June 26
We tried to leave early for Mount Rushmore National Monument. Before pulling out Esther struck up a conversation with a German couple on their yearly 6 week vacation from Rosenheim (southern Bavaria), Germany. Meanwhile, a Boy Scout Leader asked William for some help with her propane stove. The boys scouts planned to eat bacon and eggs. William tried every different adapter, hose, and propane bottle but it turned out their stove was the problem. So, an hour or so later, we finally headed out on the 19 mile scenic Badlands Loop Road which is a beautiful drive with several overlooks. Since we were a little behind schedule we only stopped at Panorama Point, Yellow Mounds Overlook and Pinnacles Overlook near the other entrance to the park.
The highlight of that drive was a lone, shaggy coyote loping through the prairie grass not 40 feet from the road. William stopped quickly for pictures. A little further down the road we saw the coyote’s likely destination, a prairie dog colony. The little rodents were scurrying in the grass or standing upright and keeping watch by their burrows.. Some were right at the road’s edge. A small herd of Bighorn Sheep, some with tracking collars, was also grazing around a bend.
We had intended to continue on Sage Creek Rim Road as it would have been our best chance at seeing the resident Bison herds. However, we discovered it was unpaved. Normally this doesn’t scare us too badly, even with the camper in tow, but we had no idea of its condition further down the line. Instead we headed north through Buffalo Gap National Grassland to Wall, SD, a town famous for having the largest drugstore in the world: Wall Drug. All along I-90 through SD there are billboards advertising free ice water and 5 cent coffee to lure you in.
We didn’t actually stop at Wall Drug but continued west on I-90 toward Rapid City, SD where we would turn off for Mount Rushmore which lies in the Black Hills National Forest. The scenery definitely changed and looked a little more alpine with Ponderosa pines. On the way we drove through a town called Keystone. It is definitely a tourist town with gaudy shops and big signs, but is otherwise cute.
Around a turn the four big heads of Mount Rushmore came into view. After following the efficient parking system and paying $11, we headed up the Avenue of Flags, a promenade lined with all state and territory flags. It leads to the Grand View Terrace with a great view of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln set into the granite of the Black Hills. Mount Rushmore took 14 years to carve, mostly with dynamite. Thomas Jefferson was originally started on Washington’s right side but was blasted off after 18 months of work and restarted on his left side. The hard granite erodes only by 1 inch every 10,000 years.
We were going to continue on the ¼ mile Presidential Trail that leads you closer to the base of the sculpture. The boys spied lots of other people climbing directly up the granite boulders, so we followed. At this distance we could see all the parallel drill marks on the rocks below the faces and on the blasted off rocks littering the slope.
We picked up the Presidential Trail and viewed the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota Heritage Village which highlights the customs and traditions of the American Indian tribes who populated this area for thousands of years.
On the drive out we saw a Mountain Goat, the big, white, shaggy animal, grazing alongside the road. Esther had always wanted to see one. It also had a tracking collar.
A little further we saw the Crazy Horse sculpture off to the left. It is a work in progress that we didn’t plan to visit but were excited to spy nonetheless. Once completed it will depict the upper body of Crazy Horse seated on his partially shown horse. Once finished the four heads of Mount Rushmore would fit into the horse’s head. It will be that gigantic!
Five hours after leaving Badlands NP we arrived at Wind Cave National Park, SD. We headed straight to the visitor center to check on the availability of the various cave tours. We were surprised at the popularity of this place as it isn’t a well known destination. The boys had their hearts set on the Candlelight Cave Tour. The only availability was tomorrow afternoon so we decided to stay for an extra night.
The Elk Mountain Campground in the park was pretty and finding a spot was not a problem. We are always a little nervous about first-come, first-served places, preferring to make reservations everywhere we can. A very rarely seen EarthRoamer camper, an adventure vehicle really, pulled into the campground. This is the camper Esther and William joke about having one day when the kids are gone. It is totally self-sufficient and could go anywhere in the world, it should for a price tag starting at around $280,000!
In the late afternoon it was in the low 90s so we took the short 1.2 mile Elk Mountain Trail that loops around the campground through some prairie with many different, beautiful wildflowers and Ponderosa pine forest. At the top of a hill we could see a bison herd near the entrance road.
The Davids' Cross-Country Trip 