Greg and I had a bit of a tussle this morning over what we were going to do today. He wanted to go kayaking on Lake Elmo, and I wanted to take the bike trail along the Yellowstone River.
Guess who won the tussle? Yep.
We went kayaking on Lake Elmo.
Thankfully, the water was a comfortable temperature, and there was a light breeze that kept us from getting too hot.
This little fellow hitched a ride on my shoe. I wonder if he was drawn to the color, which was not unlike his own.
After our kayaking lap around the lake and lunch in the car with the air conditioning on, Greg condescended to take me to a park where we might be able to see the Rimrocks with the Yellowstone River flowing at their base.
We discovered that the bike path was within biking distance of the campground. If only we had known sooner!
Bees and grasshoppers
Just a quick side note. We have been amazed at the number of bees buzzing about Billings. (See what I did there?)
We hardly have any in Pennsylvania anymore, but it seems like everywhere we went in Billings, there they were.
Knock on wood that I get out of this city without getting stung!
I also loved all of the flying grasshoppers. You couldn’t walk anywhere without encountering one every few feet.
This little guy was giving me the evil eye.
Billings
I have not been impressed with Billings as a vacation destination. It is not a pretty city, and it doesn’t seem to have much in the way of cultural or recreational opportunities.
Weirdly, the KOA (i.e. campground) was packed. A lot of the older folks were on their way to or from somewhere, but there were also lots of families.
Of all the campgrounds we’ve been to, this one was the busiest and seemed to have the least reason for it.
After a leisurely morning and a visit with our next-door neighbors, who asked to have a tour of our trailer, we headed to Pictograph State Park.
I have to confess that this state park was a bit of a disappointment.
After touring the visitor’s center, which was pretty informative, we headed down the trail to take a look at the caves where the pictographs were.
The pictographs were almost impossible to identify. In fact, I really only saw two in the first cave and none in the other two caves.
This is the largest pictograph I was able to identify. What does it depict? I have no idea.
The scenery was amazing, though. I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Four Dances Natural Area
Billings seems to be ringed by a series of cliffs called the Rimrocks. There are a couple of parks along the top of the Rimrocks. Four Dances Natural Area is one.
Since it was just down the street from Pictograph State Park, we decided to stop there and take the trail up to the scenic overlook.
This was another disappointment, but one I was expecting (based on my research before we began our trip).
The scenic overlook overlooks a refinery. Not exactly the most beautiful view!
Next, we headed to Lake Elmo State Park to check it out. Greg is interested in possibly kayaking there tomorrow.
It’s a small lake right within the city limits and should be perfect for kayaking, assuming we get there early enough to beat the heat.
105 Brewery
Then we headed to 105 Brewery, where I had my first ever beer. 🤢 🤮
Two Moons Park
There is a bike path that goes along the Yellowstone River right below the Rimrocks. We decided to see if we could figure out how to get on that bike path.
Greg thought we might have access from a tiny county park called Two Moons Park, so we headed there after our beers to check it out.
It does, indeed, provide access to the bike path, so maybe we will give that a try tomorrow as well.
The Black Hills area has two highways that are impassable to RVs and large vehicles. They are Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road, both part of Custer State Park.
I had decided before this trip began that we would not risk driving either of them. Greg decided he had different ideas.
So Wednesday we headed for Needles Highway. Needles Highway has numerous sharp switchbacks and three narrow tunnels, the narrowest of which is 8 ft wide. Our truck is a little over 7 ft wide.
Possibly thanks to the lorazepam and Propranolol I took before we headed out, I had a blast. It was a great day.
And the pictures!
Waiting to go through our first tunnel on Needles Highway, Iron Creek Tunnel
The first thing we did was stop at the Cathedral Spires Trail. This trail is a little over two miles round trip, but before you get to the cathedral spires, you have to climb over quite a few boulders.
Greg got as far as the boulders and decided not to risk going any further. I ventured on, mostly because the trail was strenuous, and I was damned if I was going to give up before we got to the good stuff!
