Later in the morning, we took a hike on the Lakeview Trail with great views of the lake. The air was a little chilly and the sunshine was warm…perfect hiking weather!
This is our campsite for tomorrow night from across the water.
We stopped at the railroad bridge to watch the coal train come through. There are several mines north of here. This coal is bound for power plants in the Midwest and along the east coast. Loaded coal cars as far as the eye can see. Each car holds 100 tons of coal.
We packed our lunch and drove to the dam. The water in the spillway was so powerful that it made my heart pound.
We spent the afternoon resting and doing chores.
For dinner this evening, we went to the Castle. This picnic shelter was built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. This was a program that Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted to help people go back to work during the Depression. This was by far the neatest picnic shelter I have ever seen. I knew when I saw it yesterday, that I wanted to make dinner here. We took mushrooms and asparagus and filets and watermelon and enjoyed our date night, a feast, and the scenery from the arches and the vantage point on top of the castle.
We watched a coal train pass through the tunnel…130 empty cars ready to be refilled. The volume of the operation is seriously impressive.
A historic site and our breakfast spot. Over 8,000 Native Americans gathered at this place to sign a treaty allowing pioneers to pass peacefully along the Oregon Trail on their way across the country.
One of the best things about traveling without a plan and without reservations, is that you can go anywhere you want to go. Looking at the map, Tim noticed that just over the Nebraska border, in Wyoming, there was a state park on a reservoir and the North Platte River. They had plenty of open camping spots so we crossed back into Wyoming. I am ‘so glad we did.
Our campsite.
We spent the afternoon exploring. We took all the gravel roads on the south side of the water. We found some great overlooks.
This was a wooden pedestrian bridge built by the CCC in the 1930’s. It was destroyed by fire. Now there are stone steps that take you down into the canyon and back out.
This is Brimmer Point.
We watched this military plane practicing maneuvers.
We grilled burgers and corn for our dinner and then for my evening entertainment, I watched a wake of buzzards catching wind. There had to be about a hundred. They sailed with their wings outstretched and hung suspended like kites. I was fascinated. I know that buzzards are supposed to be ugly birds…but this dance in the clouds was graceful and beautiful to watch. I am so easy to amuse!
We are going to stay here in this campsite for two nights and then we found another great site on the north side where we will stay for another two nights. I am grateful to have a short break. We have been moving and exploring at a steady pace so it is nice to slow it down a little!
I went out at sunset to try and post the blog…not much success there but a beautiful sunset and a herd of mule deer as well.
…and a hawk flying in the trees catching a drought of air.
We traveled through Nebraska.
In the small town of Alliance, Tim spotted a Safeway store. He asked if I wanted to stop and I jumped at the chance…I even had a list ready! It is really nice to find a grocery store with the things we like from home!
The Robidoux RV Park sits at the base of Scotts Bluff National Monument. Scotts Bluff is a group of rock formations that was used as a geological marker on the Oregon Trail. After days of walking and riding across the plains, and pioneers would see this bluff. We took the Summit Trail to the top. It was an awesome view.
These covered wagons are replicas of the wagons used by settlers following the Oregon Trail westward. We walked along the same path. This route had actually been used for 10,000 years by American Indians. The river was a water source for bison and these were hunting grounds. Thousands of years later, from 1841-1869, 350,000 people made their way across the plains to find new life and opportunity in the western United States. The hardships these travelers faced included scorching summer temperatures, severe storms, harsh winter weather, buffalo stampedes, and illness.
Walgren Lake State Recreation Area Hay Springs, Nebraska
My morning walk with the Badlands as my backdrop and inspiration.
Today we drove to through Southern South Dakota into Nebraska. In order to get from point A to point B, we had to pass through Native American Tribal Land. Much to our surprise, there was a COVID checkpoint as we reached the boundary. We were so impressed by this. There is an ordinance that requires all travelers to stop and answer questions about where you have been and where you are going. I am glad to see that there are people out here who take precautions…most people do not. The Lakota are working very hard to take care of their own people.
Our scenery today.
We entered Nebraska at around noon. Close your eyes and imagine what Nebraska might look like! So far, it’s lots of growing wheat, corn, soy beans, and sunflowers. In addition. there are lots of cattle ranches and hay bales.
We found Walgren Lake State Recreation Area. This lake is rumored to have had a Walgren lake monster, but no sign of it today! We have the campground and the lake to ourselves. We were sitting in the shade of the cottonwood trees. It was really windy.
We sat outside most of the afternoon and evening. We grilled sweet potatoes and ribs. It was so pleasant and pretty.
