The Black Hills of South Dakota

After we left Nebraska, we spent five days in the Black Hills of South Dakota, staying in Custer State Park. Neither I nor Laura had ever been to the Black Hills and we enjoyed it very much. Custer State Park is large, varied, and spectacular; it could easily be a national park. We took some mountain hikes and  some prairie hikes. We enjoyed the adjacent Wind Cave National Park and the Jewel Cave National Monument. The cave tours were worthwhile and I particularly enjoyed the grasslands of Wind Cave. Our two hikes there had to be rerouted due to buffalo hazards.

We visited the nearby Mount Rushmore National Monument.  Laura enjoyed seeing the sculpture both from the distance and then from closer up while walking around the base of the sculpture. Mr. Grumpy in contrast acknowledges that it’s an impressive technical and artistic achievement but questions whether it is ever appropriate to deface a mountainside for a public art project. Artistic tastes and social mores change with time, and I think it’s rather presumptuous to assume our descendants are going to appreciate having the values and politics of the current time inflicted upon them. Consider for example the gigantic carving of  Confederate generals on the side of Stone Mountain outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Stone Mountain is a stunning geological feature, you can’t miss it, but do we all really want to look at those guys forever? On the other hand it’s a large country and we have lots of mountainsides.  Mount Rushmore, unlike Stone Mountain, is in an isolated area and it unlikely to be seen by anyone who is not looking for it.  There exist monumental sculptures all over the world that are treasured cultural  artifacts. One example is the beautiful Uffington White Horse in southern England; it may be a thousand years old. Perhaps Mr. Grumpy should keep his critical thoughts to himself. Stone Mountain really is awful though.

Sorry about that last paragraph. Moving on, Laura and Craig are in agreement that Devils Tower National Monument in eastern Wyoming is just spectacular. We walked the Tower Trail around the foot of the formation and then the longer Red Beds Trail that makes a loop around the tower from further out. The views are stunning; I’ve never seen anything like it.  Otherwise, we haven’t done Wyoming justice; we spent a day driving hours across most of the state so as to get to Yellowstone National Park for our camping reservations. The  Big Horn Mountains and associated canyons we sped through are breathtaking. It was a frustration for me to drive through them without stopping.  I look forward to someday spending time there.

After three weeks now in the camper van we’re really having a great trip. The weather is much cooler as we head for Yellowstone National Park. We’ve had some mishaps.  Craig didn’t pay adequate attention in the coin shower at the campground and ran out of quarters while fully lathered up.  I relocated to a fortunately nearby bathroom where there was a sink. In our family we call that a “free lesson”; escaping from a mistake with no real harm done, hopefully to learn from the experience.  More significantly, we hit a deer driving in the dusk in Wyoming and significantly damaged the front of the camper van. It is still drivable and fortunately a Cody body shop went out of their way to repair the headlight so we are able to continue our trip safely.