The good stuff
Next up was the Needles Eye Tunnel. Greg had nerves of steel, and we emerged unscathed. Phew!
The rock formation that gave Needles Highway its nameThere’s nothing more exciting than making a sharp curve between two narrow rock formations, hoping no other trucks are heading toward you.
Sylvan Lake
Needles Highway took us to Sylvan Lake, the most popular lake in Custer State Park.
This is not surprising. Sylvan Lake is really beautiful.
Greg and I started down the Sylvan Lake Trail, but again, Greg decided not to climb over the rocks. He waited for me at a shaded picnic table while I continued on.
Once I got as far as I could go on the trail (it was closed halfway around), I headed back to Greg. Then we enjoyed some drinks at the Sylvan Lake Lodge before walking the trail along the other side of the lake.
On to Billings, Montana!
Wyoming
I can’t resist posting just a little bit about our drive through Wyoming.
Good grief, this state is gorgeous!
I can’t get enough of the scenery.
Here are some of my favorite photos that I took while driving to Billings.
The road up to Mount Rushmore was beautiful. I enjoyed it more than the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.
Once we were at Mount Rushmore, we wandered down the Avenue of Flags, where I learned that Pennsylvania was the second colony to become a state. Who knew?
Next, we watched the informational video in the visitor center, which told the story of how Mount Rushmore came to be, and why Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln were the presidents chosen to be represented.
The sculptor. He died before the memorial was finished, but his son finished the work. Plus, many of his family members continue to be involved in Mt. Rushmore.
Then we checked out the Sculptor’s Studio, where we learned that the presidents’ profiles were originally supposed to include the entire upper torso, but lack of funds and problems with the mountain prevented that.
We also learned that Thomas Jefferson was originally on the far left side of the memorial, but the sculptor had to move him due to incompatibilities between the sculpture’s design and the rock face.
Greg listens to a park ranger describing the process of carving the statues.
Greg decided that he wanted to do the audio tour of the Presidential Trail, so we went back to the visitor center, picked up the equipment, and headed out.
Almost the first thing we came to was an exhibit about the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Native Americans.
A member of the Lakota tribe was giving a presentation. He talked about the struggles that Native Americans have in the US today. They have lost their land. They struggle to hold on to their culture, and they are treated like second-class citizens in their own country. No wonder they struggle with addictions and poor health!
Here he is, holding a picture of his grandmother.
Along the way, we took photos of the presidents. Lots and lots of photos!
Honestly, looking at the sculptures on the face of the mountain made me sad at first. Why do humans have to leave their mark on everything good and beautiful in the world? That lovely mountain is defaced for all time.
But then I learned about the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. He was very patriotic, and he chose which presidents to memorialize with great thought and care.
It made me remember America’s potential. I felt connected to all the Americans who came before me who believe in freedom and the promise of what America can be when she’s at her best.
Abe Lincoln, entertaining the audience with interesting stories about the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
We didn’t get to finish the audio tour along the Presidential Trail because Greg wanted to get back in time to hear Abraham Lincoln talk about the Civil War and recite the Gettysburg Address.
Lincoln made an interesting point about freedom. He said that some people might ask why Lincoln didn’t give the Confederacy the freedom to leave the Union, since America was founded on the principle of freedom (particularly freedom from a tyrannical government).
He said that even freedom has limits. The Confederate states had agreed to be part of the United States and to follow the Constitution. They couldn’t simply break that contract when things didn’t go their way.
And, of course, there was the obligatory selfie photo.
We ate lunch at the cafe at Mount Rushmore. (I didn’t realize we would be there so long, or I would have packed a lunch. Instead, I had some really lousy pot roast in the cafe.) Then we headed to Crazy Horse.
Crazy Horse Memorial
The Crazy Horse Memorial was a revelation to me. I didn’t realize it wasn’t already complete. In fact, it has a long way to go!
This is what the final statue will look like.
Right now, just the head and the pointing hand are complete. It may take 30 to 50 more years to finish the sculpture, which means I will never get to see it completed. Hopefully, my kids will make the effort to go.
