Winter wonderland....
The higher I got, the worse the roads got and it started sleeting! Temps dropped into the 20s.
Thirty minutes later, I descended the other side, carefully, and it was sunny, 50 degrees and wonderful!
The changing terrain was rocky and amazing
Note the river and fall colors below...
The Buffalo Bill Reservoir and park
Completed in 1910, Buffalo Bill Dam stood as an engineering marvel, one of the first concrete arch dams built in the United States. At 325 feet high, it also was the highest dam in the world (surpassing New York’s Croton Dam). The dam made possible irrigated farming of 90,000 acres in NW Wyoming, and the project was spearheaded by Buffalo Bill Cody. Note the car heading into a tiny tunnel running right through the mountain, one of many I drove through.
The quaint, historic town of Cody, WY... saloons, curio shops, boot stores and more.
Back on the road and headed towards Buffalo, WY
Flat sage brush covered terrain
Ah yes, this is angus beef country... nice farms!
Hmm, is that a dark sky and mountains ahead?
I entered the Bighorn National Forest and began to climb another steep pass... uh oh.
Yep, another snow and sleet storm as I neared the summit, and temps quickly dropped back into the 20s!
Back down into the valley on the other side and the terrain changed again, grass covered mounds and warm temperatures. Crazy! Before I knew it, I was in Gillette, WY where I spent an uneventful night.
In the morning, I awoke early and hit the road for another 10 hour day of driving and sightseeing. First stop, Devil's Tower about an hour from my hotel. SO worth the detour... I took some winding roads through thick fog, rounded a bend and there it was...
I did a quick 1.5 mile hike around the base to see it from all angles and in many different lights. There's a large boulder field around it.
Devil's Tower rises 1,267 feet above the nearby Belle Fourche River. What makes the mountain so striking is its sharp, near-vertical cliffs with regular, furrows and flattened top. The ancient Native Americans have several stories that explain its creation. In one two girls playing in the woods are chased by an enormous bear. The girls jump on top of a rock, but it is too small to give them safety. The Great Spirit sees the girls' predicament and causes the rock to grown to an immense size. The giant bear jumps at the girls, but cannot reach the top. His claws leave the gouges in the side of the rock that can still be seen today.
Above is one of many Native American prayer bundles in the trees and rocks around the Devil's Tower. They still consider it a sacred place and I can see why...
Now for the scientific explanation. During the age of the dinosaurs, this area was once under a shallow sea. Over a period of millions of years, sediment was deposited on the floor of this sea and this eventually turned it to sedimentary rock such as sandstone, shale and silt stone. At the end of the dinosaurs age 65 million years ago, pressures from within the earth forced the land upward. These pressures created the nearby Black Hills and Rocky Mountains. The pressure also forced molten rock toward the surface at the location where the tower now stands. What scientists cannot agree on is whether this molten rock ever made its way to the surface. If it did, then Devil's Tower is probably the remains of an ancient volcano. The formation as we see it would be called a "volcanic plug."
What the heck... just enjoy the photos.
Below, the valley beyond...
You can't imagine the size of this thing when you're standing below it!
Last one, I promise.....
Back in the car, I headed for Mount Rushmore, 2 hours away.... I drove through the Black Hills, crossing into South Dakota. The highlight of that drive was the cool, historic town of Deadwood, SD.
It was so clean with great signage and authentic Western everything. The hills and winding roads and homes and businesses tucked into gulches and hillsides make it so charming. I could have spent 2 days there wandering around but didn't have time. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 set off one of the last great gold rushes in the country. In 1876, miners moved into the northern Black Hills. That’s where they came across a gulch full of dead trees and a creek full of gold…and Deadwood was born.
Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules that attracted outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers along with the gold seekers. Wild Bill Hickok was one of those men who came looking for fortune. But just a few short weeks after arriving, he was gunned down while holding a poker hand of aces and eights – forever after known as the Dead Man’s Hand. Calamity Jane also made a name for herself in these parts and is buried next to Hickok in Mount Moriah Cemetery. Other legends, like Potato Creek Johnny, Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen, created their legends and legacies in this tiny Black Hills town. Deadwood has survived three major fires and numerous economic hardships, pushing it to the verge of becoming another Old West ghost town. But in 1989 limited-wage gambling was legalized and Deadwood was reborn.
From there, I proceeded through the touristy but cool town of Keystone to Mount Rushmore for a quick stop. It reminded me a little of Pigeon Forge, TN. They also have a casino in Keystone. I passed the big, blue Horse Thief lake along the way...
Up a steep grade and there it was... Mount Rushmore in all its glory! The southeastern face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest is the site of four gigantic carved sculptures depicting the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Led by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, work on the project began in 1927 and was finally completed in 1941. Over that time period, some 400 workers erected the sculpture under dangerous conditions, removing a total of 450,000 tons of rock in order to create the enormous carved heads, each of which reached a height of 60 feet (18 meters). In sculptor Gutzon Borglum’s original design, the four presidents were meant to be represented from the waist up, but insufficient funding brought the carving to a halt after completion of their faces. Known as the “Shrine of Democracy,” Mount Rushmore welcomes upwards of 2 million visitors every year, and is one of America’s most popular tourist attractions.
Returning back down to the highway, 90 East, I passed through the Miner's Gateway Tunnel, above. Gold, silver, tin, copper, and beryllium were only a few of the many minerals mined in the Keystone area. Beyond that, the terrain became flat again as I headed to my final tourist stop, Badlands National Park, SD.
The route was a 30 mile detour/loop off the main highway. My first view inside the park was this! Barren, rocky wasteland as far as the eye could see... like a shallow Grand Canyon.
The drive stayed interesting because there were hills and winding roads, and the colors and shapes were constantly changing.
Now for some yellows.....
And how about some pinks?
I finally got close to some elusive bighorn sheep, after seeing some only from a distance in Yellowstone a month earlier! ;)
These rock formations reminded me of the silly sand I played with as a kid...
A few more twists and turns and I was out of the park and back on I-90 East, landing in Sioux Falls SD for the night.
Day 3 was 10 hours of interstate driving, passing through Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and finally to Mount Vernon, IL for an overnight and some much needed rest. Day FOUR was an "easy" 5 1/2 drive from IL, through KY to home sweet home in Chattanooga, TN. The first thing I did after getting Scout settled and unpacking was wash my car! A fitting end to my 5 month dude ranch odyssey. Now for some sleep! Hope you enjoyed my blog. If you want more, check out my Greece and New Orleans blogs in the right hand column and stay tuned for next summer's adventure.. Croatia, Ireland, Guatemala? Who knows?! Thanks for joining me in Wyoming ;)
