Black Hills of South Dakota

5^th July

Off we set for South Dakota.  The rolling grass plains continued, although once we got into South Dakota we started to see the odd bush or tree.  Eventually we arrived in the town of Custer in the Black Hills.  We spent the afternoon wandering around Custer.  They have a number of life size Buffalo statues, painted by different artists, all along the main street.

 

 

In the evening we sat under the RV awning as a thunderstorm came over.

 

 

 

 

 

6^th July Bismark Lake

We spent the day on Bismark Lake with the kayak. Paul had no luck fishing but there were several ducks and geese to watch.
There were also four Blue Herons and a pair of Osprey with a nest that we could just about see the heads of the two chicks.
 

7^th July Custer State Park and Mt Rushmore

We drove the loop road in the upper half of Custer SP – Iron Mt road and the Needles.  The road is amazing.  It twists and turns up and down the hills.  In several places they have built the road to spiral downwards, underneath itself like a corkscrew, they have also dug tunnels through the rock.   Our first sight of Mt Rushmore and the President’s Heads was through one of the tunnels.

We did a quick detour to see the Crazy Horse Monument.  This was first started in 1948 and you can see the carved face of Crazy Horse (Lakota Sioux leader) and the horses head has been outlined on the rock below. 


Unfortunately the sculptor commissioned to do the work died in 1982 but his family  
are determined to finish the carving to become the world’s largest mountain carving.

We stopped at Needle Rock to watch some rock climbers.  At the Cathedral Spires formation overlook we spotted some white mountain goats at the top of the mountains; four adults and a baby.

8^th July Stockade Lake

Another day spent on Stockade Lake.  Being a Monday it was much quieter than the weekend and was very peaceful paddling around the lake and watching the geese and ducks. Fishing was a little more successful this time.

Back in camp, sat having our evening meal two wild turkeys passed in the long grass.  They had about 15 youngsters with them. After they had passed by we realised that one of the youngsters had flown up into a tree and was being left behind.  We tried to persuade it to come down but it just flew higher up into the tree.  The two adult turkeys had disappeared into the woods. 

Later in the evening when Paul was fishing on Bismark Lake we saw two beaver swimming the length of the lake.

9^th July Little Devil’s Tower and Harney Peak.

We drove up to Sylvan Lake and set off to hike to Harney Peak, the highest point between the Alps and the Rockies at 7242ft.  But first we took a detour up Little Devil’s Tower, which was not a Tower but a rock formation which required climbing on our hands and knees between a crevasse.


From the top we could see the other side of the Needles rocks and Cathedral Spires that we saw on Sunday and also across to Harney Peak which is a Fire Lookout Tower. At the top of Devils Tower we came across a Mountain Goat.

 

We hiked on to Harney Peak another 3 miles or so.  We were pleased to get to the top where there was a much appreciated cool breeze as temperatures rose to around 30C.  We passed many other visitors on this trail including horse riders, although they have to get off and walk the last part which is a series of steps up to the Lookout Tower.

The whole trial was very enjoyable.  The scenery was lovely as we walked through the pine forests and meadows of grasses and wild flowers.  Sadly the Mountain Pine Beetle is having a detrimental effect on the trees.  The beetle larvae underneath the bark, hinders the tree’s ability to send nutrients from the roots to the needles, which start to turn brown and eventually the tree dies. Various ways of tackling the problems include the removal of infested trees before the larvae pupate and fly onto other trees.  Spraying the trees with chemicals is effective but expensive.

10^th July Hermosa

We packed up camp and drove to Hermosa on the edge of the Custer SP. On the way we stopped at the old stockade just outside of Custer. Once we had parked up we went into Rapid City to do some shopping. 


Mid-afternoon there was a thunderstorm with hailstones the size of small pebbles.
After the storm had passed we had a quick dip in the campground swimming pool.
 

11^th July Custer SP Wildlife Loop

We had a short drive back into Custer SP to drive the Wildlife Loop in the lower half of the park.  We saw Pronghorn Antelope, Prairie Dogs, Deer, Burros and a lot of Bison.  The park has a large heard of around 1300 bison. 

They have a round-up every September and auction off some of the stock; some of which go to other bison breeders.  There were many calves as well as the big bulls, and some adults were still shedding their winter coats; the ratio of bulls to cows is around 1:4.


At the visitors centre we came across a family of Swallows that had
yet to fly the nest. 

