Monday, 31 August 2015
Posted with Blogsy
Black Hills, Wall and the Badlands
Monday 31 August 2015
Another good nights sleep in Custer! Today, our plan included the Northern Black Hills, the town of Wall, the Badlands and a long drive to Sioux Falls.
After breakfast, no biscuits and gravy either, we loaded up the car and were on the road just after nine. Our route, initially, was the same as yesterday morning, North up the route 385. This time we continued on to Hill City, another gold mining town and then on the route 16 to Rapid City. The roads all wound around through the hills and forests of the Black Hills. Rapid City is quite a large place, population 55,000 and is the biggest town in western South Dakota.
From here, we joined our favourite Interstate, the I-90 heading east. This road is flanked by prairie most of the way to Wall, about 50 miles from Rapid City.
Wall would be a pretty non-descript town were it not for the fact it is the western end of the Badlands NP and the existence of Wall Drug Store. The drugstore has been open since 1934 and is still owned and run by the same family. It is has a huge eclectic collection of goods for sale, from tourist kitsch to expensive hand-tooled cowboy boots. It also has a selection of 'attractions' on offer, including a performing Dinosaur head, a giant Jackalope, shooting gallery, gold panning and a variety of restaurants and bars. It's even more famous for its advertising hoardings spread all over the USA. We saw some in Wyoming and Nebraska hundreds of miles away. I've previously seen them in Colorado.
The other thing you see on a road trip are the huge variety of home-grown roadside attractions. Reptile parks, gold panning, helicopter rides, Indian crafts, Dinosaur, car, tractor and military museums, all of which claim to be world famous, or the largest. It must be fun for kids!
Back on the road, we left Wall and headed down route 240, the Badlands Loop Rd. This takes you to the entrance to Badlands NP. With our annual pass in hand, we were waived straight through the ranger station.
This 34 mile long road goes through a jumbled mass of canyons, gulches, mountains and plains. It is totally inhospitable and mainly dry. It is rattlesnake country. Badlands is an appropriate name. At the same time, it is a dramatically beautiful and strangely attractive place. We stopped several times for photos as we drove along the road.
At the far end of the loop at Cactus Flat, we rejoined the I-90. From here, we knew we has a drive of 271 miles to Sioux Falls in eastern South Dakota. With that in mind, we accelerated to 75mph, engaged cruise control and sat back for the ride.
The Interstate passes through endless prairie and farm land. It's mainly beef cattle and cereal production. Some would find it very boring as much of it was flat too, but there was something to be said for the huge views to the horizon. There are few towns of note, but several try their best with enticements like, 'See Elvis Presley's motorbike', or 'The best Tractor Museum you'll ever see', 'Film props from Dancing with Wolves' and suchlike. We only stopped once for a comfort break!
Sioux Falls is a large city and our hotel, the Holiday Inn, is right in the heart of the downtown area. We are on the 7th floor with a view from our balcony down Philips Street. We walked into the middle of the restaurant district on Philips and ate at Minerva, a somewhat upmarket restaurant to us after several weeks in the back of beyond! The food and service was good and we escaped with a bill of just over $50 plus 20% tip of course.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Chiefs and Presidents
Sunday 30 August 2015
The bed must have been comfortable or we were both exhausted as we both slept through to 0730. Our plan for the day was to do a short drive through the north of the Black Hills.
We had quite a good breakfast, although 'biscuits and gravy' were on the menu again. I have to say that the combination of a scone (aka biscuit) and gravy (a white lumpy sauce) for breakfast doesn't do it for me. I can manage breakfast burritos, but biscuits and gravy is not for me!
After breakfast, we loaded our cool box with lots of cold water and headed out. Our road, the route 385, turned off in the middle of Custer and headed north. The road climbed steeply out of town and into rolling hills with pine trees and odd outcrops of rocks. Our first port of call was the Crazy Horse Memorial, this is an ongoing project to carve the head and outstretched arm of Crazy Horse, a famous Indian Chief. He was the tribal leader of the Oglala Lakota who led his tribe to victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn against Lt Gen George Custer. The Indians knew Litle Bighorn as 'Greasy Grass'.
