Wandering West Day 4 - On to Yellowstone

Five hundred miles (give or take 10) in 9 hours including a stop to visit the Devil's Tower. Towards the end, from Cody to Yellowstone, is extremely gorgeous. I was anxious to get there so I only stopped once to take pictures.

Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower is about 150 miles from Rapid City on the way to Yellowstone. Geologist are not entirely sure how it was formed but is has something to do with hot magma cooling near the surface. As the land was eroded over eons, the hard igneous rock was exposed. Its crystal-like structure has to do with the way it split as it cooled. Surprisingly (or not) there were a lot of people there at 8:30 in the morning. You can hike around it and with a permit you can climb it.

Devil's Tower

Arrival at Yellowstone Lake

My last minute scheduling changes required finding another room in Yellowstone for July 20th. I found one in a “Pioneer Cabin” at the Lake Lodge. Its basically a shack with a bathroom. No, more like a prison cell with privacy, only a prison cell probably has air conditioning. The room is so small you have to get out to yawn. But really, I was grateful to get a room at the last minute and spend an extra day here. And the lodge lobby faced the lake. After dinner I got my laptop and hung out in the lobby and sorted through my pictures. My other room at Canyon is only slightly better and I suppose I'll have a similar routine there. Its light our here after 9:00 pm which means there aren't even 8 hours of darkness. I guess my body clock can adjust.

The great indoors

Wandering West Day 3 - Black Hills of South Dakota

The Black Hills of South Dakota

Through careful observation I have come to the conclusion that there are more billboards per capita in South Dakota then any other state. But that's not difficult as SD has lots tourist attractions and not many people. They are still only represented by 1 congressman in the House. And it appears that 90% of the tourist attractions are here in the Black Hills area in the western end of the state. You could make a week of it here but that might mean filling your time with things as sublime as Cosmos, Place of Mystery or as misplaced as the Reptile Gardens. I managed to cover what I considered the highlights in a day and a half. But then I'm always in a hurry and won't visit the sublime or misplaced. But seriously, it is a very beautiful area of the country and I highly recommend it.

Custer State Park

If you want to see wildlife and scenery without billboards here you go to Custer State Park. I was only moderately lucky with finding critters but I wasn't too worried as I'm headed for Yellowstone, the critter king of national parks.

Wild Turkey

Iron Mountain Highway and Needles Highway

There are two semi connected scenic drives that are good for nothing but gawking. Iron Mountain and Needles Highways wind through the black hills with spectacular views of Mt Rushmore and “The Needles” or granite spires. As you wind through you'll encounter 6 or 7 narrow one lane tunnels carved through stone. RV's need not attempt. Why they went through the trouble of building these beautiful roads through mountains and didn't bother to dig a little wider is beyond me.

Granite Tunnel

Wind Cave

Wind Cave National Park has one of the longest cave systems in the world. Something like 500 miles have been discovered and they believe that only 10% of the cave has been explored. It is a fairly dry cave so there were no stalagmites in the areas I toured but there is an interesting feature called “boxwork” (see pic) that is all over that place. And, 90% of all the known cave boxwork in the world is in Wind Cave, how about that. The original natural opening of the cave is no larger than a large hat. It was discovered in the late 1800's when someone heard a loud whistling noise and a realtively windless day. And there is a herd of bison in the park as well.

Boxwork

Crazy Horse

Not to be outdone by Mt Rushmore, certain Native American's have commissioned the carving of another mountain in the form of a fellow named Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse help defeat Custer at Little Bighorn, refused to stay on a reservation and is considered an appropriate hero by the native American's for such a memorial. When the carving is complete it will be the largest sculpture in the world. 10 times or so larger then Mt Rushmore, larger than the Washington Monument and also the statue of Liberty. Its been going on for 50 years and only the head is carved so far so perhaps your grandchildren will see it finished. One interesting thing about the project is that is it is funded entirely by private donations and admission fees. No state of federal money was ever taken for the project.

Crazy Horse, unfinished

Wandering West Day 2 - South Dakota

Sanity prevailed and today I only drove about 6 hours, from Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD. That gave me time to visit Badlands National Park on the way and Mt Rushmore just south of Rapid City.

Day 2 Trek

Badlands National Park

Badlands is expansive and interested but its very homogenious from one end to the other. Lets see if I can explain it. Its a bunch of rock exposed by erosion where a plateau at one altitude meets a plateau at a lower altitude. All along that meeting place you get the gray formations like the pic below. A lot like Bryce Canyon NP because it sort of looks like one side of a canyon. It is also refered to as "The Wall".

Badlands

Mt Rushmore

Very cool. To see a huge sculture on the top of a mountain is very cool. I did not get there for the best light (in the morning) but its still very dramatic. I wish I had time to go again. There is a light show after dark but alas that is too near my bedtime as I need to get up early.

George

Sorry, no time for full galleries yet but they are coming.

Next, the rest of the Black Hills, SD area.

Wandering West Day 1 - Maryland to South Dakota

Well this past Sunday I started my trip across the US. True to form I made detailed plans of where I was going to stay, how many miles I would travel each day, and what I would visit. And again, true to form, I changed my plans at the last minute, leaving one day early. I left MD on Sunday at 5:00pm and arrived in Sioux Falls, SD around 4:00pm the next day, driving 1300 miles in 23 hours with no more than 2 hours sleep at different stops. I can't say I recommend such a practice but I'm not sure I wouldn't do it again either. Never saw Ohio, Indiana or Illinois by the light of day, however Wisconsin and Minnesota are beautiful.

Here is the route so far to give you an idea:

About 1300 miles in about 23 hours

Not may pics this day but here's one:

Windmills in PA