Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Posted on August 1, 2014 by liv2rv

After our first foggy visit to Mount Rushmore, we returned with our friends Forrest and Mary while they were in town. As you approach the memorial from Highway 244 out of Hill City, you enter past a turnout that displays a profile of George Washington. When we pulled in to the turnout, not a single person was looking up at George, and we quickly discovered what all the excitement was about. There were Rocky Mountain Goats on both sides of the roadway, We had these two right in the parking lot.

Mom and baby

And a more adventurous pair across the roadway into the hillside. These goats were introduced to the Black Hills in the 1920’s, and have adapted quite well to the area.

When Gutzon Borglum started carving Mount Rushmore, he originally planned to put Thomas Jefferson on the right side of Washington. After the workers started blocking out his face, it was discovered there was not enough good quality rock for carving, so they blew up what they hard started. As a result, it left a good profile of Washington.

profile of Washington

As you enter the memorial, you go through the Avenue of Flags, which has 56 flags representing all of the states and territories of the US. It also makes for a popular photo opportunity.

Dan, Forrest & Mary

The memorial has a Grand View Terrace, for excellent views of Mount Rushmore. Beneath the terrace if the Lincoln Borglum (named after the sculptors son), which contains a museum, theatre and bookstore. The museum has a photograph of what Mount Rushmore looked like prior to the construction.

prior to October 1927

After Gutzon Borglum died in 1941, his son Lincoln spent seven months working on the monument, but then Congress declared the monument complete on October 31, 1941 This is how the memorial looks today. The heads are 40 feet tall. (since we are working at Crazy Horse Memorial, I do have to note that all four heads of Mount Rushmore will fit on the side of Crazy Horse’s head!)

Mount Rushmore 7/2014

There is a walking path that takes you a little closer to the memorial, and down to the sculptors studio. In the studio, there is a 1/12th scale model of what Borglum had planned for Mount Rushmore. His plans were never completed. All of the Presidents were to be carved down to the waist.

1/12th scale model

The small museum near the visitors center has many photographs and articles that go into great detail on the history of the memorial. It also talks about the pointer device that was used to project the dimensions from the 1/12th scale model on to the mountain for carving. This photograph demonstrates an example of the pointer (Math is important!)

pointer device

We took the walking path around the memorial, and were able to get a nice photograph of the grand view terrace, and the amphitheater. They have a nightly lighting ceremony, which we plan on attending one of these nights. (admission to the memorial is free, but there is an $11.00 annual parking pass).

Grand View terrace & amphitheater

Mount Rushmore is a “must see” item if you are in the area.

Quote of the day: “Well, those figures were there for forty million years. All I had to do was dynamite 400,000 tons of granite to bring them into view.” – Gutzon Borglum

Jewel Cave National Park

Posted on July 28, 2014 by liv2rv

Last week we had a wonderful time visiting with Forrest and Mary, whom we met in Cedar Key, Florida. They are from Wisconsin, and are slowly making their way out to the Southwest, for the winter. We all managed to get many things off our ”bucket list” during their visit. Hopefully I can start getting caught up on my blogs, as I am very behind due to the lack of reliable internet.

Forrest & Mary in Jewel Cave

There are many cave tours available in the Black Hills area, and so far the two best ones (in our opinion) are operated by the National Park Service. We have previously visited Wind Cave National Park, and went with Forrest and Mary to Jewel Cave National Park.

Jewel Cave, Custer, SD

Jewel Cave was discovered around 1900 by two brothers, Frank and Albert Michaud, and their friend Charles Bush, when they heard some wind blowing into a hole in some rocks. They discovered a cave full of sparkling calcite crystals, and made a claim to this “jewel mine.” Soon they realized there were no valuable minerals in the cave, and turned it in to a tourist destination instead. Since “calcite crystal cave” doesn’t sound too exciting, they named the cave Jewel Cave. The National Park Service took over the cave in 1908 which has protected the cave.

calcite crystals

In 1959, Herb and Jan Conn were asked to join a cave expedition, and they spent the next 21 years discovering over 65 miles of additional passageways in the cave. After they retired in 1981, additional explorers have continued discovering and mapping additional passages. To date, over 170 miles of passageways have been discovered at Jewel Cave.

