Buffalo Wyoming and Back to Gillette

Took a drive West on Hwy 16 out of Buffalo.  It is the best way to get to Yellowstone but there are tons of gravel off road side trips to beautiful places or awesome views.  This was Tie Hack Reservoir and Dam.  If you notice, it was Buddy's first big cruise in the kayak and he did great.  Well that was until we got back to shore and I picked him up in his little life jacket and put him in about 3 inches of water, so I could get out.  He froze.  Wouldn't move an inch.  Normal dogs would have ran the short distance to shore.  Not our Bud, he just froze and moved his eyes only looking at Randy & I to see who was going to rescue him out of the 3 inches of water.

On our drive on Hwy 16 we caught a herd of 40-50 Elk off the side of the road.  We only saw 1-2 males, all the rest females.  For being in the Big Horn Mountains, we never saw 1 big horn sheep. Bummer...  But the views and landscape wre awesome.  God is so creative and awesome in His designing.  Blows my mind.

 This was my favorite drive/spot of all.  15 miles of 1 lane gravel road through the Crazy Woman Canyon.  Waterfalls, rock formations, and rapid moving river along the whole drive.  There were many folklore stories about how the name came about but none had to do with anyone we know. 

Staying just outside the city of Buffalo was great.  Our campground was owned/operated by a couple from Massachusetts.  Big characters. He looked like Santa with a cowboy hat.  We would wake up mornings with the area infront of our coach or on the side, roped off and his 6 mules and 1 horse grazing away.  Randy helped move them one day.  I helped feed hay another day.  They gave us 2 frozen packs of Antelope hamburger and 2 packs of Antelope roasts before we left.  Tasted awesome!  Not gamie at all.  Buffalo Occidental Hotel is a famous hotel were the author of The Virginian lived, Butch Cassidy & Sundance, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickock, Teddy Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover stayed when coming West.  It was on the Boseman Trail, the gold mining trail.  The series Longmire on A&E is based on the town of Buffalo.  Very historical and neat town of 4600. 

 This was on "the loop".  We took the motorcycle on a 300 mile loop from Buffalo to Sheridan and Hwy 14 west over the Big Horn mountains, then South and back East on Hwy 16 desert to mountain pass back to Buffalo.  This was a waterfall right next to the highway and a great leg stretching, get off the motorcycle and walk - stop.  Can't believe that fish live at the base of waterfalls and rushing water and don't all get rushed downstream. 

Top of the mountain.  Temperatures dropped and occasionally snow on the side of the road but we didn't go sledding.  Not alot of visible wildlife.  Really hoping we'd see a moose or big horn sheep.  No such luck.  I love taking pictures from the back seat of the motorcycle. No windows or auto frames to shoot through.

This was another suggested side trip off Hwy 16W.  Problem is Wyoming stinks at marking or informing with road signs or info on their routes.  Everyone said "Oh about Xmiles, give or take a few"  Usually that meant 10-30 miles, and don't expect a road sign to help you find the correct road.  This was a 5.5mile gravel that turned into a rocky, non-existant road for vehicle and better for 4 wheeler ATV.  Luckily we were in the SUV and not on the motorcycle.  Randy kept saying "it can't be that much further" so we pressed on, jumpin and bumpin til our teeth chattered and we reached the top.  Old Ranger Rick fire tower and the most awesome view of the entire mountain range.  Walked around on the top and caught the beautiful wild flowers and signs of a forest fire from 5 years back.  Then the wonderful, rocky trip back down the same way.  Passed about 10 ATV's on the way down, or moved to the side so they could pass on the 1 lane path.  Im glad the shocks made it through.  Worth every shaking minute. 

