D & D

After the long day of driving yesterday, we stayed overnight at a nice motel in Buffalo, Wyoming. We were asleep by 9PM. I guess driving can be tiring. Next morning we headed out on our next adventure. This is just outside of town. The dots in front is a herd of pronghorn antelope.

As we drive through the vast prairies, we keep stopping and taking prairie dog pictures, just to relieve the monotony I guess. They're just so darn cute; but deadly don't forget (the plague).

Which brings us to our first (D). Stands for Devils Monument; bet you never would have guessed that one. 

If you've seen the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" you'll remember the ending where the space ship lands. Well, this is the tower in the movie. Couldn't find any evidence of the spaceship having been there though. 

It is one of the most unique geological formations in the world and was declared the first America national monument by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. It is believed to be the centre of a volcano which has eroded away over the years just leaving the core. It is composed of multi sided vertical columns which, once in awhile, one will break away and fall. These pieces lay all around the base of the tower.

Thousands of people each year climb the tower. Here is one group stopping for a break. Note the stratified vertical columns.

The base is well forested and we hiked completely around the column on good paths. As a park, I guess the animals aren't too scared of people.

After all the outdoor stuff we figured its time to get a bit of local history. Hence, our next (D), Deadwood City. It was a wild west town at one time and is now home to more gambling halls than I've seen since Vegas.  Even the place we stopped for lunch had slots.

Deadwood is no doubt most famous for being the place that Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down while playing poker. He was holding a pair of Aces and a pair of 8s and that hand is now known as the dead mans hand. The killer was later caught and hanged.

Hickok was buried at Mt. Moriah and a few years later his friend Calamity Jane was buried beside him.

This is Hickok's grave and on the other side of grammie in the raised grave is Calamity Jane. We couldn't find much else of interest in Deadwood so we're heading home for some R&R, its been a busy couple of days.

Little Big Horn

A five hour drive north west of Rapid City is the battle site of The Little Big Horn. Its also called Custers Last Stand. This was one of our main objectives when we decided to come to this area before heading south. But, after driving through flat prairie like this for 5 hours we had run out of coffee and my butt was asleep. Finally we got there. The price we pay to keep you informed!

I'm afraid, much as you may already know, a history lesson will follow. In June, 1876, approximately 7000 indians, including around 2000 warriors have set up camp in the field in front of us. The tree line follows the Little Big Horn river. Led by Sitting Bull, a number of different tribes have left their reservations to return to their traditional nomadic life. Note the monument on the far hill.

When the native camp is spotted by Custer, instead of waiting for reinforcements, he decides to attack before they can escape. Instead of fleeing as expected, the warriors turn and attack. Vastly outnumbered and having split his force to attempt to surround the natives, the cavalry is driven back to Last Stand Hill. The tree line in the distance is the Little Big Horn river and just beyond that is where the native camp was set up.

Each of Custers separated battalions attempt to get back to Custers forces but are cut off and killed. I know its hard to see but white markers indicate where each soldier fell and they are spread all over the area below.

There are nearly 250 headstones like these spread over the battlefield which was over 2 miles long.

The area above is Last Stand Hill. It was here that Custer and his men shot their horses to use as shields against the Indian gun fire. The warriors would sneak up in the prairie grass, shoot and duck down making difficult targets. 

Few warriors died during the fighting but where the identity of a fallen warrior is known, a red marker has been placed. Its is thought that about 100 warriors died that day.

There is even a Canadian connection to the battle. Using modern CSI methods, the body at the gravestone on the right has been identified as a scout who was French Canadian.

In this ravine, 28 soldiers died while trying to return to the main force. They were on foot and were being chased by warriors. They were shot as they tried to climb up the far side. Talk about terrifying.

As the separate groups of cavalry were wiped out more and more warriors moved to attack Last Stand Hill where Custer made his last stand. Eventually all firing ceased and the warriors mutilated and stripped the soldiers. 

Except for Custer and a few officers, all of the bodies were buried here and this marker placed above them. 250 men died, not all were soldiers, there were some civilians as well as guides and mule skinners. 

Nearby, all the horses were buried in a big pit and marked with their own headstone. The only cavalry survivor of the battle was the horse Comanche, not Custer's horse as we have been lead to believe. This battle guaranteed the fate of the indians because the full weight of the US government was brought to bear to eliminate their threat.

The Badlands of South Dakota

Badlands National Park is about 2 hours from our campground. The drive is flat prairie with an occasional hill for variety. Huge prairie dog towns add interest but, don't interact with them. Lots of signs saying "Prairie Dogs have plague". Certainly keeps you from wanting to have them eat out of your hand like we do with chipmunks. 

And then suddenly you come upon this wall of sedimentary clay. I always though the badlands was a generic name for desert or poor farming land but its not. Its an actual geological land formation with an obvious start and finish. One minute its flat prairie, the next minute it's this.

There was lots of animal life around so, although the badlands look lifeless apparently there is food for the deer and these mountain sheep.

You can see the prairie in the distance and the badlands where I'm standing. Just below me is the area where Lakota chief Big Foot lead his tribe through the badlands before they were captured and taken to Wounded Knee. More about that later.