The carving is immense, and we could easily see it from the main road. We did take a few distant photos, but neither of us really wanted to pay to get closer. The project is not government funded, so a whole tourist industry has grown up around the base of the rock. We just didn't want to go through that.
We continued on up route 385 until we found the route 244 turn-off to Keystone. The road winds around in the beautiful landscape of the Black Hills for a few miles before climbing sharply up a hill to the foot of Mount Rushmore. This is a National Monument so we had to pay $11 for a pass that permits us access until 31 December!
We found a parking space fairly close to the main entrance and walked in. The site was very busy, but well organised. The main approach led from the information centre up to Borglum Court where there is a shop, a restaurant and ice cream shop. We stopped for a few photos here before carrying on up the Avenue of Flags. The avenue has the flags of all 50 States and on pillars lining the route, the dates on which each State was admitted to the Union. Hawaii bing the most recent in 1959.
Beyond the Avenue is the Grand View Terrace. This allows visitors to take in the sight of the heads of four Presidents carved into the mountainside. It is an amazing sight. Danish-American sculptor, Gutzon Borglum spent 14 years carving, in a manner of speaking, the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt into a mountain. When I say carved, I mean Gutzon and a team of 400 men used dynamite to roughly shape the rock and then hand finished it with chisels. The heads are each 60 feet high. They started in 1927 and finished in 1941. If you have time, look it up on the Internet.
We took quite a few photos and I walked the half mile trail up to the foot of the mountain. It was hot going with the temperature in the high 90s. We stayed for a couple of hours as we were also trying to spot the mountain sheep that apparently frequent the cliffs near the carvings.
From here, we drove steeply downhill to the town of Keystone, once a gold mining town. Nowerdays, it serves the tourist industry associated with Mt Rushmore and, quite frankly, is a bit tacky! We did find Teddy's Deli for a toasted sandwich, chips (potato crisps) and dill pickle spear. By now it had got to 98F, way too toasty!
We left Keystone and headed south down the route 18A back into Custer State Park. This section of road is known as Iron Mountain Road. The road boasts, 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 4 Presidents and 2 splits. Most of this is self explanatory, but 'pigtails' are where the road makes a very sharp 270 degree turn, crossing over itself on a bridge. 4 Presidents are the views of Mt Rushmore and 'splits' are where the road splits and follows different routes for a short distance. The road is fun to drive and the views and scenery beautiful. One pigtail makes its turn and dives directly into a narrow tunnel which, as you drive through it, gives distant views of Mt Rushmore.
We continued the entire length of Iron Mountain Road and ended up at the Peter Norbeck Visitors Centre. The centre is named after the Govenor who thought up the idea of Custer State Park. On the meadow outside the centre, were a large herd of Bison/Buffalo. We popped in to ask about bird boxes we had seen on fence posts, they were for Mountain Bluebirds.
On the way back to Custer, we stopped briefly at Legion Lake where it is possible to rent canoes or pedaloes. We also drove round a Stockade Lake and saw a couple of Ospreys.
We returned to the hotel to cool down in the air conditioned room and swimming pool! It did rain briefly, but it has stayed very warm. For dinner, we went to the Frontier Inn. Initially, were the only clients, not usually a good sign, but one other couple came in shortly afterwards. We both had sirloin steak and it was juicy, tasty and tender and for £8 steak and chips can't be bad!
Saturday, 29 August 2015
South Dakota - The Black Hills
Leaving Nebraska and entering South Dakota
Buffalo Crossing
Iron Creek Tunnel
Cathedral Spires
Super Moon
Another New State
Saturday 29 August 2015
The road trip rolls on! Today, we planned a shorter journey than yesterday's 407 miles with a hop from Nebraska into South Dakota, another new State for us.
Our hotel in Chadron didn't provide breakfast, so we had some fruit in the room and set off north up the route 385 towards the state line. After nine miles of rolling grasslands we reached the top of a rise, left Nebraska, and then stopped to take a photo of the 'welcome to South Dakota' sign.
Amazingly, once we entered South Dakota, our fairly minor road turned into a four lane highway. Not that there was any more traffic on it! The road ran almost straight for the 13 miles to Oelrichs a very small town, population 150. The town was named after the original landowner, although the Lakota Indians know it as 'Severed Horse Head'. They were just setting up for a rodeo on the edge of town, lots of horses and Cowboys to be seen.