I think the entire memorial site will be well worth a visit. In addition to the museum, they have cultural events, and they even have a university for Native American students there.
When we arrived at the visitor center, we purchased tickets for the bus tour down to the memorial site. Our bus driver was very informative.
Once we got back to the visitor center, we watched the informational video about how the sculpture was conceived and learned about the family that is ensuring its completion. (Another family affair, just like Mt. Rushmore.)
It is a fascinating story. I have great admiration for the sculptor who started it all, Korczak Kiolkowski, his wife, his children, and his grandchildren.
We also toured the Indian Museum of North America, which contains an enormous collection of Native American art. It was beautiful, but there was so much to absorb! My attention span wasn’t up to the challenge.
And we listened to a presentation about Native American musical instruments.
Mt. Rushmore Lighting Ceremony
After dinner at the campground, we headed back to Mount Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony. (Thankfully, it was only 15 minutes away.)
First, there was a talk by a park ranger about the meaning of patriotism. It was excellent.
Next, we watched a movie about the lives and significance of each of the presidents represented on Mount Rushmore.
Then they lit the faces of the presidents, and we all sang The Star-Spangled Banner together.
And finally, they invited all veterans and gold star families to come onto the stage to be recognized. Afterwards, the veterans helped lower the flag.
The entire experience was very moving and capped a truly phenomenal day.
Monday was another early morning. We hopped in the car around 7:15 a.m. and drove two hours to Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower. (In total, Greg clocked six hours of driving this day.)
Along the way, we drove past this interesting rock formation. I have no idea what it is.
As we got closer to Devil’s Tower, we could see it for miles in the distance.
I think it’s more impressive from a distance than closeup.
After stopping by the visitor’s center, where we learned that the tower is 867 ft from base to summit, we walked the mile and a half Tower Trail, along with a thousand of our closest friends.
There were even some intrepid climbers tackling the tower!
There is a climber in a teal blue shirt standing on a shadowed ledge around the middle mark of this photo. It was very difficult to see the climbers because they were so tiny in comparison to the ginormous rock formation.
Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway
Next, we headed to the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. This is a 22-mile drive through Spearfish Canyon on Route 14A. It goes from Spearfish to Cheyenne Crossing.
In addition to places where you can pull over to take photographs, there are a number of hiking trails through the area. However, after our bike ride yesterday, followed by the hike around Devil’s Tower, Greg and I decided to forgo any more hikes that day.
I don’t feel like I got many good pictures during the drive. The pull-outs didn’t seem to be in places with the best views.
Deadwood
On the road again, we headed for historic Deadwood.
There, we stopped by the visitor center, then wandered down Main Street and had dinner at the Buffalo Bodega, where I enjoyed some mediocre prime rib.
I expected Main Street to be full of touristy shops. Instead, it seemed to be full of casinos.
After dinner we watched a reenactment of a wild west shootout.
Then we started the hour and a half drive back to the campground.
Of everything we did this day, I feel like Devil’s Tower was the only thing I would have regretted missing if we hadn’t done it.
After three very early mornings, it felt wonderful to sleep in. I got up at 6:30, but when Greg woke up later, I went back to bed for a nap.
Once we were both awake and functional, we hopped on our bikes and took a ride down the Mickelson Trail, heading in the direction of Hill City. There was a trailhead right from the campground.
Access from campground to Mickelson Trail
The Mickelson Trail is a 108-mile rail-to-trail that goes from Deadwood in the north to Edgemont in the south.
We rode about 16 miles, round trip. It was quite relaxing. The weather was 65°, mostly sunny, with a breeze that occasionally had a bit of a bite to it.
The scenery was lovely.
After we got back, we relaxed on our deck for a little while, ate lunch, and then headed to the grocery store in search of food and a new coffee pot.
Our old coffee pot gave up the ghost this morning. Sadly, we were not able to find a new one.
However, when we got back to the camper, Greg was able to jury rig the old coffee pot to get it working again. (And hopefully, it will stay working!)
Life is not worth living without fresh coffee in the morning.
