SOUTH DAKOTA - Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, & Wind Caves

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DRIVE UP

Seeing no less than 3 cops on highway 85, one who flashed siren lights as a warning, but managed to not get pulled over
Using a gas pump where the numbers actually physically rolled over. No pay at the pump here.
Drinking Sioux City Sasparilla for the first time - yum. The Birch Beer of the West.
Learning all about farmsteads and how farmers plant trees around their house to break up the wind
Passing fun-named towns called Lingle and Lusk
Wildlife of the Day: Antelope and a dead snake in the road

CUSTER CITY AND RAPID CITY The first night in our tent, we learned the importance of Sleeping Bag Pads. See, even the warmest sleeping bag does not protect you from the heat-sucking cold earth under the tent. After arising at 7am after nearly no sleep and stopping for a delicious breakfast and some Navajo rugs at Cattleman's Steakhouse, we headed to Rapid City. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon an Army Surplus store almost immediately and bought sleeping bag pads and wool blankets. Everywhere there were billboards and bumper stickers for this Christian radio personality. We ran some other errands there but were soon Citied Out and headed back south (skipping the, um, curiosity and temptation of the "Mystery Area") toward Mt. Rushmore, grabbing some chai along the way.

MT RUSHMORE We paid $10 for the honor of looking at some heads and wandering around a trail at the foot of the mountain. Apparently, it had snowed the previous day and the heads were lost in the mist, but not today. We had nice clear cool weather (the locals said it was particularly cold for this time of year.)

CRAZY HORSE Less than half hour away is the other giant-stone-sculpture-in-a-mountainside. Started at roughly the same time but of such a scale that it may not be completed for another 200 years (that number we totally made up, by the way), it is very impressive. What makes this sculpture particularly notable is that:

It was started by one man with a jackhammer

The project has never accepted Federal Funding despite that it was offered

Nothing else I can think of in this era has ever been started with the knowledge that it would not be completed (or even close to completed) in their lifetime. It reminds me of the cathedrals of old that took hundreds of years to complete. It takes a special kind of commitment to see a project through with all your might, but never see it finished.

They had a good intro video, an elaborate and authentic museum and a new bus tour that takes you close to the bottom of the mountain to see a more complete view (and not just the profile.)

Wildlife of the Day Mountain goats (just hanging out by the side of the road near Rushmore) and a black rabbit (hanging out near our campsite).

Tonight's Campsite We stayed our first and second nights at a "tent" site at the KOA near Custer (not the Rushmore one) for $15 a night. The tent sites were small but since only one other person braved a tent in May, it still felt nice and empty. Our neighbors in an RV said hello, confused by the combination of Colorado plates and the "I LOVE NY" T-shirt I was wearing. We had the bathroom to ourselves (one of the nicest public restrooms I've ever seen) and a decent shower. The hot water ran out somewhat quickly but, still, a hot shower.

WOODWORKING MUSEUM The next morning, after a wonderfully warm night of sleep, we went to the nearby Woodworking Museum. It was a very neat collection of one man's work. He sculpted humorous wood figurines and location sets (like a dentist's office), then used elaborate gears and mechanisms to make them move realistically. They were impressive and funny. His other work as well as the variety of woodworking they had by other artists was quite impressive. We bought a Native American flute.

Wildlife of the Day Buffalo! It was the first time either of us had ever seen one live and in the wild. We saw some almost the moment we entered Wind Cave National Park

WIND CAVES The final tour of the day of the "Natural Entrance" tour, the only one available this time of the year, was surprisingly crowded. Over 20 people. The tour guide was one of the best I've ever had. He had been at the Wind Caves since he was a child and had done over 1000 tours, but was still a great speaker, enthusiastic and had lots of stories to share. The cave is huge and we just touched the surface, but still going down lots and lots of stairs until we were 200 feet under. We noted that bringing our own flashlights was a good idea so we could check out all the nooks, crannies, and multitudes of pathways that went elsewhere. (Apparently wind cave has more than usual.) We also checked out all the boxwork, the amount of which is unique to this cave system, and tried to take photos. We were the last ones on the elevator back up at the end.

