Glaciers, Geysers & Badlands

Happily the fog lifted this morning and we had a beautiful day for our ride. I think we saw some of the best views that the Black Hills have to offer. Our first stop was  in Custer State Park was Sylvan Lake. We hiked the perimeter of this beautiful lake.  We continued on along Needles Hwy a beautiful route that wound through the park with lots of twists, turns and rock tunnels.  Needles eye, on of many interesting rock formations We then traveled along Wildlife Loop Rd, in addition to the herds of bison , we encountered a few of these guys.  Our last stop was Mt Rushmore

 We had a leisurely morning waiting to see what the weather was going to look like. Despite the forecast of rain the skies were blue so we decided to head out on the motorcycle. Our first stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial. Started in 1939, it is a work in progress. A memorial to the Lakota leader Crazy Horse who defeated Custer. The sculptor died in1982, but the project continues with many of his 10 children involved.  What the finished sculpture will look like. You can see the  mountain sculpture in the distance.  Our ride continued onto the old mining towns of  Lead & Deadwood (lots of saloons, & t-shirt shops) where we stopped for lunch. This is where wild bill Hickok was killed 😳. The ride there was beautiful. After lunch we headed on to Sturgis, not really worth the trip, especially because fog and a temperature drop to 49 made the return drive back to the campsite rather unpleasant. We were however rewarded with seeing a group of mountain goats on...

 We traveled across the state of Wyoming, our most interesting and only stop was at the Devils Tower. It was the first National monument declared by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It stands 867’ tall. It was popularized by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Today 4-5,000 rock climbers ascend this monument each year. We hiked around the base.  View from the base Look closely near the middle of the photo, just to the left of the darker vegetation to see a pair of climbers

This morning we left Yellowstone and headed east toward the Badlands, with a stop halfway in the town of Buffalo WY. Our views along the way were surprisingly beautiful also. 

 We moved again further south to Grant Village and made our way to the Grand Tetons, and grand they were! We continued on to Jackson Hole and stopped along the way at the National Museum of Wildlife Art Arch made with elk antlers gathered from the nearby National Elk refuge near Jackson Hole This piece was actually created by the famous jazz musician Herb Albert

Lobby of the Old Faithful Inn, built in 1903, one of the largest log style structures in the world  West Thumb geyser basin along the coast of Yellowstone Lake Yellowstone Lake, the largest freshwater lake above  7,000 ft. Covers 136 sq miles  We moved into the park to a different campsite, making the travel time within the park a bit easier. We headed back to Old Faithful but today we walked out to see all of the other geysers in the area.  Chromatic pool Grotto geyser on our way out, and below we caught it erupting on our way back Morning Glory pool