They offer four different cave tours, and we opted for the Scenic Tour, which is the most popular of the tours (and free with our VIP pass). At $12.00, it is an excellent value. The tour covers about 1/2 mile of the cave, in 1 hour and 20 minutes. You take an elevator down into the cave, and there are about 700 stairs to climb up/down. Of all the cave tours we have been on so far (still have several others to blog about), this would be the best tour for anyone who is claustrophobic, as this is a very wide open, cavernous cave.

Photography inside a cave is hard to do, because of the lighting, and lack of depth perception in photographs. To get an idea of the size of this cave, you can see the stairs in the photo below, showing how far down we will be going.

Jewel Cave

And then back up again to another area of the cave..

up through a narrow passage

Into a larger room of the cave.

cavernous area

This cave has several interesting formations. I thought this piece of flowstone looked like a brain.

“cave brain”

They call this very thin piece a soda straw.

soda straw

Curved pieces of calcite on inclined walls and ceilings create these interesting “curtains”.

curtains

This piece of “bacon” is over 20 feet long. It is also formed from calcite, but has magnesium in it as well, which provides the coloring. This was our favorite formation in the cave. Again, the photograph does not display the enormity and full color of this piece of “bacon”.

mmmm bacon!

Jewel Cave is well worth the visit if you are in the Black Hills. It is estimated that only 5% of Jewel Cave has been discovered, based on barometric pressure readings of the cave. Future generations will be able to continue enjoying new discoveries for years to come. Many visitors inquire about which cave to visit, Jewel Cave, or Wind Cave. If you have the time, I would recommend both, as they are very different. If you are short on time, or a bit claustrophobic, then stick with Jewel Cave. And in our opinion, the National Park Service has done an excellent job in taking care of and preserving both of these caves.

Quote for the day: “In the United States the best of our national scenery and our most interesting scientific and historic places are retained in public ownership, for the benefit and use of all people.” – Isabelle F. Story

A Bear Traffic Jam

Posted on July 16, 2014 by liv2rv

When you live life on the road, and are mobile, you really don’t pay much attention to the calendar. We look at the year in segments….a few months here, a few months there, and then winter in a warm place. So when we headed out on our day off to Bear Country USA, we completely forgot that it was the Fourth of July Holiday weekend. Until we pulled in to the entrance and were stuck in long lines…..!

Bear Country, Rapid City

Bear Country USA, a drive-thru wildlife park is about 8 miles South of Rapid City. Open since 1972, the park allows animals to roam free on over 200 acres, while us humans remain caged in our vehicles. The park has elk, wolves, reindeer, big horn sheep, rocky mountain goats, buffalo, and the largest privately owned group of American Black Bear. Each species is sectioned off from the others, in case they don’t ‘play nice’ with each other.

Bear Country is open from May to November, (the bears still hibernate for the winter), and costs $16.00 per adult (maximum charge of $60 per vehicle. (We received free admission with our VIP pass).

The tour starts with a drive through the Rocky Mountain Elk area, which has many beautiful Elk, including this guy, just lounging right by the side of the road. This is the first time I have seen Elk, and they are quite an impressive animal.

A beautiful Elk

We encountered several Arctic Wolves in the next section, including this one licking its chops as it walked past my window. I opted to keep the window closed, so there is a bit of reflection on the photo.

keeping the window up tight!

When the wolf was at a safe distance, I rolled the window down for a better photo.

Arctic Wolf

Although we didn’t see Rudolph, there were quite a few Reindeer, counting down the days until they have to go back to work at the North Pole.

is this Dasher or Dancer?

They had some very beautiful Big Horn Sheep, including this big guy…

Big Horn Sheep

And this one as well, happy to pose for photos, it seems.

hello!

The Rocky Mountain Goats were busy snoozing.

Rocky Mountain Goat

And then we entered the Black Bear area, where you are not permitted to roll down your window (actually you are not supposed to do it in the other areas), and they have a person with a shotgun stationed in a tower in the middle of the bear area, just in case something goes amiss.

free to roam

Mating season is May and June for bears, so we weren’t the only ones who forgot that it was July!

hmmmm

Black Bears can vary in color, from black, brown, cinnamon, blonde and white. In the wild, they live 10-15 years, but in captivity, 15-30 years is the norm. These three bears were causing quite a traffic jam in the park.

3 little bears

Signs in the bear area indicate you are supposed to continue driving slowly, and the bears will move out of your way. But it is a bit intimidating to have a large bear walking right in front of you!

bear crossing!

