Looking Back at Some of our Favorite Photos from The Trip
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Category Archives: Cowboy West
Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore Photos
Stalker burros, bison road blocks, and granite presidents
I did not intend this trip to be a grand tour of KOAs, but that is what the last week has become. A couple of factors: 1) Henna’s profound love of swimming and her new found underwater diving skills and 2) Our love of cheap, fun places that allow us to camp. Yesterday’s KOA (in Custer, SD) was perfect. It had a lot of tenters, families, and trees. Besides having a pool, they also offered crafts for the kids and Henna painted a glass butterfly with a kindly older work camper. Today, I am about 35 miles north of Custer at the Rapid City KOA which is off of I90, is filled with some type of camp group which descended on the pool just before closing as well as punkish looking teens (and a few nice families). But the pool is nice and we had pizza delivered to us from a nearby place.
Today we did a figure eight through Custer State Park. 13 years ago, Corey and I camped for the first time and had our first good hike in the Black Hills area. My first night camping was memorable by the way, for me cutting my thumb pretty good while opening a can of tuna. We could not get a fire going and I remember some guy who worked at the campground watching my efforts and saying, “it will catch, don’t worry” and walking away. I do not remember if it ever catched. The hike was Harney Peak which I always tell people is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi. A couple of days ago I told that to Corey and she said “Harney Peak is not east of the Mississippi.” A quick look at the map confirmed this. So maybe it is the highest mountain east of the Rockies? At 7200′ it is tall, but I am not sure that it is taller than the presidential mountains in New Hampshire. One thing we can all agree on is that it is tall. We told Henna there was a castle at the top of the mountain (there is a stone CCC firewatch tower at the top) and that she could eat as much candy as she wanted while hiking. Yesterday she said she would do it but today she said no way.
So we drove through Custer State Park and were awed by how cool this park really is After Yellowstone, Waterton, etc. we thought this would pale in comparison. Not at all. There are meadows, funky rock formations, windy roads that rival taller mountain passes, narrow tunnels that allow only one lane of traffic, a herd of bison that, toward the end of the day, surrounded traffic and caused our hearts to quicken as they walked toward the car before suddenly veering away. While in a bison jam, a park ranger passed us going the other way and we asked if bison ever charge cars (I did this thinking the answer would comfort us). He said, “yeah, all the time” and then drove off. Meanwhile the bison are in front, behind, to the left, and to the right of us. We can smell and hear them grunt too. A couple of cars in front of us the drover froze up and we were stuck for a good ten minutes before being able to proceed.
The burros are a different matter. Quick review, in WY you can walk directly on dinosaur tracks and are encouraged to take any fossils you find. At Jewel Cave I was reprimanded for holding an acorn in the visitor center. At Custer State Park, you are not allowed to feed wildlike “except fot the burros…. we just want you to feed them something good like carrots” (the lady at the entrance gate). So we fed them. We also got of the car and petted them. And then we walked in a great meadow toward a herd of burros. Prarie dogs sent off their alarm and we watched for burro pooh and snakes in the grass (we found a lot of the first and none of the second).
Before seeing the bison and burros, but after first entering the park we took Iron Mountain Road which leads to Mount Rushmore. The road was designed to give several cool views of the monument. Quick fact: Mount Rushmore is incomplete. Congress cut off funding in 1941 (we were on the verge of WWII) and Lincoln is incomplete as well as some of the details of the other presidents. There also was a big do-over due to unforseen cracking which left several imperfections to the left of Washington.
After Mount Rushmore but before the bisons and burros we parked at Lake Sylvian. Lake Sylvian is lovely and also is the site of a trail head for Harney Peak. How convenient. The three of us started on the trail with the understanding we would only go as far as Henna wanted. Henna wanted to go about 50 yards. Corey graciously said I could continue for a bit and her and Henna went swimming in the lake. I continued on the trail until I reached a spur leading to Little Devil’s Tower. I figured that would be a logical turn around point and began walking to the tower. What I did not realize, was that the trail led to the top of the little tower, not a view of. About a third of a way up that spur I came across a vantage point that offered awesome views of the hills (they did look black from there). I did not have any way to record this. There was a family at the same point and I decided to ask a big favor: would they e-mail me a picture of that view. This request led to fun conversations and companionship the rest of the way up. At the time of the request, I did not realize that they were actually a family of eight. A very cool eight with the six children ranging from six to maybe their late teens. They were quick witted (they laughed at my jokes) and very kind to me. Still, I felt a bit funny hanging out with them, kind of like I was being unfaithfull to Corey and Henna. The trail, by the way, devolved into spray painted blue diamonds on rocks which led us into gulleys and crevases. Several points were only wide enough to allow me to walk with one foot directly in front of the other. The view at the top was stunning with us just a little bit lower than the stone fire tower which we could see across a ravine. As I was admiring this a little voice inside my head said “you told Corey you would be about an hour and it has been two.” I came down as fast as I can, once losing the trail and having to backtrack. I also resorted to throwing my water bottle down ahead of me so that I had both hands free. When I finally returned to the parking lot, Corey and Henna were happy to see me and not upset in the least. I felt true gratitude for them being so cool and understanding.