'Boxwork'

SOUTH DAKOTA - The Badlands and Wall Drug

Tonight's Campsite We had an idea, going into this trip, that we would sometimes camp in national forest land instead of just at a campsite. But so far, most of the national forest land that we have driven through is divided out into ranches and/or fenced off. Nowhere to pull off onto a dirt road and find a nice secluded place. We were having this same experience as we headed farther and farther out on one particular dirt road toward a reservoir on national forest land, passing lots of grazing cattle behind the fences and frustrated since we wanted to build camp before the sun went down and it was nearly sunset. We were about to give up, turn around and go back to Hot Springs, SD, when we stumbled upon the Angostura Reservoir recreation campsite area. Yay! There were other people there, but not many and we were able to find a fairly private campsite right along the reservoir. (And for free!) We found dead trees galore and had a mighty blaze going to cook our franks and roast marshmallows. The next morning, many birds serenaded us awake, including one that made the exact same sound as our camera focusing beep. The only thing I did not like about this site was the red ants. Not a whole lot, but enough to be annoying.

Angostura Reservoir

PANINIS We ate brunch in Hot Springs at a cute understaffed restaurant called "Flat Iron". It was apparently Flamingo Day and they had a giant inflatable flamingo out by the front door and listings of live music that would play later that evening. The coffee was quite delicious and the food decent, though very slow in coming.

ON THE WAY TO THE BADLANDS We drove to the Badlands, highway 44 becoming less and less crowded as we got closer. We turned off after a town called "Scenic" and went on "Sage Creek", the dirt road that winds along the perimeter of the Badlands. Along the way, we checked out an abandoned Silo (I had never seen one up so close). We looked into a campground near the park but it was extremely disappointing. All the tent areas were within one big circle with a dirt road around it. No trees, no privacy and only outhouses (we both prefer nature to outhouses.) We kept driving.

THE BADLANDS The badlands were quite beautiful and in parts, buffalo-filled (yes, I know they are technically called bison, but I just like the word buffalo.) I took the most photographs here out of anywhere. We went on a very short hike off of one of the overlooks and the eroded landscape was fascinating. It would be easy enough to fall down one of the creases, but not too hard to scramble back up. It was unlike anywhere I'd seen.

SNEAKY? We were not necessarily intending to be sneaky, but because we turned around part of the way through the Badlands and exited after the kiosk had closed, we ended up not paying the National Park Fee. No place to pay it to and no one to pay it to. Oops.

ON THE WAY TO WALL We headed north toward Wall, SD and the frequency of billboards for Wall Drug increased dramatically. (To be honest, we had seen quite a few already in Wyoming and western South Dakota, which we've taken to called "SoDak" for short.) Wall, SD is a very small town of less than a thousand people just off Interstate 90. Clearly, the only attraction is Wall Drug and you can't really fail to find it (even though I had made sure to map it before we left.) But as it was getting dark, we stopped at the "Wall Drug Livery" (and had the word explained to me) and found a place to stay first.

Tonight's Campsite We stayed in a KOA-like place within the city limits called "Sleepy Hollow" for $18. The family that ran it was nice and we were able to do our laundry and get (very nice) hot showers. These campground bathrooms are way, way nicer than I had anticipated (or maybe we just got lucky twice.) We again were accompanied by a handful of RVs and one other person in a tent. I definitely think my enjoyment of this kind of campground would decrease dramatically if it the tightly-packed sites were bursting with other campers.

WALL DRUG Wall Drug was just a few blocks away (which can probably be said of anywhere in the town of Wall.) It had almost an entire city block as a parking lot. The Wall Drug itself is quite a complex of stores and buildings - practically a mall - and takes up another city block. Much more elaborate than I was expecting. Nearby were souvenir stores and two museums. If we had more time, we might have checked them out.