Tomorrow we move to the Bad Lands.

Cheyenne to Fort Laramie.

3rd July.

After the work was completed on the RV we set off to Fort Laramie – not to be confused with Laramie, which is a different town.

The route was uneventful and the campsite owner very friendly.  Unfortunately the site was right next to a railway crossing with trains coming through, blasting their sirens, 24/7.  Wyoming is a major coal mining state and these trains were carrying their loads from open-cast mines, along with other freight cargo. So after two days without sleep we were glad when it was time to move on.

4^th July  American Independence Day

We spent the day at the National Historic Site of Fort Laramie.  They were having a special 4^th July celebration.  Entry was free for the day.  Burgers, hot dogs and drinks such as root beer and sarsaparilla were on sale.

The day’s program included an Ox Team demo, Pony Express Mail Exchange, Trotters Equestrian

Drill Team, side-saddle demo, Warrior Horsemanship and the firing of the canon at mid-day.

The Fort was originally established in 1834 to promote trade of buffalo hides with the Northern Plains tribes.  It later became a major base of military operations against the native peoples of the Great Plains.  

 

 

The location hosted several treaty negotiations; one of the most famous being the Horse Creek Treaty of 1851, and was the largest recorded gathering of around 10,000 Native American Indians from many tribes. 

Through this point passed thousands of emigrants during the 1850s travelling to Oregon, to California for the gold rush, and to Salt Lake on the Mormon Trail.  The Fort was a station for the Pony Express until the establishment of the Telegraph and then the Railroad.  After the Indian Wars came to a close it was eventually abandoned and sold in 1890.  Eleven structures have now been restored and refurbished.

In the evening we went along to the fireworks display in the town of Fort Laramie.

 

Colorado Springs.

27^th June.

 

Mummy to be

Before packing up and heading for our next site we had coffee and watched one of the little ground squirrels, of which there are many in this part of the world (and most of them look pregnant).  It was a very adorable creature and posed for the camera.

Our next camp ground, South Meadows, is in the Pike National Forest near Woodland Park.  It was lovely in the shade of the pine trees overlooking the ponds created by the Beaver dams just below in the valley.  This camp site is about 15 miles from Pike’s Peak Mountain where the International Hill Climb was being held on 30^th June 2013 for the 91^st time.

All week competitors had been doing practice runs in the early morning up the mountain in preparation for their final race on Sunday.  The Fan Fest was being held in the evening in Downtown Colorado Springs so we headed down there late afternoon.

Several streets were closed off for spectators to get up close to see the vehicles competing in the PPIHC 2013.  Motor bikes, cars, including electric ones were on display.  Quad bikes and Trucks too.  The Fire-fighters who support the event were holding a chilli-tasting event too.

Sebastian Loeb, nine times winner of the World Rally Championships including 2012, was there with Peugeot (car No 208 naturally), for his first attempt at the Race to the Clouds.  An essential photo opportunity for Alison! (computer issues prevent download).

John Edwards Parton

We spotted a yellow mini with a map of the route on the roof (car 199).  It was being driven by John Edwards-Parton from UK and we chatted with him and his wife Margaret for quite a while.  Margaret was convinced she recognised Alison from work related activities – it is a small world!

Mark Rennison

We also chatted to Mark Rennison (car 200) again over from UK with a Ford RS 200 Evolution.



 

We watched sky divers come down right into the middle of the street.  They came down so quickly it was scary.  About 10 minutes later we realised why – the heavens opened!  We had lightening, thunder and torrential rain and everyone dived for cover into the shops and under exhibitors’ marques. That put an end to the evening.

28^th June. Pike’s Peak Highway.

We wanted to see the course before the race so we drove up the Pike’s Peak Highway.  The road is 19 miles long from the Tollgate entrance (you have to pay $12 each to drive up) and you get your first view of the Peak at mile 3.  It ascends from 7800ft up to the summit at 14115ft.  The average speed limit is 25mph.  There are 3 reservoirs between miles 6 and 7; mile 7 is the PPIHC race start line.

Before

Devil's Playground

There were many other cars on the road and we drove the steady climb up to the summit in glorious sunshine stopping for a picnic lunch at Glen Cove, mile 13.  At the summit, mile 19, we had lovely  views and saw the cog railway train coming up from Manitou Springs.

