2021 North Central National Parks by RV
2021 Trip to North Central USA National Parks
July 30
Today is our first travel day. We hooked up the trailer and headed west. We stopped at our first scale to weigh the trailer and truck as Dean has been trying to calculate the load on the hitch and truck. The process was pretty simple. We pulled onto the scale for a weight, pulled off and disconnected the trailer and weighed the truck. So, even though the truck weight was consistent in both measurements and from a previous measurement, Dean didn’t believe the trailer portion as it didn’t fit his assumptions. Typical engineer, the measurement must be wrong, not his calculation. He will have time to mull this over. The trip was an uneventful ride through the Indiana and Illinois farm country. Only challenge was when we missed a turn off there was no easy place to turn around with a 30 foot trailer behind you. So, after driving for about 5 miles we came upon a church with a large parking lot that allowed us to correct the mistake. We will be watching more carefully for those obscure roads. The KOA campground is out in the country and quite small but comfortable. It only took 10 minutes to walk the entire property. Our first dinner of hamburgers, corn on the cob and caprice salad was quite good. They have a nice pool here, a huge bouncy area for the kids and a playground and recombinant bikes to borrow. So, kids were enjoying riding around the dirt drives on the low tricycles. A decaying miniature golf course looks like it had once been a fun place. There is no sounds of civilization out here. Lots of crickets or cicadas and fireflies. It is cloudy so we don’t see starts tonight. Our bodies reminded us of the time change and by 10 pm we were in bed.
July 31
Springfield, IL
The patter of rain started in the middle of the night and was joined by birds chirping in early morning. The rain continued all morning so we decided to start our day inside. After finding a garage with a height sufficient to allow the 6 ft 8 in truck to park, we walked through deserted streets in the rain to get to the museum. The Lincoln museum was impressive. We learned about a man who had great challenges and suffering and great joy and was transformed by these. He made very difficult and unpopular decisions in order to try and save the United States of America. In the end, he gave his life which made him a legend. The museum attempted to show us the real man, the decisions and the effect on the country. Midday the rain stopped, people emerged and we enjoyed walking around Springfield on a cool summer day. The high today barely made it to 70. After the very hot July they have been having, people seemed to be enjoying the cool weather. Springfield has many historic buildings including Lincoln’s adult home and law office. We enjoyed learning how Lincoln’s experiences shaped his life, and we saw a couple of beautiful parks. Springfield has a nice craft beer scene so we found one microbrewery with good food to enjoy a rest break. Lincoln’s tomb is impressive due to the sculptures inside, some
of which we have seen the large version in Washington or South Dakota, interspersed with his words. Our final stop was Washington Park which has an impressive botanical garden and was a beautiful place to enjoy some time outside. People were setting up for a wedding as we enjoyed the garden. What a beautiful spot to be married!
August 1
Today was to be a travel day. We are working our way to northern Minnesota. Our stopping point for the night is Baraboo, Wisconsin which is north of Madison. We are spending the night at a microbrewery, Tumbled Rock. We parked the trailer in a parking lot and headed to Devil’s Lake State Park to hike. It is a beautiful lake with a white beach and the lake sits in a basin surrounded by rocky hills. This is a very popular spot to spend a Sunday afternoon! Lots of families and groups enjoying picnics and the beach. There were lots of folks hiking on the trails we chose to explore. One trail took us to the top of the hills lining one side of the long lake. It was so fun to watch people swim, boat and paddle board around the lake. One fun thing was that many of the folks hiking had English as a second language. It reminded me of traveling around the world where we hear so many languages. Here in the middle of Wisconsin we hear the same thing.
After hiking we come back to the trailer and clean up and go to dinner at Tumbled
Rock. We sat outside listening to a live music group. We couldn’t remember the last time we heard a live rock group, inside or out. The microbrewery had good beer according to Dean and we both enjoyed our dinner. For a travel day, this turned out to be a day filled with activity.
Aug 2
Travel to St Croix National River basin staying at St Croix River Resort
We pulled out of the parking lot at 9 am heading to Minnesota.
And are we geeks or what? Yep, 100%. One GPS to show truck route to next campground, one GPS to get us to important stops like gas station or a cheese store for Wisconsin cheeses, a camera to see behind the trailer and another GPS because the driving engineer likes multiple instruments.