Devil's Tower and Gillette Wyoming

 Many times we have passed by the area of Devil's Tower.  Being on vacation, in the past, be "beelined" it from one point to the other and missed many things.  So this was on the Bucket list.  All the pictures I have seen of Devil's Tower were up close, like below.  It never hit what a mammoth miracle it was until you start driving and seeing it in the distance, and it's enormity shows up.  The Indians lore is that a bear was chasing them from one point to another and as it skid to a stop.
The huge upheaval of earth was formed.  Then as the Indians climbed to the top the bear clawed at the sides but never reached them.  That's how the tower was formed and the marks on the side became.  Well that's my shortened version of the lore.  We got the opportunity to walk the trail around the base (about 1mile).  It looks so different from each side.  There had also been a forest fire in the area so the burnt trees were also visible.  A definite must see and long awaited check off the Bucket List.
     We stayed just south of Devil's Tower in the city of Sundance.  Neat little western town.  Free museum about the west and the Sundance Kid (partner of Butch Cassidy.  They had the jail door and court room seats from his actual trial and incarceration.

  In Gillette Wyoming, we got the opportunity to tour a working

Bison Rancy.  65,000 acres and about 2500 bison.  We learned that buffalo is actual the water buffalo.  When the white guys moved west and saw the American Bison the only thing they could relate them too was the water buffalo so that is what they called them.  The true name for our American, unrelated version, is Bison.  All are raised for meat.  But many have been given or sold to zoos and other ranches.  Ted Turner (TV guy) bought many from the Durham Ranch.  They have filmed many Wild West movies (new versions) on the ranch also.



We attended an FMCA Rally in Gillette Wyoming.  This was the vendor area to shop for RV or travel type products.  We met up with out Beaver club (Our motorhome is a Beaver) and had a few Social Hours.  These consist of everyone bringing their own beverages and an appetizer to share.  There was about 60 of us and tons of food each night.  Who needs supper after tasting everyones appetizers. 

This is a air view of the last Rally, just to give you an idea of what 3000+ RV's look like all together.  The best part was meeting up with our Full Timers group and socializing with them.  They are a crazy, fun group.  We got to hand out Ice Cream Sandwiches one afternoon with them.  They made us wear aprons and birthday hats, but it was great fun.  We also volunteered Security duty.  We had 3 shifts of 3 hour assignments.  Randy and I enjoyed visiting with the people and our main job was making sure they had their Rally name tags on and then giving out lots and lots of directions.  I know where every bathroom in the entire complex is!!  Put THAT on my resume!

Forgot this picture.  Aladdin.  The oldest continuously running store in the West.  Used to be a railroad depot (end of the line) and a hotel, bar, and cafe for all the travelers in the late 1800's.  Still a store and upstairs in an antique shop.  Hard to imagine all the people that passed this way over 100 years ago. 

Black Hills Of South Dakota

 We made our way to the Black Hills near Rapid City, South Dakota and the scenery keeps changing. I'm loving it more and more. There is so much to see in this area. Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, Black Hills, Sturgis and Spearfish are within driving distance.

 And as you can see wildlife abounds in this area. We will show a few of the hundreds of pictures and a little history as well. Custer State Park is a sensational area to see mountains, valleys, wildlife, history, and alot of winding mountain grade roads.                        









The scenery is just beautiful. The
pictures on the right and below are
typical for this area. around every
corner is something else to see.

If you look close on the picture on the left you can see Mt.Rushmore. More on that in a bit.  We just love having the motorcycle with us and driving all of the crazy mountain roads and scenic byways of this country.  It is just so awesome to this the God's hand made all of this and we get to enjoy it.                            

 We did a 6.2 mile charity walk at Crazy Horse. The proceeds went to feed local people in need. The walk went thru the woods going from the bottom to the top of Crazy Horse's arm, yet to be completed. As can be seen on the right.                                                                                              

When you get to the top you can get a real feel as to the size of this monument. (That is after we all caught our breath from the hike)  It will be alot bigger than Mt. Rushmore when fully completed, which may not be in my lifetime.  Actually, all four head at Mt Rushmore would fit into just Chief Crazy Horses  head portion.  This is not funded by the government in any way. Just by donations and admission price ($10 normally)

 Driving can take awhile as you go through the Wild Life Loop in Custer State Park. You never know what is around the next corner. A herd of bison made us stop for a good photo opportunity. There are about 1200 bison in Custer State Park.