After

However within 10 minutes of getting to the top, the mountain was encased in cloud and a storm settled over the Peak.  A Ranger stood at the doorway of the Shop/Restaurant advising people to stay indoors out of the lightning.  We had rain, fog, hail, thunder and lightning at eye level.  Once you get above 11500ft, you get above tree level and a human is the highest standing thing for lightning to strike.  Devils playground is above the tree level, at 12780ft, and is given its name because lightning has been known to hit the ground and then spread around.  We made a mental note of this and decided to stay below the tree-line when spectating tomorrow.
 

Our journey back down was uneventful, however we had missed the best photo opportunities as there was too much cloud cover.

30^th June. PPIHC - Race day

We left the camp site at 4.20am and joined the queue of spectators at the base of the mountain by 4.40am.  It then took 2 hours to drive 9 miles to ‘Halfway Picnic’ car park.  There are several parking areas and if you want view points from the higher vantage areas you need to get there when the gates open at 3am. 
 

Pikes Peak in background

Laden with our ‘stuff’ we then walked up to ‘Brown Bush Corner’ an interesting hairpin bend at around mile 10.5 at 10000ft.  We settled ourselves into a nice view point for the day, with the sun shining down on our Union Jack Flag which we set up in a vantage point to support our fellow UK competitors, and waited for the fun to start.

The course is 12.42 miles, with 156 bends, the start line is at 9390ft, and the finish line is at 14110ft.  This year they have finally completed paving the top section of the road, as up until now some parts of the last couple of miles had been dirt track and consequently affected the speed vehicles could tackle the hill-climb.



Odd 3 wheeler

First up, at 8.30am, were the motorbikes.  There were nine different classes including electric bikes (they had to have sirens so that people could hear them coming), sidecars and quads.  Unfortunately 3 bikers came off before they got to our corner.  Two were walking wounded but one had to be air-lifted to hospital. 
We had expected the bikes to come back down the hill before the cars started but this was not to be.

Sebastian Loeb

Sebastian Loeb was first car off the start line and flew up setting a new course record of 8.13.8mins.  A nearby spectator had a radio so we could hear the news.

There was a break between Loeb and the next cars starting the race.  There were seven car classes  including electric cars and of course The Truck! (a huge great Freightliner, but not quite standard road going.)

Pat Doran trying to de-camp

At lunch time the weather began to change.  We had rain and sleet on and off for the rest of the day.  Higher up we understand the snow began to settle and fog reduced visibility!  All afternoon this caused delays whilst they waited for conditions to improve before starting the cars.  Fortunately the weather was changeable and when the sun came out the track dried quickly. 
 

All the accidents seem to happen in the first couple of miles from the start.  One of the electric cars came off and the battery caught fire, again the air ambulance was called into action; this created another hour’s delay.  During this time we decamped from our vantage point and went back down to watch from the area where we had parked the car.

The last vehicles came through at around 5.30pm.  Shortly after that all the competitors came back down from the mountain.  People lined up to “High 5” the competitors as they came past slowly – it was really a great atmosphere.  We stood with our Flag and all the UK competitors acknowledged us by stopping next to us.  It finished the event on a ‘high’ for us.

Then we waited ……. and waited …… and waited …. for the other spectators from the top of the mountain to come past us so that we could get out of our car park.  It took an hour and a half before we actually moved.  We then joined the queue of traffic back down the mountain, which took over an hour to reach the public road.  We eventually got home just after 10pm and had a very good night’s sleep!

1st July. Recovery Day.

After yesterday’s excitement we spent the day recovering and relaxing in the campsite updating the blog etc.  We had a walk around the Beaver dams in between the rain showers in the afternoon. 

2nd July Back to Cheyenne

We have had rain every day since we arrived at Woodland Park and discovered the awnings, that we had replaced over the slide-outs on the RV, were not satisfactory so we arranged to return to the RV Repair garage in Cheyenne for them to re-do the work.  On the way we drove down past Manitou Springs and learnt that the rain that night had caused a mudslide creating a road block and some houses and an RV park had to be evacuated.

Bev's friend Grace

Bev on Rocky

Back up the I-25 past Denver.
Once we had parked up at the campsite behind the garage we went into town to see Bev and friends riding their horses in preparation for Frontier Days Rodeo, when some of them will be involved with the Parades.

 

Spinney Mountain Lake

24^th June.