Along the way we found the cheese shop to get some good Wisconsin cheese. You can’t leave Wisconsin without getting cheese curds or other yummy cheeses. We bought a few choices from creamy to spicy to enjoy as we traveled. We arrived at our campgrounds around 2:30, had lunch which included those cheese curds with our veggies and fruit and decided to walk around. There were several hiking trails and a mile long road that led to the river. The walk to the river was a nice long walk on a country dirt road. There is a parking lot near the river and a boat launch. We will use this during our stay to get our kayak in the water. We tried to walk on the trails but the mosquitoes and flies drove us away after about a half mile in the woods. So, we returned. Tonight we had our first fire. With all the drought conditions we were not sure where we would be permitted to have a
campfire. This was the first place. We enjoyed a quiet night by the fire and our first some mores of the trip.
Aug 3
St. Croix River basin
Today we decided to go to St. Croix Falls to the National Riverway Visitor Center to get information and suggestions of places to hike, bike and visit. The ranger was full of suggestions! So, we hiked in a couple of different areas along the river. One area is nicknamed ‘pot hole’ and is an extremely rocky area produced by swift water that resulted from melting glaciers. We enjoy climbing on rocks and boulders and the view of the river below the steep cliffs was spectacular. The other area was a lovely, quiet walk along the river. There were numerous fast flowing creeks to cross on the path to navigate the path. Finally, we came to one that required you to wade through the fast moving water or walks a very skinny log for 12 feet. We decided it was time to turn around. There was a park at the end of the trail with a swinging bench overlooking the river. We enjoyed the quiet beauty and chuckled at the young woman who stripped down to her underwear and took a bath and washed her hair in the river. She then filled a large bucket with water and put it in her car and drove away. We guessed that she lived without running waster. We took a bike ride along the Gandy Dancer trail that is part of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, a 1200 mile trail. As we rode past miles of farmland covered with corn and soybean
fields. We laughed at the tractor crossing signs. It reminded me of portions of the Camino trail and of the day the farmer started spreading liquid manure just as we past. The odor was so strong we started to run to escape the stench. Not today. We only smelled the plants that grew near the path. We enjoyed a quiet evening at the camper and used the end of our supply of wood. Even though it was a clear sky we saw no blue sky in the day or stars at night. We are guessing that the many wildfires in the west have kept our sky hazy.
Aug 4
Day 2 in St. Croix River basin we went to St. Croix State park in MN expecting to spend half a day and didn’t leave until late afternoon. Lunch was an ice cream bar. We hiked along the St Croix, kayaked along the river, biked on the bike trail and climbed an old fire tower. The hiking and biking gave us more relaxing times in the woods with river views . This area had sand as the base rather than rocky dirt. Both days gave us lots of wildlife to watch but it was the many small frogs and beautiful winged insects and birds that we enjoyed the most. Dean blew up our little 2 person kayak which is really much more comfortable as a one person. We tried to paddle up river with no success and struggled to control it down river. This is when the engineer said, “This boat has a rudder. I wonder if we are going backwards.” Yes we were! We turned the seats around and had a much more enjoyable time on the river. It was 80 and sunny. Beautiful day to be outdoors. We head north tomorrow so the evening was spent getting the trailer ready and doing laundry but we did get in our last campfire. Nice way to end our stay in north east MN and north west WI.
August 5
We are traveling again. Today is a short drive, 4 hr, so we enjoyed a nice pancake and bacon breakfast before leaving. We found a grocery along the way and stopped to refill the pantry and frig. It looks like it wants to rain the entire drive and finally starts as we neared Voyageur National Park. This part of the country is full of pine, spruce, aspen, and birch forests with some oak, maple and other trees mixed in. It is a little hilly and very rocky. We arrive at the resort where we will camp for the next few days. Resorts around here are mostly 6-8 cabins on about an acre and they have figured out how to fit some RVS in the spaces between the cabins. We are right on Lake Kabetogama in a small bay. There are about 6 ‘resorts’ around this bay. The lake is smooth and clear and about a foot low due to lack of rain and high heat. We have a big rain this afternoon which is much appreciated. It came in with a cold front so the weather is finally back to normal with highs in the 60’s and 70’s. Emily, the elderly woman who owns this resort is very friendly and shows us around. I love that the folks around here seem to operate like it is the 1960’s. She tells us we pay cash at the end of our stay. Everything is on the honor system. We take a short walk around the area and enjoy an evening in the cool air. No campfires are permitted due to the dry conditions. Our host tells us that a week ago the smoke was so thick from forest fires that you could not see across the bay. Today people watched playful otters on the other side of the bay and birds playing in the water but the lake is down about a foot. Boats tied at docks are sitting on the lake bottom in some places.