After exiting the drive-thru portion of the park, you can park and walk over to see an impressive looking Grizzly Bear. These bears are identified by the hump on their shoulder, which is from the large muscle used to strike with their paws and dig holes. They can run both uphill and downhill at speeds of 35 MPH, so don’t plan on outrunning one of these in the woods!

Grizzly Bear

Babyland has smaller animals, such as the state animal of Wisconsin, the Badger. Although they look cute, especially while sleeping, they can be quite mean. They are excellent diggers (the Badgers also had a nice basketball season, making it to the Final Four….oops, a bit off topic!)

The Badgers

The state animal for South Dakota is the Coyote, which adapts itself to both rural and urban settings. We hope to never encounter one of these, as they have a tendency to eat small animals.

cute coyote

They had several Red Foxes on display. Makena (our dog) was bred to hunt fox, although she is too afraid of most animals, so I am not sure what she would do if she spotted one of these cute little animals.

Mr. Red Fox

They had a few baby Pronghorns on display. Pronghorns are generally lumped in to the antelope or goat family, but they are neither. They are the sole survivor of an ancient species, and are only found in North America. They are the second fastest land animal, with a top speed of 60 MPH, and can sustain speeds of 30 MPH for several miles. Oddly, they crawl under a fence, instead of jumping over one.

Pronghorn

But the highlight of the Babyland area are the bear cubs. I took several videos of them running around. They are so cute! The cubs were born late January/early February. After three months with their mothers, the park weans them off and away from them, for their own protection. In the wild, only 40% of the cubs make it to one year, as many are harmed by the adult males.

playing in the tree

baby black bears

We both enjoyed the park, and would recommend this to anyone visiting the area.

Quote for the day: “Bears are not companions of men, but children of God, and His charity is broad enough for both…bears are made of the same dust as we, and breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters. A bears days are warmed by the same sun, his dwellings are overdomed by the same blue sky, and his life turns and ebbs with heart-pulsing’s like ours and was poured from the same fountain….” John Muir

Visiting museums in Keystone

Posted on July 1, 2014 by liv2rv

Dan and I both enjoy visiting museums, and our VIP pass covers many of them in the area. We opted to spend some time visiting two of them on our day off, Rushmore Borglum Story and The National Presidential Wax Museum, both in Keystone.

Many billboards advertising the Rushmore Borglum Museum state “best museum we saw in the USA”, so we had high hopes for this one. The museum is dedicated to the life of Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore. Although very informative, it did not live up to its hype. The adult admission is $10.00 (free with VIP pass) which includes a hand-held audio device. You walk around the museum and punch in the code to each display, and there is a brief narrative on the items in the display case (photographs not permitted). At the end of the tour is a 20 minute movie that again goes over his life story. It took us about one hour to visit the museum. You are not allowed to take photographs of the exhibits.

Rushmore Borglum Story

Prior to Mt Rushmore, Borglum worked on Stone Mountain, in Georgia. He started carving that mountain, but got into a dispute and blasted off the images he had completed.

Borglum was a big fan of President Lincoln, even naming his son Lincoln. He did this statue of Lincoln that is on display in front of the museum.

hanging with Abe

THE NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL WAX MUSEUM

After our visit with the Borglum Story, we headed over to the wax museum, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of this museum. If you have any interest in the history of our presidents, this is a good museum to check out. Adult admission is $10 (free with VIP pass), which includes a hand-held audio device. You start watching a video that details how the figures are created, then go to each exhibit which has a lengthy description of the president(s) in the display, and what was happening in the country during their term. If you listen to every story, it will take about 90 minutes to get through the museum.

Presidential Wax museum

The museum covers every president, from the first…

George Washington

To the present…

Barack Obama

Some of the presidents are grouped together in displays, such as the five presidents who were never elected to the office of President. The five are grouped into two parts, the four who were elected to the Office of Vice-President (left to right – Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur, John Tyler).

The unelected presidents

And then there was Gerald Ford, the only man who not only was not elected as president, but was not elected to the office of vice president either. Ford became the first person appointed as vice president, under the terms of the 25th Amendment, after Spirow Agnew resigned.

Gerald Ford

You all remember our 9th President, right?