Sometimes you just need to make a new plan. We had been really excited about staying at THE WALL. During the night we had terrific storms again. It rained and hailed. We knew that the RV would not fare well on the slippery clay road. When the wind began to howl, we knew that staying on the cliff was not going to happen. We found a small campground in the town of Interior right outside the park. As we were leaving town, we met a guy at the gas station that was trying to repair his slideout covers. One cover was ripped off and he had used zip ties to hold it on. The wind was gusting so strongly as they drove through the Badlands this morning that he advised us not to drive that way. We revised our route and took the highway.
We stopped to take a hike at the Door Trail. This was a great walk because we were walking among the rock formations.
This afternoon, we took a 4WD trail.
Then a gravel road.
Then we did the scenic loop in the park.
Bison of the day.
Some bighorns.
We had our picnic dinner at a scenic overlook. It was another beautiful day!!
I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard the door to the RV close. I then heard the pattering of rain. We were so tired last evening when we got back from Mount Rushmore that we did not put the top back on the Jeep. Tim heard the rain and got up. It is a good thing that he did. At about 5:30 in the morning we had a dousing thunderstorm complete with hail!
The morning was bright and sunny. We were heading today toward Badlands National Park in Wall, South Dakota. We had the choice of the expedient interstate highway route or the less traveled scenic route. As we normally do (when we have time) we chose the pretty drive.
As we drove on, our GPS rerouted us. We looked and we were supposed to turn onto a gravel road. We skipped the first one and then we were rerouted again to another gravel road. This time we looked and could see that it was 43 miles on the paved road or a much shorter 23 miles if we followed GPS. Of course here is where we had no phone service. The road was initially fairly decent. About 4 miles later it was gravel washboard. Speeds reduced to 10 miles or less per hour. We stopped for lunch and to consider our options.
We kept moving forward and the road took us through the national park for a short distance. We passed a lone bison almost immediately and then lots of prairie dog towns.
We were relieved to finally meet pavement.
It was nice to rest, do some laundry, and work on the blog this afternoon.
I really wanted to go and see Wall Drug. It is the famous spot in town. I was hesitant though and in the end decided not to go…NO ONE wears masks here and it freaks me out more than a little bit…so we try to stay away from people as much as we can.
This evening we got carryout from 3 Amigos Cantina and took it with us to go and scope out ‘THE WALL”. Our good friend, Tom, told us all about this place. Here, is free dispersed camping with incredible views of the Badlands. We will move tomorrow morning.
Black Hills, Custer State Park, and Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore KOA Hill City, South Dakota
Another magnificent thunderstorm during the night, with spears of bold electricity stabbing the sky. The strong winds were whipping across the prairie and buffeting the RV. The image of Devils Tower was backlit by the blinding flashes of light. Fat raindrops fell for about 20 minutes and then as quickly as it had come, it was gone.
We took another scenic road today. We drove today through the cowboy country of Wyoming with plentiful cattle, deer, and antelope.
We slipped back into South Dakota and into the Black Hills National Forest. The Black Hills are named for the very dark green trees that grow on the slopes.
We were fortunate to get a glimpse of the Crazy Horse Memorial. We had wanted to go there, but the museums are inside and you have to take a bus to see the carving from the base. In an abundance of caution, we elected to forego stopping there.
This morning when we left the campground at Devils Tower, Tim was talking to another man who suggested that we find the time to see Custer State Park. He spoke of Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. We knew that we wanted to see Mount Rushmore and had planned to go later in the day to avoid the crowds. We packed our dinner and drove to Custer Park. What a wonderful surprise this turned out to be. The Needles Highway was 14 miles of narrow winding road that threads its way through the rock formations. It is an engineering marvel and the scenery is every bit as spectacular as any national park we have visited.
Several guys had antique cars, muscle cars and old trucks and were driving here today…what a awesome way to enjoy this ride!
There are also several granite tunnels. We took the top off of the Jeep so we could really enjoy the view!
The top of the tunnel through the roof of the Jeep.
We found a nice spot under this tree when a rain shower passed.
We didn’t have time to take the wildlife loop…maybe another time. We saw lots of mule deer and white-tailed deer. This is the closest we have ever been to a bison bull of this size.
We found our picnic spot at Center Lake.
We took Iron Mountain Road all the way to Mount Rushmore. This road has 314 curves, several of them hairpin turns. It also had granite tunnels and pigtail bridges. It was a beautiful ride. The tunnels here are supposed to frame Mount Rushmore as you go through. Today it was too smoky and the evening sun was at the wrong angle to truly see well…but what a cool thing!
Our first sight of Mount Rushmore National Memorial was impressive. I stood awestruck. This is another place where pictures cannot capture the reverence and enormity of the sculpture.