Wall Drug Storefront and Parking

INSIDE WALL DRUG Our first order of business was food. It was the most expensive burger I've ever had (it was buffalo burger, but still) coming in at $10 a pop on a paper plate. You could, however, get free ice water and 5-cent coffee, its trademarks. Our next order of business was a restroom. There were signs and a map pointing to "Deluxe" restrooms. Out of curiosity, we checked them out. Not so deluxe. Rather lame, actually. Not bad, but worse than almost every other restroom we'd been to so far. Our favorite part was a collection of historical photographs. A lot of settlers and Native Americans were to be seen. Also, the photos of people holding up Wall Drug signs all over the world was pretty neat. We walked through the interior old-town-style mall. It was cute. We stopped at a couple nifty stores, the "pharmacy museum" and the Traveler's Chapel. The trip here felt more authentic when we bought some drugs (well, Aleve) at the Wall Drug.

Wall Drug Traveler's Chapel and "Deluxe" Restroom (that was not so Deluxe)

WALL DRUG CONCLUSION: If the history of Wall Drug were not so darn nifty and if there were Wall Drug's anywhere else but here, I think I would not like this place at all due to its overpriced commercialism and theme-park-like cheesiness. I've definitely seen worse (at least they were trying to keep with an old-town feel) but still.

Bad grammar nearby...

WYOMING - Devils Tower

INTERSTATE 90 Devils Tower (apostrophe omitted on purpose; that is what it is called) is conveniently a straight shot down I-90 from Wall. On the way, we thought we'd check out the Black Hills Caverns, but after going in circles in Rapid City and taking two wrong turns, we reached the entrance only to find out that it was closed with no explanation. That sucked. We at least took our opportunity in the city to gas up and stock up on food. We passed the famous Sturgis, but could not think of a reason to stop. However, a little ways out of Sturgis we were stopped by a SoDak cop for only very slightly speeding. He separated us and then told us each that he was part of the K9 unit and had a dog and "if I were to take the dog around the truck, would it smell anything illicit?" Um, huh? Apparently there is a South Dakota (or Wyoming? We might have been in Wyoming by then) drug trade that I was completely unaware of. He said he had found drugs in three cars that morning. Not sure if it was true, but sheesh. Our confident (and baffled at the concept) responses convinced him and he left us with just a warning.

Tonight's Campsite We found a National Forest campground on the road to Devils Tower that was completely empty except for us. It was beautiful, surrounded by trees and very Colorado-like. We chose the spot where some previous resident had thoughtfully left a pile of chopped wood. This was the first time we reached a campsite with time to relax before bedtime. We drew, wandered around, played the flute, and in general relaxed until nightfall. I was slightly worried about wildlife and we were careful not to leave any food out.

HULETT This great small town was the first place we saw the "Crazy Woman" prefix. For some reason, some crazy woman must have made quite an impression. By the time we were through the trip, we had seen Crazy Woman Realty, Crazy Woman Liquor, Crazy Woman Creek and Crazy Woman Campground. (Googling "Crazy Woman Wyoming" yields even more.) We almost went to a Antique store, but it was closed with a cute note on the front door that said things like "If I'm not here, you can probably find me at the bar." and "I'm open 23 hours a day. If I am not here when you get here, then that is the hour we're closed." We stopped at the cute little supermarket and got, for once, healthy food (grapes and tomatoes). We ate them as we drove toward Devils Tower (behind some weird ag equipment on a truck) and our stomachs thanked us for the fiber.

APPROACHING DEVILS TOWER We stopped at a souvenir shop and bought magnets and more sasparilla. There was a KOA right here, but we did not plan to sleep here.