William Henry Harrison

He’s part of the reason for the creation of the 25th Amendment. William Henry Harrison was the first President to die in office. He refused to wear an overcoat during the inauguration, and died from complications relating to pneumonia, just 32 days after taking the oath. I guess when you only make it 32 days, you get a very small display in the museum!

Of the five original drafters of the Declaration of Independence, two became Presidents: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

drafting the Declaration of Independence

Grover Cleveland became the first President to marry during his term in office.

Grover Cleveland

William Howard Taft is the only man who was both the President (#27) and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (#10).

President & Supreme Court Chief Justice

They had a display on President Kennedy

Kennedy & John Jr

Along with a recreation of the scene on Air Force One where Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as President, with Mrs. Kennedy, still in her blood soaked clothes, looking on. And did you know that Johnson was the only man to be elected as a Congressman, Senator, Vice-President and President?

Lyndon B Johnson

We were impressed by the quality of the wax figurines, with one exception. This display of Ronald Reagan with Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan is just staring up and over his head. It seemed like he was going to be in another type of setting, and they just plunked him in this chair.

President Reagan

They also had a nice tribute to the first responders involved in the 9/11 tragedy.

9/11 tribute

After soaking up all this history, we worked up quite an appetite, so we headed out to the Circle B Chuckwagon and Cowboy Music Show, in Hill City. As part of our VIP pass, we received 50% off the dinner/show, which normally costs $26.00 – $30.00 depending on your choice of entrée. Although the food was good (we had the combo platter of beef, BBQ chicken and buffalo), we were glad it was half price! Unless you have children, I would not recommend getting there when the place opens at 4:00pm, as there is really nothing to do. They have a lot of activities for the kids, and there is a “shoot-out” at 5:20, with dinner starting at 5:30pm. The Cowboy Music Show starts a little after 6, and ends by 7:00pm. The musicians did put on a nice 45 minute show with some cowboy music and a few family style jokes.

The Chuckwagon show

Quote for the day: “No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.” – John Adams

Changing hours – more play time

Posted on June 26, 2014 by liv2rv

We are still plugging along with work in the gift shop at Crazy Horse Memorial. We were able to switch over to four ten-hour days, which will allow us more free time to play tourist, as well as keep up with laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning. For now, we will have off Wednesday thru Friday. With our new schedule, we will be able to do some things with Phil and Rudee on Wednesdays.

With our new day off, we went out to dinner and a play with Phil and Rudee. The Black Hills Playhouse, located in Custer State Park, is currently in its 69^th season providing plays and events in the park.

Black Hills Playhouse

Dan, Rudee and Phil

This season offers four plays that run for about 2 weeks each. With our VIP pass, we are able to see the dress rehearsal performance that occurs the evening before opening night.(tickets are normally $32.00 for adults) These are always on a Wednesday, so we will be able to see 3 out of the remaining 4 plays. We enjoyed the musical adaption of a 1911 children’s book, The Secret Garden. We were pleasantly surprised by the professional quality of the production, and look forward to the remaining two plays this season. If you are in the area, this would be a ‘must do’ item.

Of course, after our first week on the new schedule, they changed it up on us, and we ended up with a Sunday off. This allowed us to spend some time with Steve and Joan, learning some new card games, as well as joining in with a group of co-workers that go out for pizza on Sunday night in Custer.

Then our schedule changed back, and this past Wednesday we headed out to Hot Springs where Phil and Dan used their VIP pass on half-price golf at Southern Hills Golf Course, a very scenic and challenging course. Rudee and I opted for the more relaxing day at Evans Plunge, which is a natural spring of mineral water. The spring is now fully enclosed, and they have added two water slides, a ‘kiddie area’, rope swings, and a lap pool area. The spring is only 5 feet deep at the deepest portion, and the water is crystal clear, with a pebble rock bottom. This was another complimentary item on the VIP pass.

In the evening, we had reservations at Grand Magic in Custer, which was a fun, family-friendly magic show. (also free for us! Can you tell we like to do all the free items?!)

We also had some visitors this past few weeks. Pat and Diane, Amazon co-workers, stopped in at our park on their journey West for a few days. They found us on RVillage. Although we had to work, we did were able to spend a few hours catching up, and look forward to seeing them again this fall in Kentucky.

Gary and Pam, a couple that we met last June at a Heartland Owners Group rally, surprised us at work on a Saturday. They have been following our blog, and were coming through the area and stopped in. It was also fun catching up with them, and we will certainly see them down the road sometime, somewhere!

