Day 10 - Sept. 6, 2011 (Daytime)

We started our day by riding the motorcycle via Needles Highway to picturesque Sylvan Lake Resort in Custer State Park. We were so surprised to see these "kayaks" parked at the dock. It looks like a bicycle with two pontoons instead of wheels. I would have loved to see someone using one...how does the high center of gravity work on the water? We had a busy day planned and couldn't give this a try...we were anxious to hike around the lake. Isn't is gorgeous?

Sylvan Lake is known as the "crown jewel" of Custer State Park. Created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch, it offers picnic areas, rock climbing, small rental boats, swimming, and hiking trails. It is also popular as a starting point for excursions to Harney Peak and The Needles. The lake was featured in the 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The film made the lake appear to be located directly behind Mount Rushmore when in fact it is five miles southwest of the monument.

Here's a photo of Sid walking toward the dam area which is just above his head. I stopped to chat with the woman fishing (small figure to Sid's right). She said she was fishing for rainbow trout and expected to catch dinner in the lake. We circled the lake and hiked through the rocks/"needles" behind the dam. The photo below shows us (look hard) in a narrow pass to give you a sense of the size of the needles!

After hiking the path around the lake, we were back on the bike in the Black Hills, which are a Paleozoic/Mesozoic formation, created when a large dome pushed up from the earth in the region. Over the years the softer sediment eroded, leaving behind strange granite formations which we first visited on Day 8. However, we missed capturing a photo of the Needle's Eye, a prominent granite formation which stands nearly 40 feet tall and has an unusual slit that's only a few feet across. The photo below was taken from the parking area at the base of the formation.

However, that wasn't good enough for Sid who insisted we climb around the rocks across from the Needle's Eye. It was a fun and strenuous hike which allowed us to see the "needles" from a different perspective.

I was able to capture this photo from behind the Cathedral Spires looking out into the distance at the section of Needles Highway we traveled on Day 8. In fact, if you go back to Day 8, look for a photo of Sid sitting on a rock with the Cathedral Spires in the distance over his right shoulder -- that's where I'm standing when I took the photo!

This is a view of the Needle's Eye taken from the rock formations nearby. Look closely at the little red blob at the bottom just to the left of the base of the formation. It's our motorcycle! I can't believe Sid enticed me up that high...actually even higher since I took this shot on the way down. Sid has no sympathy for my fear of heights!

On the way back to Blue Bell Lodge cabins, Sid dropped me off to explore the woods near our cabin. He had located the area where our buffalo visitors spent the night before they joined us for breakfast a few days ago. He wasnted me to experience the serenity of the place (I called it the Buffalo Bedroom) with the sounds of French Creek in the background. It was lovely.

While in the Buffalo Bedroom, I found the dandelion seed head on the left, which I compared to an average-sized dandelion seed head on the right. I was fascinated by this thing, taking way too many photos of it!

Day 10 - Sept. 6, 2011 (Evening)

We decided to stay at Custer State Park an extra day because I wanted to be available in case I won the drawing for a motorcycle at Crazy Horse National Memorial. In addition, they were having a special night event that salutes memorial sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who was born 103 years ago on Sept. 6, 1908, and honors Lakota leader Crazy Horse, who was stabbed by a soldier on Sept. 5, 1877, and died Sept. 6 at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
I knew things were going my way when we spotted these two on our way through the park. However, it bothered me a bit that the buffalo seemed to be sticking his tongue out at us. The mule deer, on the other hand, was quite pleasant.
Here are a couple of photos of the 2003 Indian Chief Roadmaster motorcycle that I was so certain I would win. Isn't she a beauty? I was really disappointed to learn that a gentleman from Washington state won the bike.
Here's a shot of the tailgate party being held in the parking lot with the memorial lit in the background. What fun we had!
George and Susan from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were near us and shared their beer and sausage with us. Coincidentally, Kurt (beard) is from Wauwautosa, WI, and his friend, Sean, is from Milwaukeea, Wisconsin. We had a great time talking with these friendly folks from Wisconsin and introducing them to George and Susan from the same neck of the woods.
I shot a short video of the night blast. See below. (I hope it works, I've never posted a video!)

Wow, the memorial looks great after the festivities. It was a moving and memorable ceremony with a fun tailgate party, too. We were so glad we stayed the extra day to do this.Here is Sid in the bed of the truck after the festivities playing his banjo. He was chatting with Daniel, an employee of the memorial, who shared lots of insider information about the night blast.

Day 9 - Sept. 5, 2011 Part 2

Do you remember Norman, the buffalo who frequents the Blue Bell Lodge where we've been staying? I promised you I would post additional photos of Norman's "scratch fest" with the fire hydrant. Well, here it is beginning with a good scratch on the head that lasted for about 10 minutes. Even from a distance, I could tell that Norman was one happy buffalo!