DEVILS TOWER The chilliess of South Dakota has fully slipped away. It was sunny and warm outside as we pulled up to the visitor center at the base of Devils Tower. We learned about the legend of Devils Tower as well as the actual scientific explanation. Interesting stuff involving bear claws, a divine rescue, volcanic activity and erosion. We took the hike around the base, scrambled among the boulders safely below the restricted sign and watched climbers attempt the peak. It was a nice walk. Luckily, I remembered by hat so only my arms got sunburnt. We saw another dead (probably?) snake in the road on our way out.

No Campsite Tonight We stopped at Gilette, the last town of any size before Yellowstone and got cash and Good Times. We saw a KOA, but kept driving, wanting to get closer. By the time we reached Cody, we decided to splurge and get a motel. One bed, $55. 55 Channels and nothing on. We tried to order pizza from the local "Pizza on the Run" but they did not answer so we ordered from a chain. I thought it was strange that the On the Run place closed before 8:30. It was not until the next morning and I actually checked my cell phone time that I realized the clock was set an hour behind which made us late for the continental breakfast, though we made it before the food was put away. We had granola cereal, coffee, juice, and a pastry (and we took a second and third pastry - SHAME! SHAME! - with us.)

BIG HORN BASIN = Freaking Beautiful. I didn't take any pictures, but it was one of the most gorgeous rocky vistas I've seen.

WYOMING - Yellowstone

OVERALL IMPRESSION What made Yellowstone for me was the amazing variety of geothermal features like colorful hot springs, geysers, and boiling mud as well as the amount of wildlife abounding everywhere. The scenery in general was very pretty and occasionally stunning, but nothing that was beyond the gorgeous Colorado wilderness. Though I did like the completely random field of boulders...

ENTRANCE We paid $25 at the kiosk with a very nice lady who told us that the southeast part of the loop was closed due to a leakage (and the northeast road had not yet been opened for the year.) So looks like our loop will be on the west side.

HIGHLIGHTS and LOWLIGHTS of DAY 1

Checking out the burnt trees from the fire 20 years ago (and the mini forests the newly growing trees were making).
Close encounter with a Buffalo in the forest.
Frozen lake vistas
Another close encounter with a Buffalo walking next to our car. (We got told off from a random couple in a honking car behind us - one of them works for the park service apparently - for stopping in the road and taking pictures, which is something everyone does, as we found out, so what's the big deal? We're not stopping rush hour traffic. We're slowing down to take a picture of a buffalo that is three feet next to us. Isn't that what the Yellowstone experience is all about? Notably, they were blocking the road for quite a while in order to tell us off for blocking the road; we had pulled off to the side by then...)
Pretty waterfall and a groundhog
Arriving just in time to see Old Faithful erupting
Wondering why a restaurant called a "Grill" is serving pre-made convenience store food.
Making it back around the loop in time to see Old Faithful erupt from the back (and surprised that, despite how many thousands of gallons of water erupt out of the geyser every 90 minutes, only a fraction of that makes it to the river below; most evaporates, I guess)
Black Sand Basin = Awesome. Standing in sulfur-smelling steam, marveling at the red and blue boiling pools. Very cool.

RANDOM ROCK FIELD Most of Yellowstone is a thick forest (and in much of it, you can see the old, burnt trees standing tall and the burst of new pines growing underneath). The two-lane road winds up and down, sometimes almost as low as the river and some overlooking hilly vistas. A few times we came upon ridges and waterfalls, which were cool, but nothing quite matched turning a bend and suddenly being in the middle of a field of giant, white boulders. The field only lasted a minute or two on the road, then it was gone, but we had to turn back and take a look at the anomaly.

Tonight's Campsite Although the majority of Yellowstone had just opened, we did not find a campsite in the Park. We could not locate Norris' campground. Indian Peak was not yet open. And Mammoth Hot Springs was FULL, believe it or not. I did not want to turn around so we kept on driving north until we were up into Montana and out of the park. We expected to see a lot more out here, but there was very little between tiny towns leading to far away Livingston (I presume). After a lot of driving (and irritated about a sign that said "National Forest Access" but led to nowhere), we were about to give up and maybe pull off on the side of the road when, on a whim, we followed a road that pointed to an RV park and suddenly found a sign and road to an actual campsite. We drove up a steepish dirt road, put $7.50 in the box and set ourselves up in the dark. Several people arrived after us, so we weren't the latest people out there. Being wildlife-conscious, we ate a cold dinner in the car. And so followed another night sky full of beautiful stars and going through our full memory cards, trying to find pics to delete.