We had a quiet morning and then drove down the road to Spinney Mountain Lake, which is another reservoir, just 10 miles from the lake where we are camped.  Paul did some fishing from the shoreline and caught two fish, one Pike, the other a nice Salmon. However it was pretty windy so after a couple of hours we drove to the other shore line of 11-mile Lake. 

This area is a fairly flat valley surrounded by mountains. 

Two reservoirs have been created in the shallow canyons and turned into recreational lakes.  At the bottom of 11-mile canyon there used to be a mining town, before it was flooded.  Cattle and horses are grazed in this area, although the grass is fairly poor.

Our camp site is raised on a small hill and we have a lovely view over the lake.  We took a stroll down to the lake side in the evening and noticed the distance hills were obscured.  It was smoke from the distant forest fires in southern Colorado that was being driven up by the southerly wind.

25^th June. 11-Mile Lake

We launched the kayak on 11-mile Lake.  Paul did some fishing (another fine Salmon) whilst Alison slowly paddled. We had a picnic lunch on the rocky shore line near the ‘walk-in/boat-out’ camping area. We past an island which was covered with birds – sea-gulls, cormorants and some pelicans – and they were making a lot of noise!  There must be a lot of fish in these lakes to support so many fish-eating birds so far from the sea.

The weather was perfect today; blue sunny sky with a couple of white fluffy clouds with the slightest breeze so as not to be too hot.  In the evening we enjoyed the freshly cooked salmon and watched the sun set behind the Rocky Mountains in the distance.  We have finally got rid of the Millar Moths which we picked up in Cheyenne.  They are large moths which arrive by the dozen every evening and crawl into all sorts of places emerging the next day inside the RV.  3 or 4 x 1”sized moths dancing in front of the driver’s view is not recommended.

25^th June. Back onto the Lake again.

After spending 5 hours on the lake yesterday we had a slow start to the day.  We eventually got back out on the lake in the afternoon.  There was little breeze and the lake as very flat.  Paul was successful again at fishing so more fresh salmon for dinner!  We watched lightning in the sky somewhere in the distance and hoped it was raining effectively on a forest fire somewhere.

26^th June. Florissant Fossil Beds.

We were out on the lake again in the morning but by midday it was getting too hot so we headed in shore for lunch.  We notice a lot of other boaters left the lake between 11am and 4pm.  Although Paul had a couple of ‘bites’ he didn’t manage to land a fish that day.

In the afternoon Alison went to the town of Florissant to visit the Fossil Bed National Monument.  35 million years ago a volcano erupted and covered a valley of Redwood trees with 15ft of lava and ash; this resulted in the stumps of the trees being petrified. 

 

The Fossil exhibition had been recently refurbished and opened just last month.  There were many excellent fossils of insects and flora on display.  However many of the relics have been taken by tourists and trophy hunters over the past 100 years.  This area was made a national monument to prevent the development of a housing estate on the land.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

12th June Cowgirls of the West Museum

We chatted with Bev over coffee and then headed into Cheyenne.  We visited the Cowgirls of the West Museum, an organisation which Bev is very involved with.  Here we learnt that men and women used to compete on equal level at the rodeos; bronco riding and calf roping.  One year a woman came within one point of winning the Championship (and beating the men) so the next year the rules were changed and women competed in separate events to the men.  After a fatal incident, when a woman was killed in a competition, the rules were changed again and the only events open to women now are the Barrel Racing competitions.  (Who wants to ride a bucking old bull anyway?!). “No rude comments please”.

Then Bev took Alison shopping for …. Cowboy Boots!  (Yep, I’ve got me some cowboy boots at last!)  This is definitely the town for Cowboy Kit – it’s great!  If we had more space in the RV Alison would have a whole wardrobe full of western kit.

13^th June Laramie

We drove to Laramie for lunch.  This town is the base for the Wyoming University. We also went to see the Lincoln Monument. We then went for a hike in the Medicine Bow National Forest around Turtle Rock.  Apparently these are very unusual rock formations and we could see a couple of rock climbers.  There were many Cottonwood trees and the blowing downy seeds looked like snow drifts.

14^th June Friday

We enjoy a day at the ranch.  It is around 83 acres of rolling grassland.  It reminds us of Salisbury Plain as the land stretches as far as you can see, gently rolling up and down.  The grass is not close   When it rains the water is channelled around and towards the grass roots.

set like the grassy mat in UK but it grows in clumps.
In the evening we all go out for a meal were we have Rocky Mountain Oysters and Bear Balls for dessert! 

