12 - South Dakota

MAN MADE & NATURAL STONE CARVINGS:

The South Dakota area hosts many gems of the natural kind along with those that man has had a role in. Before heading toward the Black Hills, we skirted by The Devil's Tower on the Wyoming/South Dakota border.  Stopping overnight we enjoyed the afternoon and sunset view of the tower. There is a nice 1.3 mile paved path around the perimeter of the tower that is an easy walk winding in & out of the trees. It was interesting to learn the tower is not one solid piece of rock but rather thousands of columns. When the magma cooled it actually fractured into perfect geometric shapes, (like the shapes you see in a dried out lake out in the dessert and the mud all has the same octagonal like pattern).  After touring Devil's Tower I had the uncontrollable urge to make mashed potatoes....or was that Richard Dreyfuss????   :)

View from our campsite



Walking along the pathway at the base of the tower

MT. RUSHMORE & CRAZY HORSE:




Avenue of Flags, leading you towards the Monument



At first light we were destined for Rapid City, SD, where we'd stay for 3 days to check out the monuments and the Badlands.  Mt. Rushmore was quite impressive, the last time we'd seen it was about 2000' above ground while flying by, many years ago in our 2 place airplane. From the ground the perspective was much better! It's amazing what fourteen years of blasting & drilling and over 400 people can achieve. I wonder how hard of a choice the creator & sculptor had in choosing which of the 30 presidents (assuming presidents were the only option) would represent their vision.  Both of us were impressed with the attention to detail (even though the sculptor had a 60 ft canvas to work on). Things like the glint in the pupils and how they were carved (which upon closer inspection is stone chiseled on the outside of the eye in order to give you that 3D effect).


Amazing what a lot of jack hammering can accomplish!



Shortly after the completion of Mt. Rushmore, another memorial started construction. Unlike Mt. Rushmore's 14 yr project lifespan, the Crazy Horse Memorial, 64 years later, is still a work in progress.



Crazy Horse Memorial as it stands today...

 The original sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski passed away in 1982, but his legacy and dream to complete the memorial continue through his wife and 7 of his children. Unlike Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse is a non profit organization that has twice turned down federal funding offers, believing the interested public should pay for it and not the taxpayer. Such a noble attitude, but after viewing the large visitor's center, not much progress has been made. Thanks to google & Wikipedia, we discovered afterwards that it has been reported the family have spent millions from the admission funds received. On what exactly we do not know, but judging from the lack of work it would seem that personal gain would be one avenue of speculation.  The cost to create Mt. Rushmore was just under 1 million dollars. Today, over 3.5 million visitors come to Mt. Rushmore.  The Crazy Horse Memorial is just 17 miles from Mt. Rushmore, so one would think that at least half of those visitors would also see it too. If you do the math at $10 per person, it doesn't seem like lack of funding is the problem.

Model of what the memorial will look like in ?? years time...

$20,000 GUM:
Even though we had a National Parks pass, we still had to pay to see Mt. Rushmore. The rationale from the ranger was that it is a free monument but the parking to see it isn't free...Part of the $11 parking fee goes towards removing gum from the walkways.  I thought at least one person I know would be interested in that tid bit of information....  :)


IS IT ART?
After seeing the natural and man made rock formations, I had to question, is this really art or are "we" just defacing nature? Would a bronze sculpture at the base of the mountain have sufficed? I'm not sure I can answer that, perhaps seeing other forms of art & sculptures throughout the country will shed more light on it. I wonder if a project like this would happen in today's modern time... just random musings while driving...


THERE ARE MAMMOTHS IN SOUTH DAKOTA!

Active dig site containing mammoth remains & fossils of other creatures

Well I guess it's actually mammoth remains... In our brochures of places to see in the area, one thing caught our attention: real live archaeological dig site over a mammoth sink hole.  Over 26,000 yrs ago, mammoths along with other animals came upon a natural hot spring which unbeknownst to them, was a one way feeding area; you can go in but you can't get out! The hot spring was actually a sinkhole over 60' deep. Our tour guide told us that the trapped mammoths didn't lose their footing all at once, but rather approx. 3 a year. Sixty mammoths have been discovered and as an interesting fact, all 60 are males!!!  The sink hole was discovered in 1974. Fortunately the land owner knew it's historical importance and sold the land for the same amount he paid for it to the university's Paleontology Dept. which built the visitor's center & museum around the site. How cool is it to walk around an active fossil dig?! Seeing partially exposed bones and hearing facts about our past and stories of the site itself. The museum is located in Hot Springs, a definite stop if this is something you're interested in.