Roosevelt Arch - North Entrance to Yellowstone.
(The arch says: "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people")

WYOMING - Yellowstone, Part 2

HAMBURGERS FOR BREAKFAST grilled over the fire with peppers and onions on top, yum.

THE YELLOWSTONE GENERAL STORE After looking through our pics, we decided another memory card was necessary, so we stopped at the general store in Mammoth. Outside the store on the street median was many an Elk. Inside the store was many a third and fourth grader. We waded through the sea of children twice, once to buy the memory card and once to return the memory card that they had incorrectly picked out and buy the correct one (at least they were nice about it.) We also used the toilets in the area which are apparently so popular that there is, no joke, "toilet parking."

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS TERRACE This was the coolest thing I saw in Yellowstone. I didn't believe nature could create such surreal, sculptured landscapes. The terraced falls were gorgeous and looked like they were created by a very talented landscape architect. We walked on the boardwalk paths to the top of terraced springs area and it was like another planet. Devoid of life and white except for where the water was flowing, it was a strange sight. Where the hot water was flowing, the rocks underneath were colored orange, green, red, and blue (due, we found out, to micro-organisms called thermophiles.) Fascinating place. It was a little worrisome to think about how much life would die if more geothermal energy was released to the surface in the form of sulfuric boiling water, but otherwise, it was a spectacular sight. I've never seen anything else like it.

THE WOLF We stopped because a few cars were parked at a spot that did not seem particularly spectacular. We soon found out there was a wolf in the distance. Visible by the naked eye, but pretty far away, most people were looking through their cameras to see it. The more cars that parked to get out their gigantic zoom lenses, then more people slowed, stopped, and parked to see what was going on. It was a sort of a spontaneous Yellowstone gathering, based off the unique experience of seeing that kind of wildlife. A similar crowd stopped when several buffalo and their calves crossed the street, but in general, buffalo, elk, and antelope are so common here, not as many people stop after the fourth or fifth time.

Yellowstone Traffic Jam? Close-up of a Wolf

MUD, BOILING We saw a lot of steaming pools today, but one of the unique things we came upon was boiling mud. It was like watching a mini mountain of alfredo sauce. The sound was unique... kind of like we were being told a series of fart jokes. It was very cool and I wish we had gotten to see more of it during the trip, but this pool, at the top of the "Artist Paintpot" area, was it.

THE BEAR At dusk, we caught a glimpse of a black bear running off in the distance. It got behind the trees quickly, but hey, cool.

Tonight's Campsite We stayed in the Madison campsite, an area about 30 miles north of Old Faithful (an area where apparently, there is no camping.) We got there fairly early (which means before dark for us) and barely got a site for $20, however we were desperate for a shower which this site did not have. The guy at the desk at Madison (as well as our tourist map) said that there were "public pay showers" at Old Faithful. The guy even joked that we shouldn't use them when the geyser is erupting, heh. But that information led us on a wild goose chase in the dark where nothing resembling a shower was in sight and nothing was even open. Some park ranger bugged us at Old Faithful Lodge, thinking we were trying to sleep in the truck in the parking lot, which was not allowed. He didn't know about any showers. No one did. Finally, a nice lady (who was waiting on clean towels from the after hours crew, who also did not know about any showers) found us a map and showed us to the showers for the nearby cabins, which did the job, but we probably were not supposed to use. Very irritating, but at least we got a shower. On our way back, it was after midnight and the roads were deserted except for a car coming up really fast behind us who then suddenly put on siren lights but when we pulled over flew right past us. It was a park ranger. Yellowstone emergency? Who knows, but I would not have driven that fast in this wildlife-packed area. Another careful cold dinner in the car. (I did see people in a nearby site being told off for leaving a picnic basket on the table which, after the multitudes of clear warnings and threats of big fines, seemed rather dumb.) We were a little late checking out, which apparently did not matter, but there was already a long line of people signing up for the next evening.