Next, he moved to his right shoulder and leg for several minutes of satisfying scratching.

Finally, Norman moved to a thorough scratch on his right side. I believe I could hear him purring in buffalo bliss as he meandered through the cabins and out of sight.

Day 9 - Sept. 5, 2011

Having visited nearby Jewel Cave, 2nd longest cave in the world, we also visited Wind Cave National Park, the 5th longest cave in the world! One of the world's longest and most complex caves and 28,295 acres of mixed-grass prairie, ponderosa pine forest, and associated wildlife are the main features of the park.

The cave is well known for its outstanding display of boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs. In fact, 95% of cave boxwork in the world is found in Wind Cave.

The park's mixed-grass prairie is one of the few remaining and is home to native wildlife such as bison, elk, pronghorn, mule deer, coyotes, and prairie dogs. We spied these two pronghorn near the road. We also saw hundreds of prairie dogs, but they were shy and refused to pose nicely for photos.
After lunch at the lodge, we loaded up the kayaks and headed to Stockade Lake in the southern part of the park. I was in my kayak taking photos of the beautiful scenery, wildlife and Sid in his red kayak. How did I do it? Picture this: my small camera tightly enclosed in a Ziplock bag clenched in my teeth while I'm paddling the kayak. When something warrants a photo, I stop paddling and start shooting.
These two hawks and their nest of eggs were in the very top of a tree on a small island. The hawk landing must be the nest guardian. We heard him calling and squawking from far away. As we neared the island, we realized that he was attacking a large blue herron about three times his size! From what we could put together, the herron had landed in the top of a nearby tree posing a threat to the nest. The guardian repeatedly flew directly at the herron with claws ready for an attack. After about 8 rounds, the big herron flew away from the island! It was so dramatic, and Sid kept telling me to take photos of the fight. Unfortunately, the high winds, position of the sun and my utter ineptitude kept me from getting anything better than the photo above showing the guardian returning after an attack flight. Sid was so disappointed in me...and has mentioned it about every 12 hours since the incident. Maybe he will forget soon.
I liked this closer shot of Sid at the base of one of the many rock formations that make up the Black Hills.
After returning to our cabin after kayaking I was driving through the cabin area and was so surprised to find this sight at an unoccupied cabin just three cabins away from us. Don't worry, I shot this from the truck! It seems that one male buffalo makes his way through the Blue Bell Lodge area every evening. Named Norman by the staff at the lodge, it is not unusual to see him walking through. In this case Norman snuggled up to a cabin for a little rest time. Later, he slowly made his way out of the cabin area stopping along the way to scratch his head by rubbing vigorously on a red fire hydrant. I took several photos of the "scratching action" using another camera. I will post photos of Norman and the hydrant later.
Day 9 was definitely a day for spotting wildlife! I took a little side trip in the truck to find out about Camp Bob Marshall, located just outside of Custer State Park on the way to Stockade Lake. While traveling slowly down a gravel road to the camp, I came upon a small herd of white-tail deer. I managed to snap a few photos of these beautiful animals. I was especially pleased with the photo above showing a young buck's velvet-covered antlers captured in a shaft of sunlight!
Here are five of the herd moving calmly, but cautiously through the woods...away from me and my truck. Sid was pretty disappointed that he missed seeing the deer and beautiful Camp Bob Marshall.

Day 8 - Sept. 4, 2011

Sid took us on a drive through the back roads just outside of Custer State Park, and I was amazed to see a moose in the distance! We have been so fortunate to see all kinds of wildlife and we never imagined we would see a moose! We stopped and stood quietly near the barbed wire fence for several minutes. The moose never moved. Then, Sid spied a mountain lion and a bear in the same field not too far from the moose. After watching all three stationary animals for a few minutes, we realized they were all fake! We aren't sure of the purpose of the three figures, but we had a good laugh when we realized that we had been fooled.
We have really enjoyed our stay at Blue Bell Lodge at the park. Sid has even said, "When we come back..." So, maybe we will be frequent visitors here.
We drove up to the fire tower at Mt. Coolidge to get a bird's-eye view of everything. This photo shows some of the peaks on Needles Highway, our next destination for the day. Other views show evidence of a massive fire in July 1988 that burned the hillsides of Custer State Park. The Galena Fire destroyed nearly 17,000 acres of the park, yet no buildings were burned, no one was hurt, and very few animals were killed. Just behind where I was standing, I could see the Badlands 60 miles away.
Deemed “impossible” to construct by its critics, the Needles Highway—a National Scenic Byway—was completed in 1922 and includes 14 miles of sharp turns, low tunnels, and impressive granite spires.This is a "very tight" passage that vehicles must maneuver!
We stopped to take a photo of the Cathedral Spires in the distance. It was fun to meet some other visitors from Tennessee on this stop. I thought our Southern accents gave us away, but they had seen us earlier at the State Game Lodge talking with artists-in-residence Ron Holyfield and Kay Williams, two gifted wildlife artists who call Tennessee home. Ron and Kay have spent the last 18 summers at Custer State Park. We had a delightful visit with these folks. I urge you to click on the link on their names to see samples of their impressive work.

