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Woke up at the crack of dawn to see the sun and shadows play on the surface of Bears Lodge (Devils Rock). Still can’t get over how amazing this rock formation is.

Walked around Bears Lodge. Saw several deer, rabbits, chipmunks, and birds. Saw a woodpecker for the first time.

Sat and watched a couple of guys climb the face.

Glad we were there early ..as we were nearing completion of the “hike” around Bears Lodge a whole bunch of people started on their hikes. Was really nice to have the walk all to ourselves before anyone else got there.

Steve drove and drove and drove. Doing lots of highway construction. The variety and scale of the terrain is amazing- but fun to drive thanks to 65 and 75 mph speed limits.

Wyoming certainly is what you’d call “Big sky country”. At several points along the way it was difficult to tell what was sky and what was mountains in the distance. Steve lost count of how many times he said “wow”.

Drove into Thermopolis. Heard about it from some fellow campers at Valley View.

They have the world’s largest hot springs. Mostly sulphur and CO2 and sodium. I thought we might have a dip in the springs, but phew, what a stench. It was getting us both a little nauseous, so we left after half an hour of walking around the spring and the creek.

Drove up to Cody for the night. Wanted to go see an “authentic” Buffalo Bill Cody rodeo, but we were both too tired.

Decided to drive through the Needles Highway again today since we drove through too quickly yesterday evening. But first we drove through the wilderness loop in Custer State Park.

Saw several buffalo (Bison bison)…in fact drove through a herd of them. Gus, our stuffed buffalo mascot was hard at work luring them in. Also saw some prong-horns, prairie dogs, deer, rabbits & turkey.

Climbed around a bit on some of the easier (not quite so steep) rock formations along the Needles Highway. I’m definitely not as daring as Steve, but I tried to climb as far as he did…yes I’m quite chicken when it comes to heights. I don’t know what I’ll do once we get to the Grand Canyon, et al.

From there we drove northwest through the Black Hills, and bought some genuine South Dakota-made wine and a couple of Sturgis t-shirts along the way. (Sturgis, for those of you who aren’t motor-heads is where they hold the annual motorcycle rally.)

Drove through a brief but heavy thunderstorm while leaving South Dakota. The skies cleared as we crossed the state line and we decided to try to see Bears Lodge (Devils Tower) at sunset. Got into the park a little late, but made it in time to see the tower before dark. Walked around the base of the tower, which was awe-inspiring. We had to rush through the second half of the trail as it was getting dark.

We sat through a park ranger presentation on Bears Lodge. Of the many fascinating facts the ranger brought up was that about 5000 people climb the tower every year. Since 1937, about 150,000 people have climbed (either part-way, or all the way to the summit) Of the 150,00 people, there have been only 5 fatalities (since 1937). That makes climbing the tower statistically much safer than riding your car. Also, apparently the average climb up the tower takes about 2-plus hours (and another hour to climb down). One man apparently free-climbed (without any safety gear or ropes or anything) the 837-foot vertical climb in 18 minutes. That works out to about 40 vertical feet a minute. Pretty impressive.

Decided at the last minute that we wanted to camp at the park. Unfortunately it was 9pm and well past the “No Noise” time restriction so had to drive to the entrance of the park to blow up the inflatable mattress. (I like my creature comforts.)

We put up the tent in almost no time with hardly any trouble, thanks in part to the suggestion by one of Steve’s co-worker to get head-mounted flashlights. Mad props to Alberto.

Also, learned several do’s and don’t’s for camping:

1. Don’t leave your tent stakes behind, 3 states away.

2. Don’t put your car keys (the ones with the auto-lock.alarm button) under your pillow when you go to sleep as you will invariably accidentally press the button and the horn will honk during the “No Noise” time period.

3. Quiet air pumps are good.

4. Have cash smaller than a $20 bill on hand to pay for the campsite.

We ate cold Chinese food take-out in a tent, while camping in a national park, below the great Bears Lodge. Two years ago we were staying up late into the night doing last minute wedding arrangements. Who’d have thought?