Rushmore Alive!

“Report: 94% of South Dakotans Unprepared For Mount Rushmore Faces Coming Alive And Eating Everyone.” 

- The Onion, June 28, 2012

 Day 3 – Black Hills, SD

A sight not often seen: an empty Mount Rushmore.

Today was our first full day of sightseeing. It was an incredibly long day, but one filled with some amazing experiences. Our day started and ended at Mount Rushmore, which is about 10 minutes from our campsite. We knew we had a lot to get to today, so we decided to get an early start. We arrived at the park at a little after five and found that it wasn’t actually open yet. But all this meant was the shops and visitors center were closed. Everything else was wide open to us. And basically, only us. I think we saw three people during our entire hour and a half there. The sun was just coming over the hills and the haze hadn’t quite lifted yet (more on that later) so we got some truly remarkable views.

Our plan after Mount Rushmore had been to go to the Crazy Horse Memorial. However, since we had already spent a few hours there the night before, we didn’t feel there that was any more to explore there. So instead, we decided to go to Wind Cave National Park. This turned out to be an incredibly lucky change of plans.

Wind Cave is a 100+ mile long cave in the southern Black Hills. We, however, skipped the mine part and focused our attention on what was above ground. The area in and around Wind Cave is where the prairie meets the forest, which makes for some stunning scenery as well as a fantastic wildlife viewing opportunity. We started in the southern edge of the park where the ecosystem is almost entirely prairie. The views are so simple, but still so beautiful. The early morning sun gave the sky and the grass some amazing color – almost a greenish, brownish, grayish, blueish mish-mash as if the colors were being combined in different amounts on a painter’s palette. That may sound overly poetic, but it is really something to see. I think we are both falling in love with this area.

As far as wildlife, the hills were splattered with prairie dog towns. They are the cutest things ever. They run around, stand up on their back legs, and bark (hence the name). I Googled “prairie dog pets” and found that some are domesticated, although chewing everything and biting are major concerns. Amy said no prairie dog pets as long as we’re married. I told her not to give me any ideas. Kidding.

Buffalo grazing within 10 feet of our car.

From the southern prairie, we moved north in the park towards its boundary with Custer State Park. As we moved, the prairie began to get swallowed by large groves of Ponderosa Pines. The topography also became rockier and the altitude changes were more pronounced. White tail deer joined the prairie dogs along with numerous species of birds. However, the big excitement came when we finally encountered bison.  At first, it was a lone bison up on a ridge.  A bit further down, we saw two more behind a small hill.  When we got out of the car at the next lookout point, there was another no more than 100 yards away giving himself a dust bath.  We watched for awhile until his grunts appeared to signal his desire for us to leave.  But out best view came right before the boundary with custer, where we encountered three more bison (and a herd of deer), including one large male who was not more than 10 feet away from our car.  We were so close, we could actually hear him chewing.  He paid no attention to us whatsoever, so we were able to sit and take in the whole scene for awhile before we decided to move on.

After the buffalo, we turned back in towards the interior of the park and stopped at the Rankin ridge trailhead.  The hike was short, not more than 2 miles for the whole loop, and not terribly difficult.  We climbed up to the top of a moderately tall ridge, with the Black hills unfolding more and more with each turn.  On top of the hill was a 100 foot tall fire spotting tower.  In an incredible turn of luck, just as we arrived, so did a biologist with the Forest service who was there to track the parks elk population.  He invited us up to the very top of the tower, which is usually closed to the public, and proceeded t o give us our very own private talk about the park and surrounding area.  We learned about wildlife management programs, prescribed burns, the climate – everything.  It was such a cool experience.

View of the southern Black Hills from the Rangers' tower.

We left wind Cave and headed west towards Wyoming.  The drive from the Black Hills to Devils Tower, which is less than 20 minutes from Sundance, Wyoming, is not the most eventful ride.  It is pretty and scenic, consisting mostly of farms and ranches, but nothing as dramatic as western South Dakota.  We did have our first encounter here with the smoke from one of the many wildfires that are currently going on here in the West.  As we entered into Wyoming, we could see the smoke in the distance in front of us.  As we got closer, we went from sunny and blue skies, to a weird, yellow fog that literally choked the air.  It felt like we were standing in an unventilated room next to a campfire.  We could see smoke from at least two separate fires as we went along, but it seemed to be life as usual in the areas we passed through.

About to start the trek arounf the Tower.

The ride to Devil’s Tower was a little under two hours, although views of the tower were possible for the last 20 minutes of the drive.  It was interesting how it seemed to appear out of the farmland in front of it.  We took a nice hike around the base of the tower, seeing it from all different angles.  Unfortunately, the only way to the top is climbing, which neither of us are capable of doing.  So we just enjoyed the view from the bottom.  The tower holds incredible significance for many of the local Native American tribes and the stories about the formation of the tower are tied closely to the traditional way of life in the area.

We took a scenic route back towards Mount Rushmore, entering South Dakota at the northern edge of the Black Hills and cutting south.  We caught out first glimpse of Deadwood, which we will explore more tomorrow.  We also stopped at the Pactola Dam and Reservoir, which will be on the list of things to do for our next visit (along with about 300 other things).   We made it to Rushmore by about 5:30 and got ourselves a spot in the amphitheater to await the program.  It was quite a different place than we had seen earlier this morning when we had the whole place to ourselves.  It was no stuffed with a few thousand very hot (it was 103° at 5:30 pm) and very tired-looking people.  The program was nice.  It featured a flag folding ceremony, a swearing in of new armed forces recruits from the area, and a performance by an Air force brass band, culminating with the National Anthem and lighting of the monument.  Kind of a neat way to ring in the 4^th!  Tomorrow it’s hiking in the Badlands and dinner in Deadwood.

Rushmore at night after the Star Spangled Banner, flag lowering, and lighting.