So here we are in Rapid City, two days before we hope to be home. Since Dan and Liz’s wedding, it has been 34 nights. 21 nights have found us sleaping in a tent. 4 times we stayed in a KOA cabin. We did 6 hotels and were lucky enough to have Lou host us for three nights. Our total trip odometer is over 6,500 miles. It is time to go home, but these have been an awesome 5 weeks. I will post some pictures, hopefully tomorrow and then again over the next week.
Inching Closer to Home
The plan today was big. We would take I90 to 16, cross into South Dakota and see wild donkeys and bison in Custer State Park and then the granite presidents. We didn’t do none of that. We got off I90 and were on 16S for less than a minute before coming across the West Texas Trail museum in Moorecroft, Wy. A sign said it was free and we were out of the car not thirty minutes after leaving Gillette. By the way, Corey said I was to hard on that town so on the way out we detoured through their downtown. It was clean, had several stores, no resteraunts, coffee shops or book stores though. Still not my favorite place, but not the worse place either. Anyways, many attics made up this museum. There were coffins, pianos, WWI uniforms, various mounted cow heads, and short histories of the families making up Kirk County. There also was a very articulate and knowledgeable man with nothing else to do but answer my questions concerning ranching, the west Texas Trail, the history of Moorecroft, and dinosaur bones. It turned out he was friends with the family who once owned the land where the dino tracks were found. He talked about being a kid on his grandparents ranch and finding twelve or more arrow heads a summer. He also said that ranchers are suppose to tell people when they find stuff, but that means strangers coming on to their land. People in WY do not like that, but then again I am not a big fan of the meter man coming into my backyard. One sentence on the West Texas Trail: Cows were brought north from Texas to populate ranches in MT and Canada from the mid to late 19th century.
We then stopped for gas, made lunch at a rest stop, and traveled a few more miles on 16 into South Dakota. Corey hates caves but I made her pull into the Jewel Cave National Monument visitor center. Cave tours were sold out for the day but there was an enticing hike into “Hell Canyon” past the historic cave opening. Three and a half miles long and flat, this seemed easy to us mountain people. There was a big fire ten years ago which caused lots of stumps, no shade from sun, and a beautiful meadow filled with butterflies, wild flowers, and interesting birds. Henna tripped twice and skinned one knee. She also was stung by a bee. The sun and humidity (which us mountain people are no longer used to) was brutal. The hike, although gorgeous, became monotonous after the first mile or so. We saw one family at the onset of the hike, but then no one else and Corey was convinced we had made a wrong turn. But after climbing out of the canyon (it was a pretty small indentation by the way) we came across that historic opening and it was awesome. Cold air came out of one hole and there were small openings that a stupid man could venture into and then die a lonely death. The rocks here have a crystal sheen that rubs off and we felt this sense of discovery that often eludes us in more crowded places. The trail then took a bend around the corner and we found ourselves in a parking lot with maybe twenty people waiting for a cave tour. A few more steps and we met a ranger dressed in 1940s garb (that is when the rangers first gave tours) who showed us the origional cabin. Again, there was no one else around to compete for our attention and I asked him about the area, the canyon, and the CCC corps (who built the cabin and highway 16 that takes you to the cave). The trail from that point to the visitor center ventured on high ground and offered shade and cool breezes. Along the way Henna gave me the “prettiest acorn in the forest.” At the gift shop we bought a sticker and the ranger wannabe said “tell me you did not get that from the forest.” You can grab fossils from WY but do not take acorns from S. Dakota. A few more miles down the road was the Custer KOA where I write you these words. Total distance for the day: maybe a hundred twenty miles. Tomorrow we hope to see Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, and Wall Drug. But who knows, maybe a county fair will intercept us a mile east of here.
Pictures
Pictures!
