On Sunday we ate breakfast at our hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming, and got on the road by 8:00 AM. Our first stop was the Devil’s Tower National Monument, called by the Native Americans, Bear Lodge. Apparently, the interpreter on Richard Dodge’s 1875 expedition to the area mistook the Lakota word for bear with a similar word that means “bad god” or evil spirit. Here’s the picture in the park, illustrating the Lakota legend about the tower’s creation, where the vertical columns were caused by a giant bear’s claws.
Of course, we European Americans have similar legends. Kathy and I spent an hour walking around the base of the tower. It is a favorite of climbers, and we saw several groups climbing the different rock faces. We also saw a family of deer running through the forest.
What I never found was the flat landing area on the back of the tower, where Richard Dreyfus boarded the alien spacecraft in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. At first I thought that maybe that never happened, but when I went into the Visitor’s Center, I was greeted by a statue commemorating the alien visit. And, if you can’t trust the National Park Service, who can you trust?
After our hike, we drove to Spearfish, South Dakota and had lunch. After lunch we drove through Deadwood, and stopped at the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. The memorial has a large, high-tech parking complex, and it was the first place that didn’t accept our America the Beautiful park pass.
The Memorial was fairly crowded, with a lot of foreign tourists. It wasn’t overcrowded, but just not as peaceful and awe inspiring as the Devil’s Tower Monument. Also, it was almost 3:00 PM, and both of us were really tired. I planned our trip with two “E-ticket” sights each day, and that might be more than we can handle. We got unpacked at our bungalow in Custer, and then went downtown for dinner. I was sound asleep by 7:30 PM.
Monday morning we got up and left early, planning on eating breakfast on the way. Custer State Park has a scenic wildlife drive, and we wanted to drive it as the sun was rising. The Park is the home to South Dakota’s official bison herd, so we were looking forward to something like the Lamar Valley experience in Yellowstone.
Just as we entered the park, we saw a large bison down in the canyon. Driving on we saw white tail deer, were stopped three times by flocks of wild turkeys crossing the road, met the park’s herd of wild burros, watched innumerable prairie dog towns, and sighted several pronghorn “antelopes”. But no more bison! Finally, though, we came around a corner and the hills were full of them.
It turns out that the previous Friday was the occasion of the annual buffalo roundup. Once a year, in late September or early October, most of the buffalo in the park are rounded up into corrals, where the calves are branded and the mothers are vaccinated. After the calves are born, the herd grows to about 1,450 animals. However, the park can only safely support around 950 bison, and so the excess animals are sold at auction in early November, while the rest are returned to the park.
Leaving Custer State Park, we stopped in Rapid City for a late breakfast, and then took the scenic route to the Interior entrance to the Badlands National Park.
Driving through the park was fun, pulling off at all of the vistas, and walking along the paved boardwalks. We took a few selfies; I have to admit, I was frightened when I got near to the edge.
We never saw the only animal that was advertised to live in the Badlands.
We did, however, see this fellow on our way out of the park. When we pulled up next to him to take his picture, he only yawned.
We got to our hotel, the Best Western in Wall, South Dakota, by 2:30 PM, and found our room all ready, even though we were early. We unpacked and then headed over a few blocks to see the famous Wall Drug.
We had originally planned to eat dinner there, but Kathy had her heart set on soup, so we went up the street to the Salty Steer, where she had onion soup and I had spaghetti with bison meatballs. Very good. Apologies for forgetting to take a photo, until the meal was half consumed. Before we left Wall Drugs to head for dinner, Kathy did manage to snag a ride on the Jackalope.
Tomorrow we’re heading for Sioux Falls. Hope you can come with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Unless you sign into a Google Account, you'll be anonymous. In that case, we'd love to know who you are. You can close your message with your name.