The road continued, now a divided four lane highway, for another 25 miles to Hot Springs. The road ran through miles of pasture land before dropping down to the Cheyenne a River and Angostura Reservoir. Hot Springs was built around the hot springs the town is imaginatively named after. Now enclosed in a modern building, they once bought visitors from miles around. The town dates to the 1890s and has some very grand buildings, but it is faded glory, most people are just passing through en route to the Black Hills, just as we were.
Not long after leaving Hot Springs on route 385 we entered Wind Cave National Park. The cave was 'discovered' when roaring noises were heard underground and eventually a cave mouth was found which made a roaring sound. Now developed for tourists, it still hasn't been fully explored. We stopped at the visitor centre to find out more about the park above ground.
Not long after leaving the centre we came across a large herd of Buffalo. We'd seen odd males earlier, but this herd was a mix of male, female and young Buffalo. We had to wait whilst they crossed the road . We also stopped several times to try and take pictures of Prairie Dogs. Whilst doing that, we also saw Western Meadow Larks.
After a few miles we left the National Park and entered the Custer State Park. This park encompasses most of the the Black Hills area and has several scenic drives. We had to pay $15 for a 7 Day pass. We set off along a wildlife loop, 17 miles long. We saw a lot more Buffalo and some Burros, a sort of wild donkey, but it was nearly midday and the temperature was in the 90s, so we decided to come back later. We stopped again briefly for some lunch at another visitors centre before heading for the Needles Drive, another scenic byway.
This small road climbed up in the pine clad hills wriggling around large outcrops of rocks. At one stage, the road got very narrow as it passed through Iron Creek Tunnel. From here, the scenery got even more dramatic, with huge rock walls topped with rock spires, one viewpoint was called Cathedral Spires.
Then, when we thought it couldn't get narrower, it did. Eye of the Needle Tunnel is narrow and quite low and also squeezes between rock at the far end. At the far end is a small parking area. The main feature here is a rock formation called 'Eye of the Needle'. It was pretty impressive, but rather over run by tourists (like us!).
By now, we'd had enough of sightseeing so drove down to Custer, the main town in the area. Custer, named after the famous Lt Gen George Custer, lies at 5300ft above sea-level and has a permanent population of about 1900. During summer the population explodes as tourist arrive. It's a pleasant, slightly quirky, touristy town with a range of hotels, shops and restaurants. We checked in to the Best Western Buffalo Ridge Hotel. We got a pleasant motel-type room and the hotel has a nice pool and hot tub.
After moving into our room, we went to explore the pool and tub whilst it was quiet, it was really nice and we had it to ourselves.
A little later, just before six, we headed back to wildlife loop in the park. This proved to be an excellent time to visit. In the 17 mile drive we saw a huge herd of Buffalo, White-tailed Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Mule Deer, Prairie Dogs, Prairie Falcons, Bluebirds, Western Meadow Larks, American Robins and to top it off a herd of around 60 Elk. One bull elk was herding his females and their young whilst two other mature Bulls were hanging around a few hundred metres away. We watched as the light faded and eventually left before it got dark.
On the way back to Custer, I realised that the moon was up and that it was full. I believe it is a 'super' moon, when it is full moon at the same time that the moon is at its closest point to earth. I took a few photos, I'm not sure how well they will turn out.
Back in Custer, we found the only restaurant open was Steakhouse 140. We managed to get ribs and fries before they closed up too!
Friday, 28 August 2015
Cody to Chadron via Casper!
Prairies, Sage-bush Wilderness and a New State
Friday 28 August 2015
Last night, our room became a laundry drying room. We washed our clothes in the hotel laundrette late yesterday evening and hung it to dry on a variety of hangers and rails in our room overnight. This morning, on the way to breakfast, we popped most of it into a tumble drier. We collected it all on the way back and now have fresh clothes again.
Our plan today was to leave Cody and head east towards South Dakota. We enjoyed our stay at The Best Western Cody, there really was nothing to fault at all. It was quiet friendly and comfortable.