Buddy was with us and kept sniffing and looking at all the bison.  Scared me that the bison would get just as inquisitive and come even closer yet to investigate him.  But they didn't! 

 Another interesting thing we saw was an actual dig that was started in 1974, when a developer uncovered a large sink hole with about 50 Columbian Mammoths and 3 Woolly Mammoths. Other animals were also found. This exhibit was in Hot Springs, SD about 1 hour's drive from were we were. We spent a few hours reading all the information about the history of this area and the dig. These bones are still in there original place and not disturbed.

This is a poster form of a Columbian Mammoth and there's Randy standing by the front hoof.  Huge, huge animal.  Glad they are not hanging around here today.

 An of coarse no trip to this area is complete without a visit to Mt. Rushmore. We did the presidential walk and also the night show which shows a short movie and honors our service men and women in all branches. It ends with lighting of the heads for nighttime viewing. We will be traveling in this area for a bit longer before heading to Wyoming. Hope you will keep following and let us know if we could make this better.

Badlands,Wildlife and Missiles

                                                                                                                                                               

                          

 As we continue west we have come to the Badlands. It may have been the bad lands for the early settlers because of the harsh terrain and weather conditions, but from a tourist view point it is beautiful. To the right is a picture as we started driving into the National Park. .                  

 There are peaks and valleys and lots of wildlife. I can not help but imagine as the early settlers were going along to all of a sudden have the land just end and drop down into deep basins.

No those are not specs on the windowshield, they are bison on the picture.  Little aren't they.   HaaHaa.  Saw herd of 100 roaming around, eating grass.  Sure are big, up close. 

Then we get closer.  While I'm singing to the tune of Lyons and Tigers and Bears, Oh my. But out West you've got the change the version a bit.  Rattlers and Bison and Deer, Oh my.

We drove the 40 plus mile loop through the Badlands and into Wall South Dakota.  Beautiful views around every corner and every hill top.  Many pull offs to read history or see something of interest.  Randy climbed up to the top of a trail......because he is MAN and he can.  I just saw the BEWARE OF RATTLESNAKE signs and stayed on the ground floor, checking out the scenery.  He made it to the top and called me on his cell so I could wave at him.  How weird is that?  Only in America do you get cell phone signal in the middle of seemingly nowhere and from some guy wanting you to wave at you!  I shot a few pictures of him, for proof.

Oh well, back to the Bison.  Randy did not consider himself "Out West" until we saw one up close.  So this was our first "up close" shot.

Never even knew that during the Cold War there were 150 missiles in the Badlands and western South Dakota, "Just in case".  Toured the Missile base and if time permitted could have seen the empty launch site.  Very interesting.  Boring service job hanging out underground for 36hrs, waiting to push a button.  Or upstairs watching TV, reading, or sleeping waiting for the next shift.  Tour guide did it for 3 years.  Boy could he talk.  Must be making up for the 3 years on lock down. 

Drove through Prairie Dog Town.  Happen to have some popcorn with us and fed the little creatures.  They make some weird noises.  The fat ones were much braver then the skinny ones.  They must have figured out the "cars drive by, food flys out" method of eating.  1000's of hills/holes of Prairie Dog homes.  It so resembles the carnival game were you wack the prairie dog back into its hole to win.

Of course, we had to stop at Wall Drug Store.  Randy had never been there.  Tons of amazing history and 1890's pictures of the people and area.  That is after you pass all the gift shops and trinket stuff.  We ate a Buffalo Burger, no cheese.  Good stuff...

Forgot all the Pronghorns we have seen.  Not as skidish as our White Tails back in Wisconsin.  But plentiful.        Our next stop will be in the Black Hills area, my favorite!