August 6
We are very fortunate in that we were able to get a boat tour through Voyageur’s
Park. The park tour boat became inoperable this week and we were able to get a tour with an outside company who turned out to be one of the parks tour guides, too. Most people were not so lucky and missed seeing the sights that you can only see by boat. Bill has been doing this for 40 years and is a master storyteller. He and his dog, Irish, were our guides. We visited Ellsworth Rock Garden that Jack Elsworth built decades ago. His stone sculptures were fun and imaginative. Bill loves this area and delighted at visiting some of the most picturesque parts of the park including deboarding stop at Kettle Falls, an old brothel turned respectable hotel that you can get to by water taxi. and a drift by stop at Hoist Bay. We saw Lost Bay, Lost Lake, Tar Point, and learned the native history at Cemetery Island and Squaw Narrows. For several miles we straddled the U.S. / Canadian border without passport and during Covid closure. They don’t seem to care in this part of the country. They do care if you fish on the wrong side of the divide and will give you a $10,000 fine if caught. We saw one person doing this which displeased our captain. We went past Mica Island where mica was mined and finally slice through Squirrell Narrows before we stop at Kettle Falls. After reboarding, we enter the main part of Namakan Lake past Mrs. Torey’s homestead on Kubel Island, around Namakan Island and into Hoist Bay to hear the story of a couple of old camps. We ended going into Moose Bay, by
Kabetogama Narrows and the Ash River Visitor Center then through the back channel to Lake Kabetogama visitor center. It was an early morning trip and well worth getting up. After the boat tour we hiked in the beautiful forests and every once in a while were rewarded with amazing views. These forests, like St. Croix River area were logged to extinction. In the early 1900’s, there were no forests left. Voyageur’s area is all granite and anything that is thriving is doing so by living on a few inches of organic matter left from previous plants. These tenacious plants look pretty healthy considering most roots are sitting on top of the ground. This makes hiking a bit challenging as you are stepping over roots or rocks most of the time. Even the earth with a little ‘dirt’ on it sounds like you are walking on rock or on something hollow. It was an interesting sound. We have seen deer, loons, pelicans, and fox today. The big treat was our evening adventure to the black bear nature preserve. This is an area of a couple of square miles where bears can freely wander into and out of. It is a safe zone where piles of food are set out. Volunteers scoop a mixture of berries and grains onto rocks and the bears come to eat. They forage for about 3⁄4 of their diets and this extra food keeps them out of campgrounds and cabins trying to find enough to eat. The nonprofit doing this has built a large platform where people can watch the bears close up but in a safe area. We watched dozens of bears, from tiny cubs to very old bears, come to eat, play, climb trees and rest. What a treat it was to be able to watch the bears interact. Interpreters would answer our questions and tell us about the bears. The bears are all fattening up right now to get ready for the long winter hibernation and with the severe drought, there have been few berries to eat so they would eat the berries out of the mix first. Once berries were gone, they would fill up on the other food. It was like watching a child eat their desert first. Black bears are shy and social. One mom thought her cubs were in danger so she gave the signal and they shimmied up a tree and stayed there until she told them to come down. It was quite impressive. We had a late dinner at a local restaurant and enjoyed the walleye that is so common here. Excellent way to end the day.
Aug 7
This is a day of rest for us. Our plan was to kayak around our camp area, but high wind made our lake quite rough and we decided to stay on land. We found another nice area to hike and found some of the wetlands off the lake. We have been in northern Wisconsin/ Minnesota for a week now and today was the first time we encountered the infamous mosquitos. There have been plenty of biting flies but we somehow had the perfect weather to avoid the mosquitoes until now. The head netting that we have had for a few years finally got some use today. It worked quite well. We relaxed and then went into International Falls. International Falls is a place we hear about when they are talking about weather and we were surprised at how small it is. We walked around town, visited Smokey Bear park and a local microbrewery that offered interesting beers and a waterfront
patio. We walked around the small bit of Voyageur’s northwest shore and saw more trucks with fishing boat trailers in one spot than either of us had ever seen before. There was a long bike trail that looked inviting but we didn’t have our bikes with us. We ended the evening at a lake front restaurant at Thunderbird lodge. It served very good Walleye and had Dean’s favorite Texas sheet cake. He decided maybe it should have been named Minnesota sheet cake. Our very friendly waitress was very patient as we almost closed the place down. Tomorrow we leave for North Dakota.
Aug 8
We closed up the trailer and did away with the few “additions” to hookup that we made , said goodbye to our friendly host Emily and paid her for our visit.