We left not long after nine and first refuelled the car before heading back down route 120 and 20 to Thermopolis and Shoshone, the route we used on Wednesday but in reverse. I was expecting the road to be busier, but in the 80 odd miles to Thermopolis we overtook three motorhomes and briefly followed a car. The remainder of the journey was done at a steady 65mph. We stopped in the Big Horn River Canyon to take some photos. I previously blogged that this was the Wind River Canyon! It really is very spectacular. I also said that Meeteetse was a half a horse town. My apologies, as in daylight, it is clearly a three-quarter horse town.
Shoshone is clearly becoming a ghost town, many of its building empty and abandoned. Here, we rejoined the route 20 heading due east to Casper. Once out of Shoshone, I put the car in cruise at 65mph and never touched the brake or accelerator for nearly 85 miles. It was miles of Sage-bush wilderness which is apparently important to Pronghorn Antelope and Sage Grouse. We saw loads of Pronghorn, but no grouse. It is a very empty landscape. We passed several communities, Monetary, Hiland, Waltman, Powder River and Natrona, some were ghost communities and one or two that advertised a populalation of less than 10.
Casper is a large town with a population of over 55,000 people on the Missouri River. Apparently it is the site of the Mormon Ferry built by Brigham-Young. We really bypassed it on the way to the I-25. We set off on the Interstate, but I couldn't see what the speed limit was. We'd not travelled on the Interstate in Wyoming before. I thought it might be 75mph until a huge lorry hauling two trailers swooshed past us at over 80 mph! It was a bit unnerving. Eventually, we saw a speed limit sign and it was for 80mph for both cars and lorries.
We drove down the Interstate for 60 miles to Douglas where we turned off, again following route 20. This road took us through Lusk to Van Tassel the eastern edge of Wyoming. Once again, the communities were either minuscule or ghost towns. Lost Springs had a population of 2, Node 4 and Van Tassel 15. Orin, Shawnee, Keeline and Manville were one blink and you'd missed them!
We briefly stopped at Lusk for a drink and we briefly considered staying here, but after a look, decided to continue East. We stopped at Van Tassel to take a photo of the Nebraska State line as we left Wyoming. This is one of few USA States we've not visited, hence the photo.
Once in Nebraska, we stayed on route 20 and passed through Harrison before arriving at Fort Robinson. This, once busy US Army base, is now a historical monument looked after by the State. We stopped very briefly to use the loos! It is beautifully preserved and it is possible to stay in the barracks. Clearly a popular option as the check in area was really busy.
Crawford, the next town, was also on our list of places to stop, but it was so small and the motel didn't look fantastic. We might have stayed had there been anywhere to eat. As it was, we continued on to Chadron, a slightly larger town where we checked in to the Motel 6. We got a good room rate which became even better we we requested Military Discount.
We popped into the middle of the town, which dates to the 1880s and had dinner at a local bar/grill Wilds Grill, famous for its spicy pretzels! Lynn didn't like the pretzels! When we left, a local band had set up on a trailer in the street at the coffee bar next door and were belting out Led Zepplin tunes!
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Bubbling things and views
The Dragons Cave
Firehole River
Very hot mineral pool
Old Faithful not doing very much!
After the rain near Sylvan Pass
Geysers and Bubbling Mud, it must be Yellowstone
Thursday 27 August 2015 - Lynn's birthday.
After our long day out yesterday, we had a bit of a lie in this morning. Our plan was to take a birthday tour around part of Yelowstone NP. We did not want as long a day as yesterday!
We left the hotel after eating breakfast at around 10. The first part of our journey was a repeat of yesterday's route into Yellowstone NP. What a contrast with yesterday. Today we had blue skies all the way into the park. We didn't hang around on the 50 mile trip to the park entrance! Once in the park we again started the climb up the Sylvan a Pass, but had to stop on a narrow part as a large Bull Buffalo was walking down the middle of the road!
Once we'd passed this obstruction, we continued on to Fishing Bridge. We passed a lot more Buffalo as we drove along. We also found a couple of Elk by the roadside.
At a Canyon Village, we stopped to have birthday lunch. Sandwiches and soda! Oh, I almost forgot the ice cream. As we left the village, there was a single long roll of thunder! Very dramatic!