Saturday was another early morning. We had 9:00 a.m. tickets for the Fairgrounds tour of Wind Cave.
Wind Cave was a surprise. I expected it to be similar to Jewel Cave, since they are only 20 miles apart and may even be connected at some yet-undiscovered point.
However, it was vastly different. The cave is absolutely covered in this formation called boxwork, which looks a little like honeycombs.
95% of the boxwork in the United States is in Wind Cave.
I had some trouble fully appreciating this cave. Our tour guide moved us through very quickly. There was a lot of ground to cover. I didn’t get a chance to take many pictures.
Plus, the lighting at floor level was poor, which made walking along uneven floors challenging.
On top of that, for some reason I was feeling dizzy and lightheaded that morning. I was afraid that I was going to have to ask to leave in the middle of the tour, which would not have gone over well with our guide at all!
It was a fascinating cave, though, simply because it was so different from anything I had seen before.
On our way to our next stop, we encountered this majestic fellow.
The Mammoth Site
Next up was a tour of the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota.
At the Mammoth Site, the bones of up to 61 Columbian and woolly mammoths were discovered in what was once, a very long time ago, a sinkhole.
The sinkhole was fed by a warm spring, creating a pond with steep, slippery sides. The mammoths would enter the pond to eat the grasses that grew along the sides, drink, or bathe, and then they wouldn’t be able to get out again.
Greg and I took the audio tour around the site. It was very interesting. We learned a lot about determining the age and gender of mammoths.
The deeper, spring-fed portion of the pond.This is the skeleton of a mammoth (minus its skull) lying on its side. The shallow end of the sinkhole. So many tusks!Greg, posing in front of a replica of a Columbian mammoth and a woolly mammoth skeleton.
On Friday, we drove the 2 hours back, past our campground, and continued on to Jewel Cave. We took the cave Scenic Tour.
Since I doubt any of my readers are as obsessed with caves as I am, I will try to keep this short.
This cavern got its name from the calcite crystals covering its walls.
Most of the crystals aren’t as sparkly and pristine as the ones in the picture above, though. Most are covered in a dirty crust, so they look like this:
Not nearly as glamorous as the name “Jewel” Cave implies!
Jewel Cave is a “breathing cave.” The air inside changes pressure as the pressure outside changes, creating a breeze through the cave.
So far, volunteers have mapped 253 miles of Jewel Cave. Based on the pressure changes within the cave, scientists believe that only about 3% of the cave has been mapped so far.
We saw lots of different cave formations in Jewel Cave, but my favorite was probably the cave bacon:
It really looked like bacon!
Custer State Park — Wildlife Loop
After our tour of Jewel Cave, we headed back to the campground. I was so tired that I took a nice, long nap.
Then we headed over to Custer State Park to see if we could pick up a park pass. On impulse, we decided to do the Wildlife Loop.
Shortly after starting along the loop, we came upon this scene:
I was a little freaked out, I’m not gonna lie. And it didn’t help when Greg GOT OUT OF THE CAR to take a picture. I yelled and told him he was an idiot.
Later, we got to see some pronghorn.
And LOTS of prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs are tiny! I expected something the size of a groundhog, not a guinea pig.
Greg had really been hoping to see some elk, but it was not to be. However, we did get to see some longhorn steer as we were heading toward Custer.
To be honest, I think my favorite part of the drive was the scenery.
The prairie is so beautiful.
Since it was 7 pm by then, we decided to grab dinner in Custer rather than make dinner at the campground.
The food is good at the Sage Creek Grille (though I liked the ambiance more)
On Thursday, we drove 2 hours back in the direction we had come from the day before. (This part of the trip was not particularly well-planned, I’ll admit.)
Our first stop was the Minuteman Missile Site.
The Minuteman National Historic Site consists of two Minuteman II nuclear missile facilities that are no longer in operation as well as the visitor’s center. We weren’t able to get tickets for a tour of one of the sites, so we watched an informational video about the Cold War and browsed the exhibits in the visitor’s center.
