2015 - 07 - 12: Day 28 Scenic Destinations - Mammoth dig and wild horses

From Hot Springs South Dakota
Explorations
Back to Rapid City South Dakota

Distance Traveled:  98 miles

I actually slept in beyond my usual wake up time and started my morning preparations at 7 am.  I spent a part of my morning on photo editing but I am realizing that it is impossible to keep up with this when my days are filled with exciting things to see and do. 

After packing the car once more I explored the historic downtown of Hot Springs.  I really enjoyed the red sandstone construction and the historic hotel that is now a seniors home.  

A lovely waterfall is also seen right in the centre of town.

A very short drive brought me to the Mammoth Site where I enjoyed the tour and museum.  

It is amazing to see the dig still ongoing with workers scraping away to expose the bones beneath the surface.  



On my list of things to see in the area was a drive to the Wild horse Sanctuary.  Along this route I made a couple of stops.

The first was to see Cascade Springs. This pleasant picnic spot was deserted and I enjoyed the beauty of the setting all by myself.  

My next stop was at Cascade Falls which is a popular swimming location with lots of family gatherings around picnic tables or in the water, falls and pools. 

view to the Cheyenne River 

Just another short drive, crossing the Cheyenne River, and then down the gravel road brought me to this lovely deserted place where I spent some time in the Black Hills Wildhorse Sanctuary watching the horses. 

Of course they are mostly off in the distance but still the beauty of these wild creatures in the wild is undeniable.  

on the road to Sheps Canyon 

Starting my journey back I took another side road to explore Sheps Canyon.  I expected more of a canyon based on other places I have visited but found rather a wide of lake created by a dam further downstream.  

I would have camped here and enjoyed an afternoon of relaxation but all the sites were by reservation only. 

On the road back to the highway I spotted this delightful ruin almost overgrown and reclaimed by nature. 

My day ended up with a drive back to Rapid City to the same Holiday Inn as last time. 

I enjoyed walking in the nearby Memorial Park and along the Rapid Creek.  It was peaceful sitting on a shady bench reading my book. 

In the late afternoon it started to rain.  This sun shower created an awesome beautiful double rainbow.







As the sun set I settled in for some quiet photo editing, reading and Sudoku. 

Renate Dundys Marrello

Link to the full photo album   

Link to my Facebook Reflections Page

Route maps for the day 

Map #1 

Map #2

Map #3

2015 - 07 - 11: Day 27 Scenic Destinations - Historic towns and Steam Train and Mount Rushmore

From Rapid City South Dakota

To Hot Springs South Dakota

Distance Traveled:  76 miles

Rockerville 

My destination today was back into the Black Hills to Keystone.  On the way I made a stop in Rockerville to discover a truly spectacular historic ghost town. 

I parked and had a most wonderful walk about taking photos of the now abandoned buildings. 

Driving on further west I arrived at Keystone after passing through this picturesque tunnel.

In Keystone, I parked and too walk about the town and in one of the many souvenir shops I bought a “bear claw” for my animal Totem collection.

On my walk I discovered a train station with a “steam train” ride to Hill city.  I signed up for the 11:00 am trip.  With just a little time left till “all aboard” I found a little park and phoned Mel.  We had a chat to catch up on events and then I prepared a lunch for the train trip (salami sandwich and strawberries).

The train is a collection of historic cars, from the steam locomotive to the wooden seated passenger cars.  

I loved being able to sit by the wide open windows to look out and see the train stretched out before me as we went around a curve in the tracks, but also the amazing passing scenery.

The trip one way takes about 1 hour at the leisurely slow speed of 5-9 mph.  This speed is perfect for looking around and viewing the scenery.   I sure took a lot of pictures.

At Hill City there was a 45 minute break for the train staff to take their lunch, and so I found a lovely shady picnic bench to eat my lunch as well.

Then it was time to get back on board the train and enjoy the return trip to Keystone.  On this trip I spotted several wildlife sightings.  I saw mostly deer, but a muskrat too.

Once the train trip was over it was time to get back to the car (3 hour parking is the free limit) and continue on my sightseeing.

I drove the route past Mount Rushmore.  Since I have already visited the sight I thought it would be nice to drive by and view the stone heads from the roadside overlooks.  The monumental nature of this artwork is awe inspiring.  

I particularly liked the roadside stop where you can see the profile view.

Just a short ways further down the road I stopped for a short walk to see Horse Thief Lake.  A lovely boardwalk along the shoreline made for a pleasant walk. 

Then I turned onto Needles Highway toward Sylvan Lake.  It was enjoyable to see this stretch of the road in the sunshine.  Last time I was here driving the Needles with my sister in 2009,  it was raining and very overcast. 

There is a totally different view to be enjoyed on a clear day!  