Quote for the day: “The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.” – Pierre Tielhard de Chardin

A foggy visit with friends

Posted on June 10, 2014 by liv2rv

My friend Angie and her co-worker Brenda took an extended weekend to drive from Wisconsin to the Black Hills to see Mt. Rushmore, and participate in the 10K Crazy Horse Volksmarch. This was a ‘bucket list’ item for Brenda. They arrived on Friday, June 6, about the same time the fog rolled in for the weekend!

We headed off to “see” Mount Rushmore National Park, in Keystone. Admission to the park is free, but there is an $11.00 fee for a parking pass, which is good for the entire year. Dan and I plan on returning to the park, and I will have a more detailed blog on Mount Rushmore at a later date.

When we arrived it was misty and a thick blanket of fog covered up the Black Hills. The entrance to the park takes you through the Avenue of Flags, which has a flag for every state, in alphabetical order. On a clear day, you can see the Presidents in the background.

Avenue of the Flags

The viewing deck provided this lovely view!

where are they?

The fog in the Black Hills comes and goes, so we decided to check out the small museum and watch a short film on the making of Mount Rushmore, while waiting to see if the fog would lighten up.

cell phones off, please

And as luck would have it, the fog lifted enough to see George, Tom, Teddie and Abe!

hi guys

After that, we went back to Hill City and had a nice dinner at the famous Alpine Inn, which offers two choices for dinner: a 6 ounce bacon wrapped tenderloin or a 9 ounce one.

On Saturday, Brenda, Angie and I met up at Crazy Horse to participate in the annual Volksmarch, which is held annually the first full weekend of June. Crazy Horse also hosts another Volksmarch in late September, during the annual Buffalo round-up at Custer State Park. The Black Hills Volkssport Association organizes the event. The walk is a 10K (6.2 miles) that goes through the woods around Crazy Horse, up to the top of the arm, and then back down with the finish line at the Visitors Center.

let the fun begin

The terrain in some spots was a bit challenging, but even with the fog, the scenery was nice.

rocky terrain

many hills to climb

let’s go girls

The AT&T cellular “tree” was mixed in to the woods. (Now if Verizon would just put a branch on this, we could get service out here!)

AT&T’s tree

After an hour of walking, we got our first glimpse of the mountain.

first glimpse

A short while later, we were making it around to the back of the mountain.

around the corner

The top is finally near!

almost there

Congratulations Angie and Brenda!! Another check mark on the bucket list!! And the fog cleared for a few minutes at the top…..

congrats Angie & Brenda

….but soon returned!

the fog is back

We began our descent to the bottom, going past the tunnel under the arm.

tunnel under the arm

And on to the finish line!!

10K complete!!

If you are interested in seeing more photos of the view from the top of Crazy Horse, please check out our prior blog post from our orientation day when we took a van ride to the top (click here).

After we finished, I headed back to the camper, as Dan and I had to work from 2pm to close, and Angie and Brenda continued exploring the Black Hills. It was a short, but very enjoyable visit with Angie and Brenda. By late Sunday afternoon, the fog finally lifted, but they had already began the drive back to Wisconsin.

Quote for the day: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Green

“All Aboard” the 1880 Train

Posted on June 8, 2014 by liv2rv

One of the longest running steam trains remaining in service, the 1880 Train, was on our VIP pass, so we spent a few hours taking the 20 mile round trip from Hill City to Keystone. Ticket prices are $28.00 round trip for adults, and we received complimentary passes.

1880 Train Hill City, SD

All Aboard

The train travels through the scenic Black Hills Forest where you can see many rock formations, Harney Peak, and (let’s be honest) a lot of run down trailer homes with a ton of junk in the yards.