From here, we cut across the park towards Madison Junction, sadly, apart from more Buffalo, we didn't find any wildlife. We did stop at the Mud Volcanos. These are a series of bubbling pools, some are more explosive than others, all smell very much of sulphur! At Madison, we took a short detour along Firehole Canyon. The river and falls were very pretty. Near the top is a large swimming hole, plenty of people were taking a dip.
The road then heads across Lower, Middle and Upper Geyser Basins. Incidentally, geyser is pronounced 'guy-zer' here. The most famous geyser in the Upper Basin is Old Faithful. We pulled in here, although we'd been before. It seems to be more commercial than last time. The large wooden lodge, built again by the railway companies, is the centre piece, but loads more buildings seem to have appeared. I had a walk around the thermal pools, Old Faithful didn't perform whilst we were there. It is a bit unpredictable, but it is reckoned to spout every 80-90 minutes.
At this stage, we decided we were sceneried out and we started the journey back to Cody. First we had to head for West Thumb and then turn back north to Fishing Bridge. Somewhere around there, it started raining. We did quite well as we stayed just on the edge of the rain clouds. We also did well because the traffic was almost non existent, so we were able to drive fairly swiftly.
Safely over the Sylvan Pass for the last time, we headed back to Cody arriving just after six. After freshening up at the hotel, we took a recommendation and went to a Chinese Buffet. As we were walking into the restaurant in the middle of town, a deer with two young strolled out in front of us and crossed the 4 lane Main Street to go and feed on the grass in the park! The food was good and reasonably priced.
The final birthday treat was a visit to Walmart to raid the bargain basement selection of dress-making material. A surprise treat awaited us at the hotel, a trip to the hotel laundrette!
A Big Day Out!
Strange rocks in the Shoshone River canyon
An Elk
Dubois or 'Dew-boyz'
En route to Riverton
Two Parks, Some Rain and a Short Detour
Wednesday 26 August 2015
It was a bit overcast, but warm when we woke this morning. We wouldn't have woken quite so early, but the previous guest in this room had kindly set the alarm for seven! Load music woke both of us with a start. Our plan for the day was to drive through the eastern edge of Yellowstone NP to Grand Teton NP, just to the south.
We walked from our room to breakfast through the hotel grounds. It has an indoor and outdoor pool and a hot tub. We also discovered it had a guest laundry. Breakfast was a complimentary hot meal, it was rather quirky. I've never had circular omelettes with circular slices of bacon. It still tasted of bacon and omelette though!
We left the hotel just before nine, refuelled the car and headed west on route 20 towards Yellowstone. The road follows the Shoshone River west and the river runs into the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. The dam has been built in a narrow rocky gorge just west of Cody. At the western end of Buffalo Bill Lake, the road and river run alongside each other through the communities of Wapiti and Pahaska to the Eastern Gate of Yellowstone NP. We stopped to take pictures at a point where the cliffs alongside the road and river are rather spectacular. The rock is volcanic and soft and has been shaped by the rain and the wind. One cliff has been named 'The Holy City' ! I'll concede the rocks had lots of holes in them, but any similarity to the skyline of Jerusalem is imaginative thinking. Nonetheless, it was rather impressive with tethering rocks perched on top of weird towers.
At the entrance to Yellowstone, our annual pass ensured that we were waved through by the ranger. The road here climbs alongside Cody Peak (10267ft) up to Sylvan Pass (8530ft) through beautiful scenery. From here it is downhill for about 20 miles to Yellowstone Lake. There are a lot of signs of previous forest fires here, but regeneration is slowly taking place. We initially drove slowly, then remembered that we would be back tomorrow with more time, so picked up speed to 45mph, the maximum speed in the park.
At Fishing Bridge, a small commercial hub at the northern end of Yellowstone Lake, we turned south around the western side of the lake. The road follows the lake shore giving good views of the lake. At West Thumb, there is a Geysir basin which we've visited before, so we drove straight past today. Just beyond is a T junction. Right takes you to Old Faithful and left to Grand Teton NP. As we turned left we found an Elk by the side of the road, so we stopped for several minutes to take photos.