I stopped at a roadside stop for a short hike to see the spiky spires overlooking the valley below.

I arrived at Custer State Park where I wanted to camp at Sylvan Lake and then climb Hanley Peak in the cool of the morning (a 3 mile climb).   However they have this strange policy to only allow campers that have pre-registered.  (Most places do both take pre-registrations and have some spots for first come first serve).  

So unfortunately that altered my plans and I continued the drive along hwy 89 now south toward Custer and from there continues south through the Black Hills National Park, through Wind Cave National Park and on to Hot Springs. 

Along the way I stopped at the now defunct "Buffalo" gas station for this humourous picture.

By the time I arrived in Hot Springs it was late afternoon and I did a quick drive through town to find a suitable place for overnight.  There are no nearby camp grounds so I chose a quaint old time motel (Skyline) and settled in for the evening. 

I did my laundry and enjoyed the pleasure of a shower, after several days of showerless campsites this is a real pleasure. 

Then I used some internet time to catch up with email communications.  I also worked on my photo’s downloading and labeling and editing all take up quite a bit of time.  For example, just today I took 265 photos. 

In the evening I took a break to walk about outside and enjoy the setting sun.

Later, I turned on the TV but found the selection not worth watching and so continued to edit photos until I got the sleepy droopy feeling. 

Renate Dundys Marrello 

Today's route map 

Link to the complete photo album. 

Link to my Facebook Reflections Page

2015 - 07 - 10: Day 26 Scenic Destinations - Jewel Caves of the Black Hills

From Jewel Caves in the Black Hills of South Dakota
To Rapid City 
Distance Traveled: 55 miles 

I awoke early to the birdsong around my camp site. 
After my peanut-butter sandwich breakfast and camp breakdown I was on the road for the short ride to the Jewel Cave parking lot and to start the line up to get first tour tickets.

I was the first one there and sat in my folding chair editing photo’s to await opening time at the ticket booth.  I was not the only one with such ideas and soon very nice lady and her14 year old son joined me, and then a few others.  We passed the time chatting and exchanging travel stories.

I decided to do 2 cave tours.  The lantern tour, to the original / first discovered part of the cave, and the second one to the newer part, called the scenic tour.  Carla and her son also decided to do both tours.

Once we had our tickets we headed to the other parking lot for the first tour.   Time to sit and wait again for the tour to start so a snack of some cheese and sweet peppers to energize for the 1hour and 45 minute tour.

We had a very informative tour guide who started by giving us lanterns.  One person in each family got LED powered lanterns and the second person in the family got an oil powered lantern.  Since I am alone I picked the oil lantern for “the real experience”.

Once everyone had their lanterns we were off for the tour.  A short hike brought us to the rock wall entrance (which is now barred by a gate so people can’t get in without a guide)

The tour was amazing.  Walking with only the light of a lantern to guide where you place your feet is a totally different experience that taking a tour with controlled electrical lighting.  It is amazing how much more difficult stairs are to manage and you can really get the feeling for how hard it would be in these tunnels before stairs. Scrambling over rough surfaces on incline with poor illumination must have been very challenging to say the least.

When this tour was over headed quickly back to the main visitor centre.  We had 20 minutes to rehydrate, grab a snack and be ready for the next tour.

This was the modern tour, going down into the cave by elevator and then following cement smoothed passages and steel stairs to navigate level changes and of course, electric lighting.   The cave formations we saw were pretty special and as always I was entranced by nature's art work.

When we got out from this second tour it was almost 2 pm.  Carla and I exchanged email information as we want to stay in touch.  She lives in Fort Mayers which is close to our place in Venice FL and we made tentative plans to meet in the fall.

approaching Custer 

Going our separate ways I decided to head for Rapid City. Heading east on highway 16 I passed through Custer. 







Then continuing on there was the scenic drive through the winding roads past rocks cliffs towering towards the cloudy skies.

Hill City 

In Hill City I stopped for a short "stretch" break. Seems there were a lot of other people with the same plan. 

View toward Rapid City 

Leaving Hills city it was not much further to come out of the hills and see Rapid City spread out before me in the valley below. 

I stopped at Sam's Club in Rapid City to get gas and groceries before heading to a McDonald’s for wifi where I checked my messages. 

For the evening I headed to a nearby park for my supper break with a view to a fishing pond and rose gardens. 

While it was still light out I enjoyed a walk in the park and along the river.  It was very pleasant, as with the fading of daylight the evening grew comfortably cool.  

There was a Holiday Inn nearby with a great big parking lot. I think they do a lot of conferences here.   I settled in for the night.  I really felt tired and was happy to not have to do anymore driving.

Renate Dundys Marrello 

link to the photo album 

Today's travel route 

Link to my Facebook Reflections Page