Harney Peak from the train

the other scenic views

The train has your choice of open air cars and cars with windows. We opted for the open air car, as it was a nice day outside. The 1880 Train was used in the filming of the Gunsmoke television series. Our engine was number 104, which was built in 1926. They use water and oil to power the engine, which creates a lot of white smoke.

white smoke

Since the Black Hills has many changes in elevation, the train has to maneuver 4 – 6% grades, which is very difficult for any train. After we departed Hill City, the train quickly encountered a steep 6% grade, and we were barely moving on the tracks. Many of us in the back began chanting “I think I can, I think I can” to encourage the train to make it up the hill! When going up a hill, they add sand to keep the engine from overheating. This creates a brown smoke.

brown smoke going uphill

We had an enjoyable time on the trip, and it was interesting to see how the “well to do” traveled back in the early 20^th Century. There were remnants of old buildings along the way.

old mining building

There are some old telegraph poles along the way, with their glass insulators still intact.

telegraph poles

When we arrived at Keystone, the engine unhooked, moved down to the water tower to refill, and then drove around the train to hook back up in the front.

water tower

“refueling” with water

The engine we had for this trip was built in 1926 and was restored by the 1880 Train company.

Engine 104 from 1926

When we completed our round trip back to Hill City in just over 2 hours, the engine was again disconnected and taken back to the shop for maintenance before the next departure. They seem to take good care of these antiques.

back in Hill City

I firmly believe that you are only as old as you feel, so I couldn’t resist heading to the “kiddie” train area for some fun.

I can fit in this

We had a nice time, the weather was perfect for the trip. If you love trains, this would be a good trip to take.

Quote for the day: “The introduction of so powerful of an agent as steam to a carriage on wheels will make a great change in the situation of man.” – Thomas Jefferson

Mammoth Site

Posted on June 4, 2014 by liv2rv

We headed down to Hot Springs to visit the Mammoth Site (cost $10 for adults, free with our VIP pass). In 1974, a developer was beginning to clear land for a housing development when the bulldozer uncovered some bones. They discovered the bones were from Columbian Mammoths, estimated to be 26,000 years old. Through local donations, the site was preserved and declared a National Natural Landmark in 1980. A building was constructed around the site, and is open year round to visitors.

It is believed the site was a giant sinkhole, fed by natural springs. Mammoths, bears and other animals entered the watering hole, but were unable to get back out due to the steep embankments, and eventually drowned or starved to death. Mammoth Site is the only in-situ (left as found) site for mammoth bones in the United States.

Mammoth Site

They are continuing digging at this site, and have discovered many more bones over the years. A tour guide explains the many points of interest on the site, and then you are free to explore on your own in the indoor excavation site, as well as an exhibit hall. We found this to be a very interesting and informative exhibit. At the time of our visit, there were volunteers who were painstakingly digging through the dirt. The buckets of dirt they would collect would be carefully washed, to discover any small remains.

overview of dig site

They have left most of the bones where they have found them.

They unearthed a large mammoth that had no head, despite digging all around it. The Paleontologist have no explanation as to what happened to the head, and named the mammoth Marie Antoinette. When they discovered the mammoth was a male, they renamed him Murray Antoinette, in keeping with the be-headed theme!

volunteer diggers

These are the tools that the volunteers were using. It is very tedious work.

Tools of the trade

They had some body parts on display to give you they idea of how big the bones are;

mammoth mandible

human v mammoth

This is part of a pelvis that is left intact in the grounds.

mammoth pelvis

In order to determine what types of mammals they are, the scientists study the angle of the tusk (yes, another Math lesson). There is something called Schreger Lines, which will determine if the tusk is from an elephant (obtuse angle – greater than 90 degrees) or a mammoth (acute angle – less than 90 degrees).

elephant tusk

mammoth tusk

And then there’s the histogram on the tusk angles. (okay, enough math!)

histogram

We enjoyed our visit, and would recommend this place if you are in the area, or visiting nearby Wind Cave.

Quote for the Day: “There is no good scientific reason to bring back an extinct species. Why would one bring them back? To put them in a theme park?” – Hendrik Poinar

Wind Cave National Park

Posted on June 1, 2014 by liv2rv

One of the benefits of working in the tourism area in the Black Hills is the V.I.P. pass that we receive. The pass is for Visitor Industry Partners (VIP) and allows us free or reduced admission for many of the attractions in the area. This way when a visitor asks “what else is there to do”, we can tell them about the other attractions from our own experience. It’s a very smart marketing idea, and we plan on taking full advantage of our pass on our days off.

Our first stop was to Wind Cave National Park. The park offers five different cave tours in the summer. As part of the VIP pass, we received a complimentary Natural Entrance Tour (normally $12.00 per adult), which is the one tour available year round. Admission to the park is free, and they do have a campground.

