not think this is as picturesque as that. They’d sure be missing something, though.”

He paused.

“Actually, later in the fall, the poison ivy turns red.”

Fall color variety, South Dakota style.

If you go

Getting there: Rapid City Regional Airport, the gateway to the Black Hills, gets nonstop service from Allegiant (from Las Vegas and Phoenix), American (Chicago and Dallas), Delta (Salt Lake City and the Twin Cities) and United (Denver and Chicago). All flights from elsewhere connect through those cities.

Eat: Food rarely veers toward fancy in the Black Hills — one of its charms — and expensive meals don’t always back up the price tag. Stick with the classic fare, such as Alpine Inn (133 Main St., Hill City; 605-574-2749; alpineinnhillcity.com), a quaint piece of the Old West that offers a dinner menu of a bacon-wrapped filet, an iceberg lettuce wedge topped with homemade ranch dressing, baked potato and Texas toast. The only decision is whether to get a 6-ounce steak ($8.95) or 9-ounce steak ($10.95). Locals love the place. Latchstring Inn (10619 Roughlock Falls Road, Lead; 877-975-6343; spfcanyon.com), in Spearfish Canyon, offers breakfast, lunch and dinner that will do in a pinch, but better to continue up the road to the unfussy Cheyenne Crossing in Lead (21415 U.S. Highway 14A, Lead; 605-584-3510; cheyennecrossing.org), another local favorite that is known for its gut-busting, delicious Indian tacos (traditional taco fixings on fry bread). There also are many restaurants in Deadwood.

Stay: The most comfortable and memorable options are the many well-regarded ranches near Hill City (hillcitysd.com). I stayed at Spearfish Canyon Lodge (605-584-3435; spfcanyon.com), near Lead, which offered modern comfort in the thick of the color and was steps from several good trails. In addition to the steaks, Alpine Inn offers clean, affordable rooms that remind you at every turn you’re in the Old West. There are plenty of rooms in Deadwood, from well under $100 to beyond $400.

Do: The best way to appreciate the fall color within the Black Hills is to explore by car. Most of the major rental companies are represented at the airport. It is worth stopping at the Black Hills Visitor Information Center in Rapid City (1851 Discovery Circle; 605-355-3700) for a map and advice. My most memorable experiences included colorful, winding drives through Spearfish Canyon and along Vanocker Canyon Road, Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. Another tip: No matter how jaded you are, Mount Rushmore is worth a stop. Get there just before sunset, watch the faces in the late afternoon light, then wait for the lights to come on. You get two markedly different perspectives.

More information: blackhillsbadlands.com

jbnoel@tribune.com