She showed us pictures of the bear sanctuary decades ago where they let the visitors feed the bears standing in the parking lot. There were pictures of her hand feeding the bears and bears climbing on people’s cars while they interacted. While we were there the staff made sure we didn’t interact with the bears for safety and so the bears would not get used to people. My how times have changed.
We drove 5 hours to Cooperstown, ND. Along the way we passed a grass fire that stretched about a mile. Emergency people were trying to beat it down. Not sure why it started but a half dozen folks were working hard to put it out. It is very dry in North Dakota and hot (91 when we arrived). We could tell while hiking around Voyageurs that some plants were suffering and dried up in areas that got more sun light. We are spending the night camping in Cooperstown City Park campgrounds. Yep, they are set up for 12 RV’s with full electrical and water service. You pay on the honor system. There are about 8 of us camping tonight.
Aug 9
This morning we visited the Ronal Reagan Minuteman Missile Historic Site and learned about the missile sites that operated during the Cold War. Since we are both children of the Cold War period it was interesting to see what an actual minuteman missile site looked like, how it ran, security measures taken to ensure there wouldn’t be an accident, and how the people lived who worked there. Our guide was a very good story teller and was quite interesting. Dean was excited to go and Sue wasn’t sure but we both learned something and are glad we went. Then we drove to our new campsite near Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was about a 5 hour drive and we stopped at a small historical village in Jamestown to see the worlds largest bison statue and the historic village. Our guide from the museum suggested stopping and we are glad we did. It broke up the trip and the 26 foot tall bison was impressive and there was a herd of real bison near by that were fun to watch. We arrived in Medora, ND about 6 pm, had dinner and went to the Painted Canyon portion of the park to watch the sun set. We took a short walk down into the canyon since we had enough time before it was dark. The colors of the various layers in the buttes were stunning and colors changed as the sun set. It was a beautiful red sunset, a perfect way to end the evening.
Aug 10
First full day at Roosevelt National Park we stayed in the south unit traversing the 30+ mile loop. We saw a large herd of bison close to the beginning of our drive. They were eating their morning grass near one of the prairie dog towns. It was fun to watch the curious little prairie dogs pop out of their holes and watch the bison and the people who were watching everything. We spied a coyote at the top of the hill watching the bison and prairie dogs. It walked along the ridge for a while and then decided not to come any closer and left.
This park has topography that is termed badlands and looks very similar to the South Dakota badlands. The scenery changed from grasslands to buttes. It is generally very dry with lots of sagebrush and a couple of other types of small woody bushes, few trees, and some very tiny flowers. This desert community has many layers of yellow, brown and red colors on the hills and buttes. The effect of erosion on these fragile structures is quite clear since sandstone and clay or the predominant materials here and weather is always changing them. It was hot as we hiked in the valleys even though there was a bit of a breeze but the higher in elevation you got the stronger the wind became. We hiked to the second highest point and Sue struggled to stand up in the very strong wind. Holding a camera or phone steady to take a picture was a challenge, too. Toward the end of the day we saw some of the Farrell horses. They were beautiful animals with interesting coloration After a long day we were in need of some groceries and drove 30 miles to the nearest grocery store. It was in a small town and had the saddest produce isle I have ever seen. It reminded me of ones that I have heard of in some inner cities. There was very little choice of produce, much of it was past it’s prime and all of it cost about twice what we paid in Ohio or Minnesota. We didn’t get much but have enough to last us until we hit a city in South Dakota at the end of the week.
August 11
We spent the day in the north unit of Roosevelt National Park. It was an hour drive north through land that looked like the Great Plains. Gently rolling or flat land covered in wheat, corn or beans and cattle. It was another day of 20 mph winds. This feels great on the lower ground, but is challenging when you are high on a butte. Today we walked a trail that was along the ridges of a number of buttes. Yesterday Dean was saying he wished he had a drone so that we could see where the animals were grazing. Well, today on top of the buttes we had that bird’s eye view and we found a couple of herds of bison and a herd of long horned steers that live in the park land. The view from this trail was magnificent. To think that the landscape has been formed by erosion by wind and water. It is actually the many layers that are under the surrounding plains. And, it is continually eroding as the limestone and clay that make up much of the layers is affected by the rain, even if they do only get about 15 inches a year.