A billion years or so in less than 300 miles
Woke up today in the 21st century and was able to travel back a billion years or so before getting a hotel in Gillette, WY. First a word about Gillette. There may be some nice neighborhoods hidden in this town, but if so they are well hidden. Our hotel is nice and so were the turkey hotdogs and mashed potatoes we microwaved for dinner. Add some chicken salad and it was heaven. But Gillette is a rough and tumble looking place in a dusty corner of I90. Gillette supposedly is doing well (it is known as the energy capital due to their coal, oil, and natural gas resources). But the dough is not being spent on coffee houses and art galleries. The drive here though was amazing.
It started with a pancake breakfast and buffalo patty for breakfast followed by a quick swim in the KOA pool. We hit the road around 10:30 feeling refreshed and ready for adventure. After a pit stop at a grocery store in Grey Bull we came across a small brown sign at a gravel road intersection. The sign listed several points of interest including “dinosaur tracks 5 miles.” After a quick deliberation we were off driving on a gravel road through BLM land. BLM lands is shorthand for “whatever the heck you want to do here is fine.” You can camp anywhere you want. You can also graze a herd of cattle, dig for fossils, or ride a horse/ ATV/ elephant whatever and wherever you want. The three of us ventured deep into this unregulated WY landscape on a very narrow and winding road. We saw several antelope and one truck parked in the sage brush. After 5 miles we came across a pavilion and parking lot that held one truck with a large family spilling out. More surprising was an outhouse and several plaques describing the find.
In 1997 a group of elderly explorers came across what was later confirmed as dinosaur tracks. The smiling faces of this group looked back at me at the sign which also described their finding as turning local archaeological history on its ear. Prior to their discovery, it was assumed that this part of WY was underneath a great sea. Now they believe that it made up a type of beach when WY, some 169 million years ago, was much closer to the equator. A short trail led to the tracks which were fossilized and there was no barrier preventing us from us touching their foot (?) prints. Another sign even said we were free to look for and collect fossils. Henna found a 168 million year shrimp fossil (which was later confirmed). Henna also caught several grasshoppers and this is what she talked about most on our drive back to the paved road.
Our next stop on our makeshift archaelogical tour was the Big Horn Valley. Geological forces I only vaguely understand resulted in a lot of very old rock being thrown up. Luckily the WY highway department puts wonderful signs up telling how old these rocks are. They ranged from being 70 million to 1.2 billion years old. The road is steep and incredibly beautiful and, just to add a higher degree of difficulty, cuts through ranches with sheep and cows hanging out by the side of the road. Maybe they were hitch hiking away from the ranch (I think you would agree that that would be a good choice for them). We left the car often to take several short hikes into this wonderland of striking rocks, buttes, and endless prarie grass. This road eventually led us to I90 and the hotel room I write this from. Tomorrow we hope to camp in Custer State Park, SD.
Rodeo Days
Greetings from Cody, WY home of the daily summer rodeo. We were here two years ago and at the rodeo Henna rooted for the animals and we went home early. This time Henna was much mor interested than I, especially in some of the trick riders who were her own age. Henna also participated in the all kid calf run where dozens of kids chased three scared calfs around the ring hoping to snatch a ribbon stuck into the cow tail. Henna did not win, but had a lot of fun trying. I do not know the whole history of Cody (maybe next time I am here I will go to the Cody museum). But my understanding of the town is that Bill Cody set up this town as a sort of living museum/ circus of his western vision. And he wanted to make money, a lot of money. Cody still has that kind of feel, but in a gentle, not in your face kind of way. The 52 miles from Yellowstone to Cody are also some of the most dramatic miles I have driven this summer (In case you are wondering we have driven 5,000+ miles this summer; the Cowboy Trail in Alberta may have been the prettiest miles and the Manitoba/ Saskatechwan the harderst).
Since last I have blogged we spent two nights camping in the Grand Tetons. The campground (Colter Bay) was not our favorite. A lot of mosquitoes, a lot of campers (we were site 350 in a 350 site campground), and a lot of generators. RV sites in the Tetons are $60 so what a lot of RVers do is set up in the tent campground ($20) and then run their generators until 8 PM (which is the time they are allowed to do so). As a whole the campground had a very impersonal and cold kind of feel. I did meet an interesting worker there. She was a recently retired teacher who, along with her retired husband, sold 99% of their belongings including their house and took off in an RV. She now works with her husband at the Colter Bay campground where the concessionair (the entity that runs all the giftshops, resteraunts and some of the campgrounds) allows employees to camp in an employee RV park for $6 a night. They also have dormitories. If day to day operations in Canada are turned over to teenagers, in the US it is retirees and college students running the show. And they do a good job; they are all so happy living in paradise that they do not mind working at a grocery store, etc.