Wind Cave

Wind Cave covers over 29,000 acres, with 70 percent natural prairie grassland and 30 percent forest. It is home to many species of animals, including a growing herd of bison. But the main attraction are the cave tours. The cave was first discovered in 1881 by two brothers, Jesse and Tom Bingham, who were out hunting deer. When they heard a loud whistling noise, they followed the sound and discovered a hole in the ground that was blowing air so strong it knocked Jesse’s hat off. The original entrance to the cave is no longer used, as it has a 90 degree turn right when you enter. As such, there is no evidence that bats or animals have entered the cave, because it would be a difficult entry way. At a constant 58 degrees the cave is also too warm for bats to live because they need colder temperatures to hibernate. Dan’s Mom would be happy to know there are no bats in the cave!

This is the original entrance to the cave.

Original entrance

The wind, which gave the cave its name, is created by the difference in barometric pressures inside and outside the cave. On the day we visited, the wind was blowing in to the cave, as demonstrated by this Park Ranger’s red piece of tape.

winds blowing in

The Bingham’s told others in town about their discovery, but there is no evidence they explored the cave further. In 1890, 16-year-old Alvin McDonald began exploring the cave, using candles and string (so he could find his way back out). He kept a diary of his daily explorations, which the Park Service has, and uses to document the history of the cave. The McDonald family blasted open passages to the cave and offered tours for a fee, along with selling specimens from the cave. In 1893, Alvin traveled to Chicago to display specimens at the Columbian Exposition, and to market the cave for tourism. Alvin came down with typhoid fever at the Exposition, and passed away in December, at the very young age of 20.

A land dispute erupted between the McDonald family and a mining company (there was no gold found in the cave), and eventually the government stepped in and took control of the cave. In January of 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established Wind Cave as the seventh National Park (and the first cave), forever protecting the park for future generations.

Studies of the barometric pressure of the cave have estimated that only a small percent of the cave has been discovered. The Park Service is continuing to explore the cave, and it has been “growing” as they continue to find new passages. Right now, there are 141 known miles of the cave, all covering just one square mile of surface area. (ponder that math fact…!)

Wind Cave is famous for formations of Popcorn, Frostwork and Boxwork. Ninety-five percent of all the known Boxwork in caves around the world is found at Wind Cave. On our tour, we saw a lot of Boxwork, and a little Popcorn and Frostwork. The Popcorn and Frostwork is more prevalent in other parts of the cave that can be seen on other tours. Stalagmite and Stalactites are not common in the cave, as it is considered to be a dry cave. The visitor’s center has excellent specimens of the Popcorn and Frostwork, so the following are photographs of the specimens.

Popcorn is formed when small deposits of Calcium Carbonite seep through the limestone.

Popcorn crystals

This is the Popcorn that we saw on part of our Natural Entrance Tour:

Popcorn in the cave

Water seeps through the porous rock, evaporates, and leaves behind aragonite crystals, called Frostwork.

Frostwork formations

We saw one area that had a little frostwork:

frostwork inside the cave

The Natural Entrance Tour that we took is about 90 minutes in length, and has about 450 stairs to negotiate. It was a rather easy tour to navigate, and we did not feel too enclosed. We would recommend this tour as it was very informative. There was a part in our tour where the Park Ranger turned off all the lights, and lit a candle, so we could see what the early explorers were dealing with. For those so adventurous, they do offer one tour that is strictly by candlelight, so you can experience what touring the cave was like when it was first discovered. They also offer a very strenuous four-hour tour which involves a lot of crawling through narrow passages, so you do need to meet certain “width” restrictions!

The Natural Cave Entrance tour has some narrow passages….

watch your head!

But also some large rooms where everyone can fit, and the rangers will spend several minutes talking about the history of the cave.

wide open rooms

Boxwork is what this cave is known for, and we saw many examples on the ceiling of the cave. Boxwork is a honeycomb formation of thin calcite fins that protrude from the walls and ceilings of the cave. The Park Ranger explained that when they were first exploring the cave, using candles, the Boxwork initially looked like giant spider webs. That is what is documented in the diaries they have of the early cave explorers.