We walked on a couple of nature trails where the plants and geological formations were pointed out and explained. It was very informative. This area of the park has large round spheres of rock that have been surfaced in the eroding layers. The only other place we have seen these is in New Zealand. They could be all over the world if you go deep enough. We also discovered that the top layers are where the petrified wood is found. We found some huge pieces laying on top of one butte. We had lots of up and down steep hills as we walked today. Our aging backs and legs told us about it, but we are so glad that we got to experience the awe of this space. I always feel so small and realize just how vast and how diverse the landscape, plants and creatures are on this earth in a place like this. We saw lots of different kinds of grasshoppers again, large and small, red, yellow, black, white, and patterned wings. They hopped continually at our feet as we walked. We saw a few lizards but didn’t see any rattle snakes which was fine with me. Others saw them and we were on the lookout while hiking, but they were well hid.
After washing off todays layer of dust from all the wind blowing around us, we cleaned up and went into town for dinner. Dean enjoyed a big old steak and I had walleye and the appropriate adult beverages from this area. Our waiter was the bartender. He was a very welcoming guy and was full of suggestions. We walked the tiny town of Medora, watched children working off energy in the playground in the center of town, and tried to watch the sun set but it hid behind the hills early due to our low point in town. It was a nice evening.
August 12
Day 3.5 at Roosevelt National Park. The park is divided into 3 units: South, North and Elkhorn Ranch. Today we hiked a long loop that covered two petrified forests in the South Unit. This is an area that requires one to drive over 30 minutes on a dirt road, so it is not highly visited. It is a beautiful, mild sunny day. We hike across plains and drop down to various butte floors and up and down to reach the next butte. We definitely got our climbing in for a second day in a row, but the large number of huge petrified wood pieces, large chunks of trees, was amazing. Some trees you could see the splintered wood, some the shape of the bark and some were strong, solid trees when covered with water and slowly petrified. They are surfacing from the top of the buttes as the sediment washes away with the rain. The views were breathtaking, again, and when we would arrive at a new grassy plain high above the canyon we found bison enjoying the soft grass. What a diversity of landscape and micro environments. One moment you are in a desert making your way across black sand paths that reminded us of the beaches in Iceland and the next moment you are on the top of the butte littered with the rocky remains of ancient trees and the next moment you are standing on a grassy plain enjoying the gently rolling hills. All of this, of course, comes with the strong breeze. Officially it is blowing at 20 mph but as Dean pointed out, things were blowing faster than he was driving the truck at 35 mph so maybe it was a bit stronger. It easily blew hats off of heads if you looked up to enjoy the scenery. A string tied under the chin may not be a fashion statement, but makes life easier.
After a late lunch in the back of the truck (after Dean turned it to minimize the wind blowing on us) we headed down an even longer dirt road (almost an hour drive) to visit the remains of Elkhorn Ranch, Theodore Roosevelt’s ranch when he was a young man and the reason he wanted to start the National Park system to save the land for future generations. It was a long, long drive through ranch country. The land had lots of wheat or grass fields, herds of cattle and the occasional butte popping out of the field that made the area look rather comical. The buttes were all different sizes and shapes and one could make up what the shape looked like as you might do with clouds. Well, it passed the time. We hiked back to where the ranch had been. The park service had interesting signage to help you envision what it had looked like. We decided that Mr. Roosevelt had to have been a bit crazy to live that far from anywhere in a challenging environment herding cattle all day and consider it the best time in his life. We rather questioned his sanity and hoped it improved as he aged. After another long drive on the dusty road and hiking through dusty environments, we came back to the trailer to wash the grime off and have a relaxing evening. Tomorrow we head to South Dakota. Wonder if it will be as windy there?
August 14
Today was an early morning as we wanted to be at Wind Cave by 8 am when the office opened to get tickets. They are on a first come first serve basis and with the large Sturgis motorcycle rally there are lots of people here. The line wasn’t very long and we had tickets for the 9 am tour. Our guide was a very young man who told good stories. We are all wearing masks at the National park sites in the visitor centers and for tours, but he did a good job of projecting through the mask. Wind Cave got its name because the guys who found it did so because they hear wind blowing out of a hole in the ground. It is unusual in that it has a formation called boxwork rather than stalactites. It is considered a dry cave and this is how the crystal deposited. This cave has 80% of the boxwork in the world. It was a very nice tour and the cool temperature underground was very welcome. When we finished our tour it was already in the high 80’s but we took a long hike on the grounds. We only saw one bison, but the rolling prairie and the small gorge were quite nice. We decided the animals were all in the shade or found water somewhere rather than being out like us humans.