A typical scenario, one male mammoth too stubborn to ask for directions & ends up falling into a sinkhole!

LOOKING FOR BISON:

Custer State Park & Wind Cave National Park were homes to many, many bison. So many that we came across bison traffic jams while driving along the scenic roads. The open prairies, rolling hills, big sky horizons, stuff that makes you take a deep breath in and exhale slowly with an ahhhh....then comes the aw, sh*t!, dumba$s, move your f@#!ing car you sorry excuse of a person!!! (Dave's words, not mine).  Welcome to the world of bison watching rage....Oh the 2 hr holdup inching forward was as much of an earful as the scenery outside was an eyeful.  In the end, we just drove on the wrong side of the road, passing all the bison spotters and probably saved ourselves another couple of hours of Dave's sailor talk :)

Wind Cave Park also had another interesting feature, a dry cave, meaning less moist inside therefore slightly different formations within.  Why is it that most caves are discovered by teenage boys? Guess they're the only ones crazy enough to go down a dark hole with just a candle...

B-B-B-BADLANDS!

On our final day we drove out to the Badlands. It was a hot day and by the time we arrived the temps were already past 100 degrees. We took some short hikes, including one that required you to climb up a wooden log style ladder. No problem except the wood itself was very hot to the touch...We wondered why a family coming down were "bum scooting it". By the time it was our turn I went down facing the hill & gingerly grabbing the log rungs like they were hot potatoes. By the time we left the Badlands, the temp on the truck's outside thermometer said 112 degrees.  Despite the high temps, it was a very scenic drive.

An idea of how vast the Badlands are...

Hot rungs & carrying water, very co-ordinated indeed!!!

NEXT STOP?
Fortunately for Dave, Oshkosh is enroute to our Eastward trek. So his aviation withdrawal tendencies will soon subside, (I hope). One mission for Dave during this time off is to seriously look for his next airplane project. We have a fast plane, a plane that lands on water, so what feature should our third one have??? I'm thinking multi place but efficient and not cost a lot...we'll see if there's something at Oshkosh that screams, "Build Me!" on it!!!




Looking for Dave's next project to build....oh where can it be???



10 - Two for one, Idaho & Wyoming, fun things to do!

Panoramic of the Grand Teton Range, notice no foothills! Makes it all the more stunning.

On our journey Northward I couldn't help notice a boyish grin on Dave's face. "What's the matter with you?" I would ask, "Tetons!" was all he would say. It didn't take long to figure out that we were heading in the same direction as Dave's favorite body part....breasts... The Grand Teton mountain range was named by French Canadian trappers and in French, "Grand Tetons" means "Large Breasts" (won't men EVER grow up??????)...

As we departed Utah, we entered Idaho. We decided the town of Idaho Falls would be our basecamp for the next 3 days so before Dave's BreastFest, we would check out Idaho's assets first!

WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (EBR-1)

In 1951, just outside Arco, ID, electricity was produced for the first time from this research reactor. EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor 1) was created just to see if this could be done. Today it serves as a museum where people can actually stand right above the reactor's core! Decommissioned in 1964, and radioactive free (thanks to many many feet & tons of concrete), the entire facility is just one speck on an 800,000 acres of land owned by the US Government, who today still carry out research. We were told a submarine engine & part of an air craft carrier are housed on the property. Unfortunately the EBR-1 museum is all civilians are authorized to visit.

Ontop a large lava mound/dune looking over the Craters of the Moon Park

VOLCANISM IN IDAHO?

Who would have thought volcanoes, lava tube and ice formations could be found all in one place? Potatoes yes, but Idaho has a few other surprises to offer you. Here at Craters of the Moon National Monument we were able to walk, crawl through tunnels and throw a snowball. The park is nicely laid out in a one way traffic flow with the scenic stops & trails generously spaced out.  Speaking of space, a lot of Apollo training happened out here since the land closely resembled what astronauts would be trekking across when they landed on the moon. A bit of history: volcanic eruptions started as early as 15,000 yrs ago to as recent as 2,000 yrs ago.

Where we entered...

Where we exited...

WATERFALLS GALORE!




Downtown Idaho Falls, scenic river pathways



Our campground in Idaho Falls runs along the Snake River which feeds half of the electricity to the town by hydro electric means. The weir or weirs (there are 3 turbines), are picturesque along the river trails, complemented with individually designed artistic benches. 

Upper Mesa Falls

We spent half a day driving the scenic byway to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls. A park volunteer mentioned, since we were in the area to get a panoramic view of the area, to head up Sawtail road to almost 10,000 ft. The narrow switchback was almost as exciting as the view from up above!