From here, we continued south passing Lewis Lake and eventually leaving Yellowstone at the south entrance. The road briefly becomes the Rockefeller Highway before entering Grand Teton NP north entrance. The road passes through pine woodland down to Jackson Lake. We drove along the lake shore for quite a few miles to Colter Bay Village. We stopped and went to the Visitors Centre and picked up a map, by now it was drizzling. Once again, we'd crossed the continental divide as Grand Teton lies to the west of the divide.
We decided to drive up to Signal Mountain lookout, a place we'd been before and enjoyed panoramic views of the Teton mountains. The lookout is high above the lake, but today, we were stuck in the clouds and the view wasn't good at all. It's was a shame as it is one of my most favourite views ever! We sat for a while and ate lunch and decided that, as it had it had taken more than 4 hours to get here, we didn't fancy retracing our route at 30-45 mph. We though we'd detour out to the east. We looked at on the map and it looked do-able, if rather a long way. By long way, I mean 300 miles!
Wyoming is a huge State. There are few roads in the west of the State. Decision made, and irreversible, we headed east out of Grand Teton NP on route 26. We very quickly lost the traffic! The next major community on this road is 56 miles away. The road climbed steadily up to the delightfully named Togwotee Pass (9658ft) passing the lodge at Hatcher. There was almost nothing on the road, but it rained steadily. Wind River starts up here on the continental divide, it was to our almost constant companion for the next hundred miles or so.
By the time we got to Dubois, pronounced ' Dew-boys' an hour later, it was still raining. It is a real cowboy town in the middle of nowhere! We decided to stop for a drink at the Cowboy Cafe, a home-cooking, welcoming sort of place. We got ambushed by the pies here! Cherry and almond for Lynn and chocolate for me. Coffee was endless!
The realisation had crept in that now we'd chosen this route, there was no going back and that we had 240 miles to get back to Cody! It was time to do some serious driving!
The next town from Dubois is Riverton 77 miles away. The road passes through the Wind River Indian Reservation which is a huge area in eastern Wyoming. There are several communities along the road, Burris, Crowheart, Marton and Kinnear, but blink, and you'd probably miss them. Mostly, the road passes through undulating prairie land with the odd butte and gulley scoring the landscape, but just upside Dubois, it passes through an amazing red rock canyon. Were it located in any other place, it would be a tourist attraction, but here, not a chance,
There was almost nothing on the road and we were able to cruise at a steady 65mph and it took not much more than an hour to get to Riverton. We followed the Wind River all the way. Riverton is quite a large town and we refuelled here.
We continued on route 26, now heading northeast towards Shoshone about 20 miles away with the Wind River still shadowing us! At Shoshone we turned north onto the route 20 to Thermopolis, billed as the largest hot springs in the world.
Once again, we followed Wind River across prairie lands to where it flows into the Boysen Reservoir. At the far end, it and the railway and road disappear down Wind Canyon. This was a most spectacular drive, a bit like the drive down Cheddar a Gorge only on a vast scale. Once again, if it had been anywhere other than the back end of beyond, it would be on the tourist trail.
The next town, Thermopolis, was a smaller town, but big enough for all the usual commerce, but we didn't have time to stop! The final part of our detour took us on the route 120 northwest to Cody. This road 82 miles long has just one town on it, 52 miles from Thermopolis, and that town has the wonderful name of Meeteetse! It's a half a horse town at best!
In the 82 miles, we passed three lorries and a U-Haul van! The term 'empty roads' doesn't do it justice. There were no houses or farms, just prairie. We drove at a steady 70mph almost all the way. Towards the end as we neared Cody, it was getting dusk, a dangerous time here. Deer come down from the hills and wander onto the roads, and at dusk they are very difficult to see. We saw lots, but none on the roadside. The last 30 miles was spent staring at clumps of grass and brushwood trying to see if they were moving.
Finally back in Cody at eight fifteen, we stopped at the first fast food joint we came across, Burger King!
I worked later, our day trip would have taken us from London to Perth, it was 449 miles.
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Untitled
Northern Gateway to Yellowstone NP
Gardiner, Montana
Silver Gate, Wyoming
The view from Dead Indian Pass, Wyoming
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