Then we went to Hot Springs, home of ‘healing’ springs and a hugh Mammoth dig site that was discovered in the 70’s. A huge building was built around the dig site to protect the fossils and allow them to be slowly uncovered since they are generally huge bones. It was very interesting. We walked the small town which had pretty stone building that were built around the turn of the century for the hot springs business and a waterfall, spring and fast flowing river which is an unusual occurrence in this dry part of the world. They had a local ice cream shop that served up delicious treats. After this we decided to take one of the recommended scenic rides around the black hills. We got out or short hikes and amazing views. When we returned to the camper and cleaned up, our campground had a western singing group and Mexican food. It was a great way to end a long day.
August 15
It is Sunday and since we are 2 hours behind the East Coast, we listened to church online while having breakfast. We decided to have a relaxing morning and headed to Wall, SD to see the famous Wall Drug Store. It is really a tourist mall that was set up to look like a Main Street of an old town and was swarming with people. We walked through and enjoyed the unique statues, stuffed animals and the many shops and went across the street for lunch. Lunch was a mistake, but is sustained us through hours at the Badlands. On the way to the Badlands we stopped for gas. There were many prairie dog towns along the road and all offered you the chance to stop and photograph the critters. They sold peanuts for you to entice them out. These little guys were quite friendly and little clowns.
We spent the afternoon in the Badlands hiking (it was 99 out today!), learning about fossils, and enjoying the amazing landscape. It was similar to the Roosevelt National Park badlands, but the formations had different colors in their layers. We stayed to watch the sunset and this was when the animals came out. We saw bison, many pronghorns and prairie dogs. And, we watched the sunset over the multicolored buttes and hills. It was a beautiful sunset and Dean was snapping pictures of the changing colors/hues as the sun set. We found a very good restaurant opened in Wall for a late dinner. Since almost everything was closed, Wall took on a whole different look. It was quiet! Diner was very good and we drove the long drive home, cleaned up and fell into bed exhausted. Tomorrow will also be a late start as we will tour into the evening.
August 16
Today was the day of remembrance. We spent half the day at the Crazy Horse memorial and American Indian museum and half at Mt. Rushmore. The Crazy Horse memorial is a testament to perseverance of two men, one Native American who wanted a memorial for the native Americans, and the sculpture who wanted this carving to be the largest ever. The carving will be going on for years but the museum has been built and is beautifully curated and a college for Native American youth has been started with plans for continued growth. It was a very interesting and a beautiful experience. Part of our experience was taking a bus ride to the bottom of the cliff so that we could safely get close to the mountain where work is happening. The driver was a gregarious story teller so it was a fun trip filled with personal stories of the family that carries on the dream.
Mt. Rushmore was carved first and is iconic. The museum also offers information on the many challenges that took place to build something using government money. The politics, egos, difficulty finding skilled laborers, and the physical challenges involved in carving the side of a mountain. There is a nice hiking path around the area that gives one great and unusual views of the carving. After dinner we returned for the patriotic talk by the ranger, a movies and the lighting of the mountain. The amphitheater was packed with people. When does school start? So, we decided to get an ice cream cone made with ice cream using Thomas Jefferson’s recipe. What an unexpected treat! Most of the crowd had dispersed and the ride home was pleasant.
August 17
Today we drove to Jewel Cave in southwestern Black Hills. Because the elevator is under construction, a modified cave tour was offered. The tour guide was full of fun stories and an interesting guy, but we only saw two rooms in the cave, so we really saw little of the many formations offered in the cave. Regular tours will be back this autumn. The area around the cave was interesting, but other areas offered more interesting geology and animals, so we left the area mid day and then walked around Custer City and enjoyed the many hand painted bison, some historic buildings and and a quaint town. We found a great restaurant with large portions of protein on our salads, great soup and local brews for Dean. The restaurant was unique in that all employees were black. It was a beautiful restaurant with great food and we supported a minority business without realizing it when we walked in.
After a great lunch we decided to go to the Swan Lake area and hike. We chose to hike to the Little Devils Tower peak. This was a strenuous path with the top 1⁄2 mile being climbing on rocks. It was hot, hot, hot (98 degrees) but we had water and hiked to the top. We questioned getting to the top a few times. Dean said every time he was ready to stop that I was over the next ridge. Maybe, but he never voiced wanting to stop. Then again, neither did I. It was some challenging climbing with long stretches going up and down. For those of us over 60, it was challenging. The other crazy people that we saw on the paths were in their 20’s and 30’s. The views were amazing from the top. We were at one of the high points in the Black Hills. The rock formations jutting out of forest of mostly Ponderosa Pines, the rolling hills, distant mountains and plaines were all visible. The haze from distant wild fires lowered our view in the distance but it was still a spectacular view. It wasn’t until we got back to the ground, drove out of the park and got cell service again that we realized how hot it was this day. It was better not to know.
