The Last Leg was a Scorcher

The last leg of our trip before we headed home for a few weeks was South Dakota.  If anyone would have told me the temperatures in South Dakota would be over 100, I wouldn’t have believed them.  The good thing about those temps is it kept the crowds low wherever we went, but it also prevented us from doing too much hiking.  We made the best of it and saw as much as we could in the time we had, including the last two national parks on our list for this trip.

The Sacred Wind Cave

As the story goes, the Lakota people emerged from the spirit world through the passageway known as Wind Cave.  When the cold made them want to go back into the cave, the spirits were angry and turned them into bison.  And then when the rest of the Lakota people emerged, they were told to follow the bison to have all they needed to live on Earth, and the cave entrance was shrunk so they could never return.

There is actual wind coming from the small cave opening. It is all about wind pressure.  Air flows into the cave when the pressure outside the cave is greater than the pressure inside.  And when the pressure is greater inside the cave, gusts of air blow out the natural opening.

The cave was discovered in 1881, with a small lantern and a ball of twine.   This cave is one of the longest and most complex caves in the world.   Under one square mile on the surface resides over 150 miles of surveyed passages….and that is believed to be only 5% of the explored cave!  it has more “boxwork” than all the other caves on Earth combined – crisscross fins of calcite covering the ceiling and walls.    The trails were deep, windy, narrow, and alive.  And thankfully 50 degrees cooler than the surface!

A Lakota Leader Remembered

The Crazy Horse memorial has been in the works for the past 60+ years.  When finished, it will be the world’s biggest sculpture – 563 feet tall and 641 feet wide.    Maybe a better word would be IF finished!  

Crazy Horse was a Lakota warrior, and the sculpture was the brain child of Lakota elder Henry Standing Bear.  He commissioned Korczak Zioloqaki, who helped to carve Mount Rushmore, the work began in 1948.  After he died in 1982, his wife Ruth and ten of his kids took up the torch. Ruth passed away in 2011, but the work continues with their children and grandchildren.

The memorial includes the Native American Educations and Cultural Center, full of history and memorabilia.   Once completed, it is expected to house a University of South Dakota satellite campus.  You can also come watch them work on blast days.

There were some incredible quotes on the wall I tried to capture unsuccessfully in picture, but that I wanted to share which really exude the essence of what I got out of the visit.

“They will want us to quarrel about God, as Catholics and Protestants do.  We do not want to do that.  We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit.  We do not want to learn that.”  – Chief Joseph 1881

“”Why will you take by force what you may obtain by love? Why will you destroy us who supply you with food? What can you get by war? . . . We are unarmed, and willing to give you what you ask, if you come in a friendly manner. . . .” – Powhatan 1609

And this is one of the reasons why this memorial should continue to be built.

Remembering the Founding Fathers

There is a little bit if irony making our way from here to Mount Rushmore.  Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.  The project began in 1925, was placed under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service in 1933, completed in 1941.

It is beautiful, with the avenue of the flags of the states in the foreground as you make your way.  3 million visitors a year, with an original cost of just under $1MM funding 85% with federal funding.  And a renovation in the 1990s costing $56MM.  

I love my country, it is a magnificent site, and I am glad we made the stop.  Not much to do here outside of taking a look, a few pics, and moving on.

Where the Heck is Wall Drug?

So the entire time we were driving around South Dakota, I kept seeing signs for Wall Drug.  I had no idea what it was, or why it mattered, so we decided to do a little research.

Wall Drug is a tourist stop in Wall, SD, just outside the Badlands.  It is a cowboy themed store, with a drug store, gift shop and restaurants.  This place draws over 2 million visitors a year from all over the world!

This place has grown in notoriety from self-promotion – free ice water, 5 cent coffee, and billboards all over South Dakota and adjacent states.  And once visited, some people have erected signs all over the world showing the miles to get to Wall Drug.  They also have free stickers and encourage all to take on and place it where it will be seen.  So, we did!  And now you know Where the Heck Wall Drug is!

Hotter than Hades

And the final stop on our journey….Badlands National Park.  It was 105!  A geologist and archeologist playground – shale, sandstone, volcanic ash, and siltstone.  35 million year old fossils – saber tooth cats, rhinos, horses, camels, squid, and turtles to name of few.  

Intense rains and winds have created steep slopes, with little vegetation in sight.  An inch of rock erodes each year, until there will be nothing left.  We saw a few bison around the edges, and I read about sheep and goats, but it is a no mans land.  

Beautiful and terrifying at the same time, 105 degrees was enough to scare me into very little exploring.  That and the watch out for snake signs.  Some people have lost their life in this area not fully appreciating the impact of heat exhaustion or underestimating their ability to find their way back from a trail in the vast wilderness.   A very cool, surreal place to be.

14 national parks, and many other cool things to see over the last month have been incredible.  But from here, we make our way home for a few weeks.  For rest, and time with family and friends to fill our hearts and our souls.

Our next adventure will take us to a few parks out east, along with some epic leaf peeping.  And we are bound to have better cell coverage along the way with our new satellite toy.

Stay tuned!