The sculptor. Gutzon Borglum, chose these four presidents for their contributions to the nation. He chose Washington as the founding father, Jefferson for his vision of growth, Lincoln for his ideas of equality, and Roosevelt for his international work, his commitment to rights for citizens and conservation.
A very beautifully crafted stone fireplace in the exhibit.
We stayed for the illumination ceremony and I am truly glad that we did. We watched as a school teacher talked about the anniversary of women’s right to vote. We watched as the veterans and active military were honored. We watched as they retired the flag for the evening. We watched the sculpture light up. We sang the national anthem. It was a very moving experience. These are crazy difficult times for our country. This was a reminder that we are very fortunate to live in the United States, to have opportunity and freedoms that most people around the world will never have. Tim left with moist eyes and goosebumps and I left with a full heart.
Our goal today was to hike the 1.5-mile Joyner Ridge Trail at Devils Tower. This was a great hike.
We started on the ridge with wonderful views of the tower.
We descended the steep hill.
We walked through a cool ravine.
The last portion of the trail was through prairie.
We wanted to hike the Tower Trail as well. This though was much more popular. The parking lot was full and the trailhead was crowded. We elected to try again later in the day.
After a brief rest in the RV, we headed to the town of Hulett, population 383. We walked the streets of the town and stopped at the Corner Market to get a few groceries.
Hulett Jail Cell
We had a good lunch at Red Rock Café.
The tower was shrouded in smoke much of the day.
We went back to the park after 5 to walk the Tower Trail. This is a paved 1.3 mile path around the base of the tower. I am really glad we went back to do this portion. We got an entirely different perspective of the imposing size of the formation.
Closeups of the columns – each is hundreds of feet tall and 10-20 feet wide.
Prayer cloths throughout the park.
Climbers!
Beyond the tower.
Changing light.
Wildlife in the park.
Mule deer
We had a picnic dinner and were entertained by a group of wild turkeys. This one was separated from the other 14 turkeys in her group…she was on the wrong side of the fence and trying to find her way back!
We spent most of our day on a long straight road through 200 miles of wide-open space, grassland and ranches. We passed modern day cowboys herding cattle, using a pickup truck and two ATV’s…no cowboy hats and no horses. There were of course corn fields and hay bales, and lots of antelope.
We passed a convoy of trucks, three with enormous over-sized loads that took over most of the roadway. The flagger in the lead car motioned for us to get over and out of the way, but we had to find a place to put our big self! Of course, there was a narrow bridge!
We passed from North Dakota into South Dakota without any discernable difference in the landscape. We made a turn at Belle Fourche and then entered Wyoming. Almost immediately the terrain changed and became rockier, greener, with tall ponderosa pines.
Our destination today was Devils Tower National Monument. We got settled in our campsite and then wandered over to the park to get a map. It was late in the afternoon and it was 96 degrees. We decided to drive through and get information so that we could plan a hike for tomorrow.
Devils Tower was the nation’s first monument. It was dedicated in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt. This rock formation stands 1,200 feet above the Belle Fourche River Valley. We could see the silhouette from more than 17 miles away. It is composed of a rare igneous rock, phonolite porphyry. The columns are a complex pattern of interlocking hexagons. No one is certain how this particular structure was formed but as you can imagine there are lots of opinions/theories.
The Northern Plains Tribes have lived here for more than 10,000 years. This place is a holy place and rituals and celebrations are still held here. This is believed to be a place where the natural world and the spirit world come together. Prayer cloths and bundles are left in the trees.
The Native American tribes in the area have sacred narratives about the formation of the tower…or as they had called it “Bears Lodge.”
This evening we walked to the restaurant at the campground. We had read reviews about the bison burgers. We were going to take our food back to the RV but there was only one other party in the restaurant. It felt really nice to sit down and eat and the burgers were delicious! It is the first time we have sat down in a restaurant in 5 months!
Another nice morning walk through town this time with Vicki as my walking companion. Thanks for chatting with me, it makes walking so much more fun!
Today was just a genuinely lazy day…not much accomplished and nowhere we really wanted to go. Tim did get to watch the NASCAR race and I washed clothes again while I had the opportunity.
I had been trying to get pictures of the meadowlarks feeding on these coneflowers…but with no success.
An eastbound train loaded with coal.
This evening we took the grill and a cooler full of dinner into the park. We found a shady picnic spot and grilled our chicken feta burgers and garlic chicken sausage. We enjoyed some wine and our meal.
After eating, we drove along the scenic road watching the golden tangerine light as it bathed the landscape in color and as the shadows lengthened.