We took a scenic route back to the trailer and arrived about 7 pm. After showers to wash off the sweat and dirt, we made and ate a late dinner, rested and called it a night.
August 18
Today we traveled two hours to the western part of the Black Hills in Wyoming to explore Devils Tower National monument. This park has interesting paths that wind around the tower. One path is at the foot of the tower and is easy with occasional hills, the outer path was more interesting with amazing views of the hills and valleys and the tall butte. We saw lots of prairie dogs, tiny squirrels and tiny camouflaged chipmunks. Part of our trail went through a prairie dog village and this was the first time we heard the little critters
vocalize. They let us know with loud high pitched complaining that we were a bit close for comfort. There were large birds flying around, probably hoping to catch one of the small rodents for a meal. Today the temperature was very comfortable for hiking. It was in the high 60’s when we started and mid 70’s by the end of day. Most people come and take a picture of the ignite rock tower made of many cylinders of rock, but they miss so much by not walking around and enjoying the views and nature. Watching the rock climbers traverse the mile and a half tall wall was also interesting. One climber we talked to said it was a 3 hour climb up and down.
On the way down we stopped at Spearfish Canyon. The canyon was beautiful and the road ran through the canyon by the river/creek. There are three waterfalls. We looked at the largest falls, bridal veil falls, which after months of drought was more of a trickle over a very tall wall, but it was a nice stop on the way home. It was a nice cool evening, with some rain, as we relaxed.
August 19
We are up before the sun and head to Custer Park to hopefully see lots of animals enjoying their morning greens. We received a wonderful gift today! We enjoyed watching pronghorn, bison, bighorn sheep, burros, mule deer and prairie dogs. The pronghorns hopped/leaped through the grass, the burros walk up to your car or you if you are standing outside hoping for a treat, but the best was the fox who raced out of the woods and across the road in front of us to the other side with a small bird in chase pecking the fox when possible. We were not sure what the fox stole from the bird’s nest, but eventually the bird gave up and the fox leaped off to enjoy his breakfast. We enjoyed a nice hike through the prairie before the rain arrived. The afternoon offered us a wonderful rest break as we heard waves of rain beating on the trailer roof. Late afternoon the rain was gone and the sun was peaking through the clouds. We headed to the State Game Lodge in Custer Park for a very nice dinner. Dean enjoyed a bison steak and Sue had stuffed Walleye. There were quail eggs and pheasant rolls, too, to add interesting flavors. Great way to end a rather long, wonderful day.
August 20
Last day in this area. We wake to rain that ends mid morning. We head into Rapid City to see the president statues that they advertise. It turns out that over 10 block area each intersection has a former President of the USA on each corner. The statues are life size bronze and each one has captured the personality of the man and tells something of his story. They were wonderful. The city also has a beautiful park and numerous stores, art galleries, and numerous places to eat and drink. We enjoyed the morning here, bought a few presents to take home and headed back to the trailer to change for hiking. We hiked two different loops that were reported to be good places for animals. We saw the usual ground squirrels who showed us their leaping capabilities and numerous insects including many grasshoppers but these didn’t have the beautiful wings of the many grasshoppers we saw in Roosevelt NP. We encountered one snake but it wasn’t the rattlers that we were on the lookout for, just a garter snake. We didn’t see any big animals on the walk but did see two large herds of bison and one lone guy who was off by himself enjoying the well watered grass. We had a quiet dinner at the trailer and prepared for heading out tomorrow. We wanted to have a fire since the risk of forest fire went from extremely high to moderate today, but the wind is up about 20 mph and it didn’t seem wise, so no campfire again. I am wondering if the marshmallows and fixings for some mores and pie iron pies will go back home with us.
Aug. 21
Today was a travel day. We headed east to start our trip back to Cincinnati. Today we headed to Sioux Fall, SD. We stopped at a rest stop in Chamberlain to see the Dignity 50 ft statue that celebrates the Native Americans of the plains. The rest stop was on the Missouri River and celebrated the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was on a cliff overlooking the river and had great views, a small museum and a hiking path. It was a great place to stop. Our second stop was to see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. This large building had the exterior and some of the interior walls covered in murals made out of mostly of corn cobs of various colors with other natural materials used to fill in as needed. It was a very creative use of materials. We made our way to Sioux Falls by dinner time and rested.