View from 10,000 ft



OUR BREAST FRIENDS...




Avril, Sue & Paul

 While getting familiar with the local sights before planning our Teton extravaganza we reconnected with Paul & Sue (our new rv friends from Moab) who were boondocking in the Teton National Park. "Boondocking" means camping without any outside water, electricity or sewer connections - you are reliant solely on what your camper brings to the party. Our rv has a generator and big enough tanks to store fresh water and hold waste so we decided to try out boondocking and headed into the BreastLands, um, I mean Tetons!

Mountain highs...

Valley lows...

Upon arriving, we knew we were in wild country: we drove past grazing bison & moose and possibly a bald eagle soaring along the ridge. Catalina also started to exhibit changes in behavior...imagine our dog on crack or some very strong energy drinks! With our campsite teaming in mice, chipmunks, gophers & squirrels, she couldn't keep her eyes & ears on one spot long enough. We also noticed her Australian roots began to show, kangaroo roots... Catalina would literally bounce into the sage brush on all fours diving down on whatever she thought was there only to rebound back up as if on a trampoline and pounce into another bush. 



Just one of many Marmots in the park



As much fun as it was to watch she was at least leashed. It wasn't so much fun when we saw the same thing and her leash was no where in sight...Ugh, an escapee dog high on nature in a campground that runs for miles... Dave got a great workout jogging after her. On the second occasion (yes, it happened again!), Avril was able to nab Catalina's harness 15 min later while she was fixated on excavating a gopher hole. The end result is we now own a shock collar...

One of not so many Moose sightings, the baby is a bonus shot....thanks Sue for taking this!

LIONS & TIGERS & BEARS, OH MY!

Paul & Sue had done their homework for camping in the area by purchasing bear spray (I learned bear spray is more concentrated than the pepper spray that people use on each other). We, being sprayless decided to stay very close to them! This worked out great since Paul & Sue wanted us as "bear bait"...What?!?  Turns out hikers do better in groups of 4 or more since there's a higher chance more talking & noise will be made than with 2 people. We also found the trails to be riddled with roots and rocks so a lot of the time you spent most of your time looking where you were going and so it wasn't a surprise to hear most bear sightings happen within 15 ft in front of you...So our question to Paul & Sue was: who walks in front & who's in the back???

No privacy....sheesh!

The hiking we did in the Tetons was great, we did 2 big hikes that were just over 8 miles. The first hike we had to take a boat across Jenny Lake where we walked up the trails and saw some spectacular waterfalls (called Hidden Falls), then further up to a viewpoint known as Inspiration Point, then further up and into some snow along the Cascade Canyon Trail. Fortunately, the snow was still hard packed enough to walk on top of but soft enough for a few snowball attacks on any unsuspecting husbands!

The Houston Astro's baseball team won't be calling Avril anytime soon!

We came across one hiker who was tenting on the snow and when he woke up and looked out of his tent, there was a big fat marmot chewing on the rubber handle of his walking stick. He even showed us the bite marks! The entire hike was very scenic; we all enjoyed the views, colors & differing terrain.

In front of Hidden Falls

Our second hike was around Two Oceans Lake with a short vertical jaunt halfway up a hill to Grand View point.  Karma must have heard Sue say that the only thing left to see in the park that we hadn't yet was a grizzly... About a third of our way in, we were crossing a bridge and Dave just happened to look behind him and something caught his eye. A moment later he registered the big hairy mass to be a grizzly bear. Fortunately for us he was far enough away and too interested in his food to notice us. The amazing thing is that our trail crossed in front on him by only a few hundred feet. I guess both us & the grizzly had our heads down and didn't take notice of the constant chatter that went on...between Dave & Paul....

Walking along Two Oceans Lake trail

Up Grand View (up 1100 ft), halfway around Two Oceans trail

Close encounters of the grizzly kind...(he's looking down & his head is on the left)

The evenings were just as entertaining, sharing meals with your camping neighbors and sitting out by the campfire.  The Visitor's Center at the Park puts on a great film about the history of the park, at the end of the movie the screen rises up, then the curtains open up showing you the Teton Mountains, front & center!




Apres hiking, we think Sue enjoyed the boat ride back just as much as the hiking!



WHERE TO, EH?

Did someone say "Roadtrip?!?!"

For the first time in a while, we have a plan! We will be heading North into Montana for a couple of days (Helena) and then over the border to visit family in Calgary, Alberta. It might take a while for Catalina to understand the accent but she's a smart dog!!! :)