This is what the heart of the badlands looks like. Its all sedimentary clay. You can see the layers of sediment that have been deposited over millions of years and is now being gradually washed away. This is expected to be flat prairie in a few million years because there is no rock, just clay.

To show the abrupt nature of the badlands, when I turned around after taking the last picture, this is what I took next. On one side of the badlands the prairie is lower, on the other side the prairie is higher. There are hundreds of feet difference in height between the two prairies.

In the centre of the badlands where a lot of erosion has already taken place, the clay colours are quite vivid in reds and yellows. Desolate but pretty.

About an hour south of the badlands is Wounded Knee, an historical site from the Indian Wars. Lakota chief Big Foot had taken his tribe off the reservation and tried to escape in the badlands but was caught by the US Cavalry and taken to Wounded Knee in December 1890. The soldiers tried to take the weapons from the warriors, a gun went off and when the shooting stopped over 150 Indian men, women and children were dead as well as 25 soldiers. This was the last battle of the Indian wars. 

A mass grave was dug and the Indian casualties were buried here. This land is on a reservation and the surrounding area is still used as a cemetery for the natives.

In December 1973, the militant Indian group AIM occupied this area for 71 days. Over 2500 natives resisted demands to leave by over 5000 government agents. By the end, after frequent shots fired back and forth, 2 natives had died, one of which was buried in the Wounded Knee cemetery. 

Rapid City South Dakota.

Why you ask would someone want to go to Rapid City? Well, its where you have to go to see Mount Rushmore, the iconic symbol of America. Its an amazing thing to see in person and to hear about the millions of tons of rock which was removed and all the years it took; wow.

After a decent amount of looking we managed to find some cool mountain goats. Note we kept Mount Rushmore in the background just to prove we hadn't forgotten about it.

The next can't miss must see spot was the partially completed Crazy Horse statue. This thing is huge. The mountain has gradually been reduced since 1948 from a untouched rock to a rough shape with a completed face.

By using clever camera techniques I have superimposed a model of the statue against the partially completed mountain image. To give you an idea of how large this will be, all of the heads at Mount Rushmore would fit in the area covered by Crazy Horses head. The original sculptor died years ago but 8 of his kids and his wife continue the work. It is not expected to be finished in their lifetimes either. Thats dedication.

The next thing thats a must see in the area is Custer State Park. Its in the centre of the Black Hills and has incredible rock formations and tunnels barely big enough for a car to get through.

The road winds through amazing hills and meadows with lots of wildlife. That bull in the middle of the road wouldn't move so I have to drive through the ditch; he never moved a foot. Punk bison!

We saw dozens of prong horn antelope as well as turkeys, deer and other stuff. Lots of signs said to watch for rattlers so I couldn't get grammie out of the car.

OK, I lied. She got out once or twice. As the road climbed through the hills, there were places where you could see Mount Rushmore in the distance. Look close, its a long ways away.

Part of the road is called the needles highway. Rock formations like this cover miles of the park.

Pretty and rugged isn't it.

Years before Custer met his end at the Little Big Horn he led an expedition through the Black Hills and wrote glowing reports about the beauty. Thats why the park is called Custer State Park. What a good day. Stroked off 3 of our objectives for coming here. Lets see whats next.

Next Stop - Rapid City South Dakota

After spending a couple of nights at York, Nebraska where, obviously, nothing happened, we headed on to Valentine Nebraska.

We passed train after train loaded with dozens of cars of coal. I assumed coal wasn't used much anymore, silly me.

The campground in Valentine was a cute little spot right next to the stockyards. Cows bellowing, strange odours and hordes of flies made this one of the more interesting sites yet.

Fortunately there was lots to see in the area so we stayed away as much as possible. Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge was only a few miles away and was a goldmine of wild life. These bison were right beside the road with no fences.

Along with bison comes their odoriferous droppings. Sure glad I didn't step in it.

I moved this tumbleweed because it looked close to rolling into a sticky pile.

On the road through the park we managed to put the run on these wild turkeys.

Just down the road we came across about 40 or 50 deer. Most ran off but this one just stood and watched us. Must have known he was safe in the park.

Our goal in the park was to find Smith Falls, the highest falls in Nebraska. They may be the highest, but not much water goes over. They are 70 feet high and are fed by a spring so the volume never changes. Very pretty.

Next stop is Rapid City but on the way there we had to stop at Wall Drugs. Since I was a kid I have heard about Wall Drugs and have been curious about it.

Have you ever seen the inside of a drug store the looked like this. During the depression in the 30's they started putting billboards along the highway offering free water. This drew in customers and they now have about 100 billboards promoting their store as you approach Wall, South Dakota.

The place is huge with dozens of rooms selling different things. Some rooms, like this one , are just for fun; as long as T. Rex doesn't break through his cage.

Only the bravest try riding the Jackalope. This is quite the drug store isn't it?

I've always wanted to come here and I sure wasn't disappointed. Lunch wasn't bad either. They still offer free water and coffee for 5 cents.