Saturday, 7/19/97
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Again, we enjoyed sleeping in, getting on the road at 9:30 am toward Wind Cave National Park via whatever scenic and wildlife stops we could find. Today's route
would start from Sylvan Lake, via Needles Highway, with many photo stops including a three foot diameter, thirty foot high rock spire with someone's water bottle on
top. Brennan wanted to try to climb up to retrieve the bottle, but without safety
equipment, that would have been foolhardy. This time we played it safe.
From Needles
Highway, we headed
east along US 16A where we were blessed with an encounter with a handsome male bighorn sheep feeding beside the road. We came to a stop, grabbed the Topcon camera because it already had the telephoto
lens on it, and had time to click off one shot before he bolted up the side of the nearby mountain, and two more before he
disappeared into the woods. Total elapsed time the ram was in sight, about ten
seconds.
We turned south on the Wildlife Loop, going in the opposite direction from last night's stormy trek. Near the Wildlife Station we discovered a large herd of bison grazing a few hundred yards off the west
side of the road. Observing the direction they were moving and a quick look at
the map showed that they were headed for a side dirt road (CSP 3), so we drove to where we estimated the herd would cross
that road. We sat there in the car as they slowly moved closer. When one bull got within twenty feet of us, we drove on, continuing west on CSP 3 to where it intersects
with the Wildlife Loop again. Along the way, we saw a few pronghorn antelope
several hundred yards away.
We then followed the Wildlife Loop and CSP 6, to State Rt. 87 toward Wind Cave. We stopped
at a Prairie Dog Town inside the boundaries of Wind Cave National Park where the entertainment was irresistible. The cute little creatures
quickly adjusted to the presence of humans as long as we did not make quick motions.
There were also smaller creatures with spotted stripes on their backs that we thought might be juvenile Prairie Dogs;
but the Prairie Dogs treated as a competing species, chasing them away when they came into the territory. Later we found out
that the small mammals were called Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrels.
One prairie dog approached my tripod and began trying to chew the chrome latch.
Others tried to chew Brennan's sneaker, and steal his cap that he had placed on the ground near a burrow. We were so enthralled with watching the antics and listening to their high pitched barks, that we spent
an hour and two rolls of film on them.
Photo by Bob Kuhns
Prairie Dog Love.
Badlands National Park, ND
After another short drive we stopped at Rankin Ridge to hike up to the fire tower.
The trail was a self guided nature trail with numbered posts and a trail guide available for just 5 cents, except that
the box was empty. So Brennan and I made up naturalist descriptions at each numbered
post that were perhaps a little off target but more fun. The observation deck
of the fire tower was locked but the stairs were not blocked so we climbed up as far as was legal. The views in all directions were fantastic as they were everywhere we went today.
It was after 1 o'clock when we finally
arrived at the Wind Cave Tour Center, so we bought tickets for the 2:20 Fairgrounds Tour, then found the picnic grounds and set out lunch. We
watched a mule deer as we ate.
The tour was an hour and a half long and presented many excellent examples of "boxwork" formations as well as the usual
sensory pleasures of scent, sight, and sound of walking through a cave that is among the largest in the world.
After the tour, we drove south out of the park to State Rt. 101 (dirt) then east to Rt. 5 (dirtier dirt) that goes
north back into Wind Cave NP in what they refer to as the "Surface Section". We
saw more bison grazing across the road, and twice encountered small herds of wild burrows tying up what little traffic there
was with their darned cuteness and gentle begging.
This Surface Section is isolated from the well visited Cave Section enough that there are very few other tourists around. You can sense that you are miles from any human built structures other than the dirt
road. We came to a Y junction where the left fork, Rt. 5, swings to the northwest
and heads back toward the Visitor Center and the right fork, Rt. 6, continues north to Custer State Park and rejoins the Wildlife Loop. We took the right fork and discovered
that it quickly turns into a rugged ORV type road. The Beast was happy as Brennan
popped it into four wheel drive and kept going. Brennan did most of the driving
today since I did most of it yesterday.
Brennan managed to guide The Beast through some pretty nasty mud holes in the road, even shifting down to low range
4x4 for one. We got back to the Wildlife Loop; followed it north then Rt. 16A
east, and then onto the beginning of Iron Mountain Road, which passed through several single lane tunnels with their sight line right at Mt. Rushmore. The road also includes several pigtail bridges with the road passing over itself in
a tight radius turn to gain altitude quickly.
Of course, just as we had been seeing for the two days in the Black Hills,
there was lots of evidence of the Galena Fire of 1988, some hills with nothing but bear gray tree trunks standing as soldiers
in broken formation. Other areas had interspersed damaged and healthy trees and
grasses that had escaped the fury.
At 6:30
pm, we arrived at the town of
Keystone and stopped for dinner at The Miner’s Restaurant. We both went for the spaghetti and meatballs with salad and cheese bread. We recommend it, if you can’t get Mom’s spaghetti.
We then followed County Rt. 244 back past the entrance to Mt. Rushmore, shortcut across Forest Service Rt. T357 to Rt. 87 heading
south east toward Sylvan Lake. In camp by 7:30 pm. The day had been a visit to Wind Cave surrounded by a series of long drives and many photographic
stops and wildlife sightings, including mule deer, chipmunks, cows, horses, and the critters mentioned above. We were both worn out and lights out by 8:30 pm.
p. s.
From the time we left the Wind Cave Visitor Center, we were hearing weather forecasts in the radio of a heavy thunderstorm
dropping golf ball size hail moving northeast at five miles per hour, due to hit Jewel Cave to the east at 3 pm. That rate would have it arrive at Sylvan
Lake at about 8:30 pm.
The first clap of thunder, FLASH............................BOOM, we heard here in the campground was at 8:24 pm. At 8:50 pm, a heavy downpour began.
We were glad we had gotten in early tonight and can stay dry in the trailer.
We were hoping the hail will not get here.
p. p. s.
At 9:30
pm, multiple lightning flashes followed by the accompanying thunder delayed just one second, about a thousand feet away. FLASH....BOOM
p. p. p. s.
9:27
pm, CHEESE!! That one sounded like it hit right here.
FBLOAOSMH!!