THE OLD FAITHFUL LOOP We stopped at some more steaming pool areas and giant basins but several others were closed due to 'bear activity'. We bought some breakfast burritos at the mini store and went on the boardwalk loop. Totally worth it. Lots of geysers. Granted, most were not going off, but it was interesting to read about them (one was reputed to reach 250 feet high!) and realize just how faithful Old Faithful is. We saw several formations we had not seen yet, which is quite a feat given just how many geothermal pools we have laid our eyes on in the last two days. I got a sunburn during the 3-mile loop (which started at Old Faithful and ended at the famous Morning Glory) but it was worth it.

Castle Geyser

And... no more clicky clicky At the final basin tour, one of our camera's buttons broke. I guess, all things considered, the timing could have been worse. We deleted two shots off the other (memory full) camera in case of Photo-Op Emergency!

THE GRIZZLY And that photo op came sooner than we realized as we came upon a whole lot of cars and RVs stopped on the side of the road. We stopped as well and found out what everyone was looking at (and also got more info from a friendly park ranger watching as well). It was a young grizzly, maybe 2, and had been acting sick and lumbering around slowly the last few days. We got a couple mediocre shots, but the bear did not do much. Still very cool to see it. It was the last of the Yellowstone wildlife we had to check off on our list.

Bright red hot stream among the grass; bright green steaming stream in the forest

WYOMING - Homeward Bound

THE TETONS I was a little worried leaving Yellowstone because I knew Grand Teton National Park was directly south of it and I had lost my receipt which was supposed to be good for both parks. Luckily, no one was at the kiosk we passed, so we made it in without having to pay twice, whew. Grand Teton seemed less crowded and built up than Yellowstone, but we also saw the occasional dude ranch, which seemed a little out of place. The mountain range itself was absolutely stunning. We will have to spend more time here on a later date.

JACKSON HOLE We stopped briefly in Jackson, the city directly south of the Park, where I learned that Jackson and Jackson Hole are interchangeable. It seemed like a nice, but expensive touristy town. The so-called leather shop had full mink coats. Since we were in a hurry, we stopped at a Subway for dinner and drove toward I-80.

FINALLY, SOME NATIONAL FOREST LAND As the hour grew late, we debated about what to do and where to stay. Campsite vs Rock Springs motel vs Drive All Night. Looking at our trusty atlas, we saw that we were approaching the end of the last National Forest road we would be in. Although we had been through many National Forests that did not actually seem to have any public land, we saw a sign just before the end of the forest that said "National Forest access." Despite our bad luck with this sign in the past, we got on it and finally got a dirt road to the middle of nowhere. We put in her in 4WD, climbed a dirt track up the hills into the forest and were finally in public land. It was a little scary. One speedy bird circled us when we first entered and here, there was nothing but us and the wilderness so it was a little spooky. This was a bit out of my comfort zone, which was actually part of the reason I considered staying the night. After some driving around aimlessly as the sky got darker, we decided to do it. We set up camp at the top of a crossroads between two overgrown roads. We roared to scare off any animal attackers. Played the flute to ward off others. And all turned out fine.

"ALL THE CIVILIZATION YOU NEED" We began the drive home, stopping in Pinedale (which had this motto) for coffee. Very cute town. The low fuel light came on after we turned off of I-80 and we almost had to use the backup two gallons we had been carrying in the back all this time, but made it to full-of-traffic Fort Collins before it ran out. And then, actually on schedule, we made it home!

(...and while we were gone a bird had built its nest next to our front door and the grass had completely overgrown. We were only gone 10 days!)