Badlands

We got up and left Devil's Tower pretty early, and headed east.  We left Wyoming and entered South Dakota, and drove through Rapid City.  We stopped at the Ellsworth AFB Air and Space Museum for a few hours on the way, that was cool.

Minuteman missile in the center. 

B1A  (Carter cancelled it, Reagan made it the B1B)

B52 - thankfully never delivered nuclear warheads...

After the museum, we kept driving about mid-afternoon we arrived in a field in Buffalo Gap National Grassland, on the east side of 240, south of Wall, right outside of Badlands National Park.  The really cool part about this spot (besides it's free, and right outside the National Park) is that it's right on the edge of a huge cliff, looking out over some of the Badlands.  It's really cool!

It was HOT when we got there!  We put out the awning and spent most of the afternoon in the shade.  The grass was pretty dry, we were careful to make sure we didn't do anything that might start a fire.

We stayed in the same place on our three week test trip last summer.  Last year, there were a bunch of cows grazing here, but we didn't see any this time around.  It was a whole lot drier too.  (Alice got a tick last time too, but we didn't see any here this time -- maybe it's too dry?)

It cooled down a lot after the sun started to go down a bit.  We had dinner outside, and I took a walk along the edge and took some pictures.

We got up even earlier the next morning and hit the road really early, because it was supposed to be really hot.  We drove east through the National Park, and stopped at a bunch of overlooks, some of which we remembered from last time.

As the morning went on, we pulled over, had second breakfast, and climbed around a bit.  It was really fun, but it started to get really hot, so we kept moving.

We headed north, and pulled over at an overlook/trailhead for lunch.  We all did the really short Window Trail, and my dad and I did the 1.5 mile Notch Trail.  The Notch Trail was pretty cool, we walked through a canyon for a bit, then climbed a log ladder/stairs and walked along up higher to the Notch, which looks out over the park.

It was still pretty early in the afternoon, so instead of stopping just outside the park, we kept heading east!

Coming Full Circle

For at least me, Devil’s Tower Natl. Monument has symbolized a sort of coming home on this trip. Around this time last year, (early July, or late June) Devils Tower was a turning point for our the Three Week Trip, quite literally. That was when it stopped feeling like a vacation, and started to feel like home. We still didn’t know if we could stand each other for that long, but now we had a vague idea of what it was going to be like. Key words: vague, and idea. Very vague idea…

It was actually very different on this trip. We had to re-learn everything, things like, where on earth are we going to put all our extra water jugs? We hung them from a hook in the bathroom. What can I do with all my books? Put them under my mattress, in my basket, closet and now on my shelf. How does one go about writing a blog post that someone will want to read? Just go for it and hope you don’t make a horrible mess, the more pictures the better. How do you fight a mountain lion? Make lots of noise and do not run, this has not been tested by me. Just saying.

There,I got all the sentimental stuff out of the way. I said this was going to be about Devil’s Tower, so I’ll cut to the chase. Devil’s Tower is sacred to over twenty native american tribes, and they consider it a place of peace. Even when they were enemies of the plains, there was no fighting at the Tower. Actually, they didn’t even call it Devil’s Tower, they called it Bear Lodge, or Bear Tower. I’m not going to tell you how it got that name, there’s a very long story. They came up with the story because of the columns, they look like something came up and raked it’s claws down the side of the tower over and over.

So it’s pretty much a big scary looking chunk of rock on the edge of the Great Plains. On one side, we’ve got some nice, rolling hills, there’s a trail or two in there, on the next side, a KOA and trading post. They have Internet at the Trading Post, it’s within a mile of the camp ground if you want to walk. As a buffer between the KOA and the park campground, there’s a huge prarie dog town. If you want to watch them, it’s best to watch in the morning, when it’s not hot out yet.

As for hikes, we did the Tower Loop, Red Beds, (Can both be accessed at the Visitor Center) and the Joyner Ridge Trail. Those are all very pretty, but WATCH FOR RATTLESNAKES. They are dangerous and you should avoid them. (Saw that on a sign in California.) My personal favorite is Red Beds, as it’s pretty flat, and there aren’t many people. The Tower Trail is can get rather clogged. It’s also fun to climb around on the boulder field, but you do need a permit to climb the Tower itself.

It may be a trek out to here from Michigan or New York, but it’s certainly worth the trip.

Buffalo Bill State Park

We got up really early and left Mammoth Hot Springs at 5:30 in the morning and drove east, through the Lamar Valley.  We were driving along, and suddenly we saw a bunch of people with telescopes standing on a hill, so we pulled over to go see.

We walked over and talked to some of the people, and they said that there were some wolves up on the hill, way across the valley.  You couldn't see them without a fancy lens though, because they were so far away.  Some of the people let us look through theirs though.

As we kept driving east, we ran into a HUGE herd of bison making their way across the road.  There were hundreds of them, and some of them had 'reds', little calves!

We left the park, and went over a bridge over a really deep canyon/ravine.  It was pretty crazy looking over the edge!

We went up a mountain and over “Dead Indian Pass.” According to the sign, the Army pursued a group of Native Americans this way, and they left a wounded warrior behind, who was killed by the soldiers.

We ended up at Buffalo Bill State Park, just west of Cody.  It was right on a really pretty lake, and there was even Internet from up on the hill!  The mountains around here are pretty cool, especially the drive over from Cody.  

It was really windy while we were here, so my dad did a bit of windsurfing.  (Some of use were worried the trailer would blow over. We talked to the camp hosts, and they said that they've never lost an RV, but they have lost some tents!)

There was a 4th of July parade in Cody, so we drove back in and saw that.  It was fun, seems like lots of people come from all around to see it.

On the way back to the state park, we stopped at the visitor center for the dam on the east end of the lake.  It was built about a century ago, and two or three different companies went broke before it was completed.  It's pretty awesome looking over the edge -- it's a long way down!

The next day, we packed up and hit the road pretty early, and headed east!

Yellowstone! (Never Thought We'd Do It)

I honestly did not think that we would be able to finish this trip. For that matter I never thought I'd climb a mountain, (Okay, it was small.) see a grizzly bear or look for stones in the Pacific. Now, we've nearly come full circle, by the end of the week, we'll be in Devil's Tower Natl. Monument!

Alright, now I'll talk about Yellowstone. It's huge, and it's got a lot to see. It's not like Big Bend, or Death Valley, to be truthful, it's not like anywhere I've ever been. Most of the park is pine forest, with clearings from geysers and hot springs. The springs are amazing, but you do not want to go swimming in them. Some of them are nearly boiling, and any bright blue ones are over 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The geysers are also very hot, and some erupt almost constantly, (I'd recommend Biscuit Basin) In some just random places in the park the ground hisses, literally hisses. Anyway, I thought I'd just cover hot springs, as there is so much to see, and it would be impossible to cover everything.
Here we go!

 You can't see the colors in this pool all that much, but I thought that the clouds looked cool, reflected in the water.

 Here's one geyser, it's in Biscuit Basin, and erupts nearly all the time, I don't remember the name of it, but you'll know it when you see it.

 That is the blue green color that the really hot ones have. I don't know where this one is, but you can easily find really amazing ones all over the park.

 I'm pretty sure that this is Black Warrior Lake, but I'm not totally sure...

 This one was also pretty cool, and you could feel the heat coming off of it from a few feet away.

 This is another lake, that I cannot remember the name of! Sorry about that.

 I'm fairly sure this is near Sapphire Lake, or it might be Sapphire Spring.

 This is Emerald Spring, and yes, I am very sure of that. I'm actually not sure how hot this one is, as it's mostly dark green and orange.

 And here's one last little geyser for you!