September 2018 – Page 2 – Adventures of Roy and Laurie

September 8, 2018September 8, 2018

Custer State Park, South Dakota

When we headed to the Mount Rushmore area we had never heard of Custer State Park. This State Park is one we will return to in the future. Not all places we’ve been have given us that feeling. There is much hiking and biking to be done here and the overall scenery and abundance of wildlife make it one of our favorites so far:

The guy belaying this fearless woman at the bottom spent his time encouraging her as well as keeping his dog from running into the road.

After a few “attempts” she did make it to the top. The few of us watching wanted to give a round of applause but didn’t want to startle her either. We wondered how the belay rope got attached at the top in the first place?

This was the “normal’ scenery in the park. Nice for a quiet afternoon stroll.

Laurie could not resist snapping this picture of me sitting down on the job……what a job this retirement thing has been so far.

Absolutely gorgeous! This view came after a long rock climbing hike. No gear needed just good ole’ hands and feet.

We had to stop the scooter and take a picture of this sign. After a bit of exploring, we found the reason for the name. We wondered how many bison could fit into the “hole in the wall” to weather a storm?

This “little” guy must have been on his dessert course after dinner as it was almost 7 pm. Note the “tattoo” on him. This tells folks he belongs in Custer SP. The bison get rounded up every September 28 to check their health, the size of the herd and to brand the newcomers.

A well-earned fire with a beverage of our choice.

September 7, 2018

Mount Rushmore Area

Being in the area called the Black Hills of South Dakota means we had to visit the monolith called Mount Rushmore. I remember being so intrigued by this as a kid back in the 60s and figured one day I would visit….That was today.

Always wondered why Roosevelt got a spot on the mountain. Being in the Dakotas and learning about his penchant for conservation makes it obvious now.

Was the sculptor Gutzon Borglum prophetic in leaving room for one more president next to Washington??

I have always had an affinity for bicycling hills. Especially hills that are long, steep and windy (that is….not straight…we can do without the wind). The Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain Road were designed by Peter Norbeck (with us in mind we are sure). See info and pictures on the placard:

We drove through about 6 of these wonderfully small tunnels. Very different than the other tunnels we have cycled through on the Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway and on the North Shore of Minnesota.

Is this the so called “light at the end of the tunnel”?

Our favorite tunnel picture on the Needles Highway. Even though we framed the antenna right in the middle.

These bridges are constructed out of the native ponderosa pine. Very modern and rustic at the same time.

The bridges are called corkscrew spirals or pigtail bridges Very cool indeed.

This feature is one i have never seen before on a small, 25 mph road. The traffic splits into two separate lanes. Each lane was just barely big enough for our Chevy truck. Not sure what would happen if we had the bullet along with us.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is still under construction but fairly magnificent as is. The folks in charge of it will accept no Government funding so rely on admissions to keep the work going.

We drove an hour south to a Casino/Bingo hall in the middle of nowhere. This storm never reached us although the lightning show was spectacular. We won $85 at bingo!

September 3, 2018

Bear Butte, South Dakota……We Thought The Dakotas Were Flat?

As we drove into South Dakota we noticed a small “hump” on the horizon. We made guesses as to how far away it would be while driving down an absolutely flat and straight road. Riding my bicycle as a teenager through the Dakotas I would see a grain elevator in the distance and realized that I would be riding toward it for hours and hours. It turned out the” hump” was 35 miles away. As we drove by it Laurie researched what it was. It was called Bear Butte and was the basis for a state park. The website noted there was a hiking path to the summit. We had to turn around (we are not used to having the time to do that) and go for a long ‘splore (as Pooh would say):

There she blows….way off in the distance. How far away? 5 miles? 10 miles? Nope 35!

Roy is thinking “For an impromptu hike are we really walking all the way to the top?”

For much of the 2 mile hike up to the summit we could see the trail winding into the distance.

Just a gorgeous trail to walk up. Did we mention it was 85 degrees, sunny and no humidity!

The signs on the top say that you can see 4 states if you look closely enough. I wish sometimes that the earth would be marked with state boundaries so we could verify statements like that.

Laurie caught me taking this picture. Those “ladders” were not that easy to navigate.

Look closely in the parking lot and you can see our rig parked and waiting for our return.

An interesting history lesson on the old stage-coach trails.

A view from the summit. Tough to see but locals have placed prayer flags on the trees all along the path.

We actually saw one woman in prayer on the trail on the way up. We only saw 4 people during the entire hike.

That fire must have been awful! We saw many of the charred remnants of the ponderosa pine trees that were burnt.

We were extremely excited that we chose to turn our rig around, drive back a few minutes and experience what South Dakota was beginning to offer.

September 2, 2018

Roosevelt National Park….North Unit

An encore of Roosevelt National Park! We drove about an hour north to visit what is called The North Unit. We found it to be very similar to the South Unit but with its own distinct personality. We found a nice 6 mile loop hike that exposed us to all the biodiversity of the area and then we took our trusty scooter up the 14 mile park road to the Oxbow Lookout.

We snuck up on these folks shortly after entering the park.

We found it interesting the “noises” these bison make when communicating with each other.

Tough to get good perspective through the lens of a camera but…..

A few non-furry friends were there to greet us on the hot, but not humid afternoon.

Upon almost sitting on this cactus, it hit me that I had never seen a cactus in the wild. They are actually fairly pretty in these surroundings.

Not exactly exercise but…….What a view while riding the scooter.

The road ahead while riding the scooter.

For about 1/2 mile we were “treated” to a hiking path similar to those in the Northeast.

There was much “ridge walking” to do on these trails.

We were taking a spur trail to see another prairie dog town but this herd of bison would have nothing to do with letting us go by.

The hiking here in the Dakotas is phenomenal but just not what we are used to.

As we got set to head to South Dakota we remarked to ourselves that once you are out of the Park area what you see are bales of hay, cows and single oil rigs.

These oil rigs dot the prairies. Notice that each one has around 3-5 storage containers. We saw the oil being collected by tanker trucks at quite a few of them.

September 1, 2018

Can You Believe We Forgot To Post This?? The Superior Hiking Trail was Completed Before We Went To The Dakotas!

After a month and a half we have completed the first of a short retirement bucket list by finishing the SHT. We logged 325 miles even though the book claims around 310…..who’s counting right? Below are some pictures we took toward the end of the hike. If you are ever on the North Shore you should pick up a map of the trail and take a short or long hike. Almost all 300+ miles offer something spectacular to look at.