After our trip on Needles Highway, we headed to Custer (the town) to eat lunch, visit shops and photograph the colorful buffalo positioned throughout this historic town.
This is a photo of French Creek near the Blue Bell Lodge taken from one of the backroads frequented by horseback riders. This place is so gorgeous!
We may not have horses, but that didn't stop us from riding around the chuck wagons in front of the lodge.

Day 7 - Sept. 3, 2011

We drove through historic Custer, South Dakota, on our way to our next destination. We made a note to return to Custer to look around.


What a surprise to see a really large elk cross the highway right in front of us. We had seen him crossing through the valley toward the highway, and I yelled, "Slow down, Sid. He's going to hit us!" He yelled back, "I see it and don't yell at me!" I yelled back, "Sorry about yelling!"

Later, we spoke to the people traveling in the car behind us who said they were certain they were about to witness a motorcycle/elk collision! Since elk are rather shy, we never expected to see any on this trip. We felt lucky that we had already seen longhorn sheep, whitetail deer, mule deer, Merriam's Wild Turkey, and lots of buffalo. On top of it all, I managed to get a photo while yelling at Sid! We are so blessed!


Of course we had to visit Jewel Cave National Monument, located in the Black Hills, not far from Custer State Park. Jewel Cave is a unique world of sparkling calcite crystals and other spectacular cave formations. The cave is currently the second longest in the world, at 155.12 miles. The most recent miles were found just last month! According to our ranger guide, this cave has many more miles yet to be explored.


Just a couple of the fascinating formations at Jewel Cave. We explored for an hour and a half and loved every minute of it. The longest cave in the world is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the cave that started our obsession with caving! We have been to so many caves, we can't remember them all...just can't pass up a great cave...

Day 6 - Sept. 2, 2011 (Part 2)

Well, it was 105 miles from our cabin at Blue Belle Lodge in South Dakota, but it was worth every minute of it to get to Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Sid stopped several miles away so I could get this long horizon shot of Devil's Tower and the Little Missouri Buttes nearby. I really like the way it turned out. I could hardly wait to get there. In our travels out west during my youth, we never made it to Devil's Tower. This was soooo memorable.


After checking in at the visitor center at the base of the tower, I stepped outside just in time for the flag to unfurl and create the postcard look above. The visitor center had a some exhibits featuring the Native American Indian legend regarding the formation of Devil's Tower and why it is so sacred to the Plains Tribes. There were also illustrations showing three different theories about the geological formation of the tower. It seems that scientists can't agree.


According to the Native American tribes of the Kiowa and Lakota Sioux, two Sioux boys wandered far from their village when Mato the bear, a huge creature that had claws the size of teepee poles, spotted them, and wanted to eat them for breakfast. He was almost upon them when the boys prayed to Wakan Tanka the Creator to help them. They rose up on a huge rock, while Mato tried to get up from every side, leaving huge scratch marks as he did. Finally, he sauntered off, disappointed and discouraged. The bear came to rest east of the Black Hills at what is now Bear Butte. Wanblee, the eagle, helped the boys off the rock and back to their village. A painting depicting this legend by artist Herbert A. Collins hangs over the fireplace in the visitor's center at Devils Tower. I took a photo of that painting (above).


In recent years, climbing Devil's Tower has increased in popularity with about 5,000 climbers each year. The first known ascent of Devils Tower by any method occurred on July 4, 1893, and is accredited to William Rogers and Willard Ripley, local ranchers in the area. They completed this first ascent after constructing a ladder of wooden pegs driven into cracks in the rock face. A few of these wooden pegs are still intact and are visible on the tower when hiking along the 1.3 mile trail around the base. Sid and I hiked the trail and I took photos from every side of the tower. Even without binoculars, I spotted at least a dozen climbers while we were visiting. How many can you spot in the photo above?


Sid took a turn at climbing himself, but since he hadn't trained, he gave up rather quickly!


We were delighted to see the Prairie Dog Town along the road leading to Devil's Tower. I took a couple of photos on the fly as we passed and was surprised to find so many prairie dogs in each of the photos...how many do you see in the photo above? After an exciting visit, we returned to South Dakota making plans for the rest of our vacation.