Boxwork formations

Photographs of caves are not the best way to see a cave. We definitely would recommend a visit to Wind Cave (remember…no bats!)

inside wind cave

Quote of the Day: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. Fear of the unknown is our greatest fear. Many of us would enter a tiger’s lair before we would enter a dark cave. While caution is a useful instinct, we lose many opportunities and much of the adventure of life if we fail to support the curious explorer within us.” – Joseph Campbell

A day of play at Custer State Park

Posted on May 30, 2014 by liv2rv

In mid-May, the state of South Dakota waives admission fees to all their state parks, as well as having free fishing, so we took advantage of our day off and spent the day at Custer State Park for fishing and exploring. Custer Park covers 71,000 acres and is home to the largest free-roaming bison herd, estimated at 1300 (and growing). There are over 60 miles of hiking and horseback trails available, and four man-made lakes for fishing, swimming and boating. There are several campgrounds, and lodges for rent.

The State Game Lodge is one of the many lodges available for rent. This one is the most famous in the park, because President Calvin Coolidge came for a visit and ended up spending the entire summer in 1927. It became known as “the summer White House”. President Coolidge was impressed by how much fish he would catch every day, not knowing that the park rangers were stocking the lake each night!

State Game Lodge

We started out our day out driving on the 21 mile long Wildlife Loop Road, where we saw many buffalo.

where the buffalo roam

Sometimes you just have to stop and wait for the big guys to pass.

coming thru!

We also saw many newborn buffalo, as this is certainly a growing population in the park.

wait up Mom!

Pronghorn are also present in the park, although this was the only one that we saw during our visit. We watched him or her stop and dig a hole, then poop in it….thought that was rather polite!

Pronghorn

And there are lot’s of prairie dogs roaming around as well.

prairie dog

After the loop, we headed up to the Mt. Coolidge Firetower and Lookout, which is at an elevation of 6023 feet. You can drive your vehicle all the way to the top, but be cautioned it is a gravel, narrow road without shoulders. I was hanging on tight to the door handle all the way up, hoping no one was on the way down, when I started to wonder why we grip tightly to door handles. If we went over the edge, would this really save me?! The view at the top was spectacular, although it was obstructed by four cell towers surrounding the lookout (although we found we can get 5 full bars of 4G!)

wonderful views

strong 4G here!

We ventured on and headed over to Center Lake, to try our luck at fishing. We had a nice spot in the ‘day use’ picnic area.

Center Lake day use area

I did not have any luck, but Dan managed to catch a few rainbow trout. They were too small to keep, but we will eventually get our fishing licenses and come back again. Looking forward to some tasty grilled trout this summer.

not a keeper 😦

shut out!

Dan tried a few areas to fish in, while I went off exploring (Dan’s on the right of the picture below)

nice spot to fish!

NEEDLES HIGHWAY SCENIC DRIVE

Needles highway goes through Custer Park, and has three tunnels that our very narrow, including one that is supposed to be 8’4” in width. We have talked to several people with dual rear wheel trucks that had no problem going through, so we decided to head on this road, although Dan was a bit skeptical. It is a very pretty drive, and if you are in this area, it is a “must do” item.

amazing views on Needles Hwy

We followed behind several antique cars that were driving through the park. I don’t know what these are, but there were about 12 of them driving together, and they were all having fun and stopping along the way.

some cool cars

The first tunnel has a width of 9 feet, so this wasn’t a problem getting though.

9 foot width

It was the second tunnel, by the Cathedral Spires (elevation 7050 feet), that was the one Dan was concerned about. Many of the tour buses go through these tunnels (and have the scrapes to prove it!), and I think they have actually widened the tunnels over time. I walked through the tunnel to make sure no traffic was coming, as this was a long tunnel, and not something you want to have to back up in. Dan slowly started in, and since there was no oncoming traffic, he just took his time going through. (Challenge accepted Phil!!)

hmmmm

a bit tight?

no problem!

challenge accepted!

We stopped at Sylvan Lake, another beautiful lake in the park, where they were setting up for a wedding that evening.

Sylvan Lake

There are so many more things to see and do at the park. This would be an ideal place for camping for a week, something we will keep in mind for future visits to this area.

Quote for the day: “A pessimist sees a dark tunnel. An optimist sees light at the end of a tunnel. A realist sees a freight train. The train operator sees three idiots standing on the tracks.” – Unknown

Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV

Category Archives: South Dakota

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Jewel Cave National Park

A Bear Traffic Jam

Visiting museums in Keystone

Changing hours – more play time

A foggy visit with friends

“All Aboard” the 1880 Train

Mammoth Site

Wind Cave National Park

A day of play at Custer State Park