Two nights ago while camping, Corey and I were sitting by the fire and Henna was sound asleap in the tent. We heard a banging noise behind the tent and were somewhat concerned (there were many, many tents behind ours so a sudden loud noise was not to much of a concern). But then we heard definite steps in the forest and this scared us good. I made loud noises and shone my flashlight on…. a doe munching on leaves a few feet from our tent. The doe ignored me and walked past the tent, the hoofs almost touching the rain flap.
We also revisited a hike. 13 years ago Corey and I took our first big summer road trip. In the Tetons we backpacked (also for the first time) to Lake Solitude. With Henna in tow we decided to redo this hike. We knew we were not going to make that same lake. We did take the boat across Jenny Lake (as we did 13 seasons ago) and smiled at the backpackers who were going to that lake. It was a great hike. Even the crazy amount of people who shared the first leg of the hike to Inspiration Point with us felt good. It made me better appreciate all the hiking we have done this season where a chance meeting on the trail often resulted in a quick or long conversation. As a rule, the more tired I was, the more lengthy the conversations I pursued. To get to Inspiration Point, one must endure several switchbacks. And then most people go back to the boat dock. After Inspiration Point, the trail levels out and offers stunning views of distant mountains. Moose also hang out there (the first time on the trail we saw one, yesterday we did not) and you walk through meadows filled with alpine flowers. We hiked until we reached a good wading point, took off our shoes, and waved at backpackers and serious hikers as they went by. A better time could not have been had. At the Tetons, Henna and I also swam in Jackson Lake which was maybe a little colder than the little lakes in the UP. Many tourists thought us crazy, but Henna and I had a blast. Even Corey joined us for a quick bath.
Today we drove through Yellowstone. We had a picknick in Hayden Valley, saw some bison, met a nice family from Long Island, and hiked past bubbling mud and scalding water. No swimming there. I have lots of pictures to share. Tomorrow, maybe Devils Tower. Maybe not. We are probably going to stop by Mount Rushmore and then come home. The tilt toward home is in full swing and I am already missing this trip.
A quick thought
I am really posting this in order to share the photo below. I tried to do so last night, but the wifi would not let me do so. But, since I have your attention I may as well give a brief comparison between camping in the US vs. Canada. First, the people: Canadians are much nicer and friendlier than us. Last night I mentioned that we are at a happy, family filled campground. What I did not say is that our neighbors, despite almost being on top of us, do not return conversations. Walking to the bathroom this morning only a few people returned my good morning. In Canada several people introduced themselves to me. A RCMP sought us out just to give us directions. When we asked directions (and we did that a lot) people often stopped what they were doing and then led us to where we had to go (I should say that this also happened once in MN). Second, it is much cheaper to camp here but you do not get as much. At Waterton we had showers and teams of teenagers patroling the grounds for our comfort (and I am guessing a chance to escape their boss). In the US you pay between $12 to $20 for a campsite (at Waterton it was $27) but you may not get soap in the bathroom. No showers. Usually one older man in a golf cart patroling a 100+ site campground. You get what you pay for. Finally, a quick word about camping. Last night was our 15th night sleeping in a tent. We also spent 4 nights so far in KOA Kamping Kabins which are small cabins where you supply the bedding and do not have a private bathroom (I think this would be the perfect way for a non-camper to camp; you can see America via these cabins and save a lot of dough, eat better, meet more people, etc). So far the roughest nights were at Pacific Rim where we had a walk-in site a decent walk from our car. I felt we were in our own private little rain forest and it did rain almost the whole time we were in our tent. Last night and Waterton were probably our least wild nights- here we have wifi, little privacy, a nice bathroom with showers, friendly people working here, and are not to far from an overpriced store that could supplement our needs. There also is a small resteraunt here. Most of our sites have been inbetween these two extremes. If you have not guessed it, we love to camp. I like sleeping in my own portable home that I can set up almost anywhere (with a different tent Corey and I once set it up on a ship headed down the coast of Alaska). Unlike an RV, we can still go anywhere we want. I also love the ease at which I can make my own food via the small propane stove we have and/ or grill that is often at our sites. I think I eat better on the road than at home. Anyways, enjoy the pic below. We are headed to the Tetons and Yellowstone and may not be able to post for awhile. I promise lots of photos when we do (post).
Pictures
Hennacornoeli Days 