I imagine this photo brings back vivid memories for anyone over the age of 60, including me. I remember nuclear “fire” drills that involved huddling with my classmates against the walls of the hall in my school. As if that would have saved us!Can you imagine being the president and having to decide whether to engage in a nuclear war with less than 30 minutes’ notice?The video and this poster talk about the number of close calls the U.S. and Russia have had over the years due to various mishaps. It’s terrifying to think of how incredibly close we have come to annihilating ourselves — multiple times, no less.
At one time, the U.S. had thousands of nuclear missiles. Now we only have a couple of hundred — still enough to destroy the planet, just not enough to destroy it multiple times over.
The Badlands
Next, we headed down the road to the Badlands. They were awesome! Unfortunately, the photos will not do them justice.
It’s impossible to get a sense of how massive these stone formations are and how deep the ravines go without having people in the photo to compare them to.
Our first order of business was to hike the Notch Trail.
It was freakin’ hot!
We did pretty well, despite the sun and heat (it was 100°)…until we got to the ladder.
As we waited for these folks to carefully make their way down, a crowd began to form at the bottom, waiting to go up.
Neither of us wanted to feel the pressure from a bunch of young whippersnappers to rush up the ladder, so we decided to abandon the rest of the hike.
Some other photos of the Badlands:
Roberts Prairie Dog Town
Before finishing our tour of the Badlands, we drove 5 miles down a very bumpy gravel road to Roberts Prairie Dog Town to check out the prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs are prolific little suckers. All those white spots are prairie dog mounds.Nothing like a little plague to add to the adventure!
I would post a picture of some prairie dogs, except that we didn’t get any. We saw them, but they were very far away and we needed binoculars.
Plus, it was so windy that it was impossible to hold the binoculars still enough to actually see what the prairie dogs were doing.
Wall Drug
After the prairie dogs, we headed into the town of Wall to check into our motel.
Then we had dinner at the Badlands Saloon and Grill before heading across the street to check out the famous Wall Drug.
Apparently, this is the must-see attraction in Wall, South Dakota (think South of the Border with an upscale, South Dakotan twist).
They had hats. Boy, did they have hats!And they had boots. Lots and lots of boots. And walls of photos, for some reason.And Greg, checking it all out.
Afterward, we headed back to the Badlands to see if we could catch the sunset. Unfortunately, the clouds were moving in by this time.
But look what we did see on our way into the park!
This was my first experience with a bison up close and relatively personal. But it was certainly not my last.
Although the sunset was a disappointment, I think I got some decent pictures.
This photo was taken with Greg’s cell phone camera, which is better than mine. He may have even caught a meteor, although it might have been a satellite.
Last night, Greg and I decided to try our hand at photographing the Milky Way. Greg had been spending his free hours researching the best way to do it, and he was eager to try out what he had learned.
All we have are our cell phones and tripods, so we probably won’t be able to get professional level quality, but I think we did a good job so far.
We should have many more opportunities in the coming weeks to try again.
Of course, before you get the stars, you get the sunset.
1880s Town
One of the items on our itinerary for when we were in Hill City had been to take the 1880s Train from Hill City to the 1880s Town.
As it turned out, last night we stayed about a quarter mile from the 1880s Town. I had no idea that we were going to be so close when I made our camping reservation.
So after hitching up the trailer this morning, we headed over there to check that off our itinerary (the town, not the train).
This guy was making bullets in the saloon.They had lots of memorabilia from the movie Dances with Wolves.There was a museum packed with so many artifacts and antiques from the late 1800s that it was overwhelming.Each building in town contained a veritable treasure trove of historical relics.
I imagine that a history buff would be in heaven here. Sadly, I am no history buff. The town felt very authentic to me, though, and I enjoyed that.
In the middle of our tour of the town, we stopped into the Santa Fe Train Diner to have an early lunch. The food? Blech.
Larsson’s Crooked Creek Resort
We are now at our campsite in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. We have a “presidential” site, complete with our own covered patio, Adirondack chairs, and a gas fire pit.
We will be here a week to see everything we can see in the Badlands and Black Hills area.
Meanderings & Mind Munchies 