Aug. 22
We enjoyed the beautiful town of Sioux City. They have a large city park built around the cascading water and falls that give the city its name. It has the old mill, a barn and a lookout tower with a nice view. There is a 22 mile bike trail around the city that connects a number of very nice parks and runs along the Big Sioux River. We road our bikes out 11 miles and returned. It was a nice Sunday morning ride. Then we packed up the bikes, got our rain coats and walked around the old town. We were impressed with yesterday another South Dakota city full of art, this time sculptures. Each year over 50 sculptures are chosen and placed around the city. They can be purchased at the end of the year when new sculptures are placed around town. We are at an old inn type building that came highly recommended by two local ladies we met. Lunch was good but the Oreo mint milkshake was killer. The rain came just as we found a local microbrewery. While there we discovered that this was a place that Debbie Jones daughter recommended to her parents as they are moving there. Our church was having a retirement party for Debbie today and we were asked to bring a surprise gift card to the microbrewery for Debbie and Steve. What a fun coincidence. We found our way back to the trailer for dinner and a relaxing evening. Another coincidence was the number of Ohio and Indiana/Purdue people we met on the trip. The folks in the trailer next to ours is from Springfield OH. They headed west as we pulled out heading east.
Aug. 23
We were out early to travel to Fireside Winery in Marengo, IA. It is a beautiful place with a large indoor tasting room and a back garden and lawn with gazebo’s, fire pits and a stage where bands play on weekends. We enjoyed an afternoon tasting and small plates of various foods sitting under an arbor. Who would have thought that good wine in a beautiful setting was hiding between cornfields and a cow pasture. The big excitement was a cow and calf that managed to escape the fence across the street. This was our second Harvest Home site and both have been very enjoyable. It is in the 90’s and they gave us permission to. Use our generator to cool off the trailer when they closed at 5 pm. This was our first use of the generators. The trailer was cooled and we could use the microwave to heat up dinner. We went through about 3 gallons of gasoline before turning off the generators about 10 pm. They do eat up fuel but made the evening much more comfortable until the temperature dropped into a comfortable zone.
August 24
Today we traveled to Turkey Run State Park for our final stop before arriving home. We had camped at Turkey Run 45 years ago as newly weds. We had sleeping bags but no money to buy a tent so we used a blue canvas tarp that had been Dean’s moms and added sticks for poles. We found stakes and made a tent, no end flaps but it covered us. Our one memory, besides the beautiful scenery was of the very recognizable aroma we woke to one morning. We lifted our heads to see a skunk walking across our campsite. Fortunately, it didn’t notice up and continued to walk past us and into the woods. This trip we were glamming in a nice trailer with a bed and air-conditioning to help with the 90 degree heat. We made it to the campground before dark. After dinner Dean took a much needed rest after all that driving and Sue took a hike around the campground area. We have firewood and will have a campfire tomorrow for the first time since St. Croix River valley. The extreme heat and dryness resulted in forest and brush fires all over the west and northern Midwest this summer. We witnessed not only an active fire in North Dakota, but the results of numerous fires on our trip.
August 25
It is going to be a hot day, so we decided to spend it in the water. We hike a bit in the beautiful gorges in the morning and then enjoy a 6 mile canoe ride on the Sugar Creek river in the afternoon. It was a very peaceful place. Water was low so we had to walk the canoe in a few spots but the challenge was getting around trees washed down the river in the Spring floods that happen. Seems there is either too much or too little water coming from the sky. Sue managed to fall into the foot deep water while pulling the canoe in one spot. It felt great but the muddy clothes did show how silty the river was. We are grateful for washing machines! After cleaning up and having dinner we enjoyed our first campfire in a long time and a quiet evening listening to crickets and a woodpecker who was working a long day.
August 26
Turkey Run Park. Is known as an area with virgin forests Indiana had before the white man arrived and cut most of them down. Some of the sycamore, oak and birch trees were huge! The forest and gorges were as beautiful as Sue remembered. We hiked 8 miles with about half of it being very challenging climbing over and around rocks, climbing ladders or stairs or rocks on the steepest parts. Because the creeks were mostly dry, we could hike the most rugged areas. By mid afternoon we were soaked with sweat and felt like we had had a good workout. We cleaned up and enjoyed a rest when a much needed soaking rain arrived. When it ended after dinner, the temperature had gotten much more reasonable.
August 27
We buttoned up the camper and headed home today. This has been our longest time away in our camper. We seem to have this process figured out and will start planning next years trip. We may go 5-6 weeks next time.