15^th June  Medicine Bow National Forest

Bev and Dave often go camping in the Medicine Bow forest with two of their horses.  Their friends Grace and Bill also join them with two of their horses.  We join them for the weekend in our RV.  The area is busy with other campers at the weekend; many of them have 4WD or quad bikes.  Most are respectful of the horses and slow down when they pass our camp site.

 

After they have been out riding we all sit around the camp fire for the evening.  The day temperature is lovely but once the sun goes down we need jackets.

16^th June Sunday

Alison takes Bev’s horse, Rocky, out on the ride in the morning and Bev and Paul have a relaxing time in camp.  The horses are out for nearly 4 hours.  It has been 10 years since the last time Alison was on a horse so a hot bath, in Bev’s house when we got home, was greatly appreciated.

17^th June Monday

Alison is surprised she can walk and doesn’t ache as she thought she might.

We went into town for some shopping as Paul wants to do some alterations inside the RV – he loves putting up shelves ….!(Thought I had retired?)

Every evening we watched the clouds build up and lightening lights up the sky in the distance.  However it never seems to rain here.  It is just the warm air creating the static in the clouds.  It is fun

to watch.

18^th June  Tuesday

Bev saddled up the horses and the three of us took a ride around the ranch; Paul on Travis and Alison on Pewee.  Two of the dogs tried to follow us.  Duke gave up after one field but Dewey the corgi followed – but on an inner circle to our wider circle.

 

In the evening we all went over to Grace and Bills for a lovely meal.

19^th June Wednesday

The RV is booked into the Repairs garage for 9am in the morning to replace the slide awnings and then the afternoon to the garage for an oil change and A/C maintenance.  We did some shopping and then visited the Frontier Museum.  This museum is full of wagons, buggies, buckboards, etc from the 19^th century.  It even had a Surrey with a Fringe on Top!

When we got back to the Repairs garage to pay the bill at 3.30pm we discovered they were only half way through the work and the RV had yet to be taken up to the other garage for the rest of the work.  We were not too pleased with this and saying we can leave the RV there over night and they’ll finish in the morning was not the “right” answer, as we need it to sleep in.  Fortunately the garage doing the maintenance work, were able to finish the work in 2 hours before they shut at 6pm.

20^th June Thursday

Bev’s daughter and two children arrived yesterday so today they were all off camping.  So we were left in charge overnight.  Alison did some painting in the RV and other domestic chores.  Every   One minute you have all the windows open because it is warm and then suddenly any paperwork is blown everywhere and you have to shut the windows for half an hour or until the wind dies down. 

afternoon the wind picks up and the change can be very sudden.

In the evening, after the wind died down, we had a BBQ outside the RV (Pork Ribs) and the dogs kept us company.    

21^st June Friday

The family all came back in the morning and in the afternoon we went riding again.  Paul rode Rocky

this time and Dave rode Poncho the Fox-trotter, which is a horse with a particular ‘gait’ which was favoured by cowboys as a means of covering the distances they travelled daily faster.

In the evening we went out with Grace and Bill to the Pine Bluff Rodeo, which is a small town very close to the Nebraska border.  We watched Bull Riding and calf roping and also the Barrel Racing by women as well as some very young children some of whom looked only 6 or 7 years old.  Later in the evening we could see another lightning storm in the distance.  We were surprised how the horses do

not seem at all bothered by the flashing lightning and thunder but as it seems to happen almost every evening we conclude that they are used to it.

22^nd June Saturday

Alison finished off the painting work she was doing in the RV and then went riding with Dave.  Unfortunately Paul had another headache and wasn’t up for much that day.  He seems to be getting a lot of headache recently and we wonder if the long term exposure to the altitude is contributory as we are at around 8000ft here.  Unfortunately we have to cancel the evening out with Grace and Bill but

promise to join up again with them upon our return to Cheyenne for Frontier Days Rodeo at the end of July.

23^rd June Back to Colorado

We set off again, travelling back into Colorado.  We say our farewells to Bev and Dave and Amy and the children.  However our departure is unexpectedly delayed when we discover Duke hiding under the RV.  He has been frightened by something and it takes Bev 20 mins and half a packet of biscuits to persuade him to come back out.  He is a big Anatolian dog and we cannot even bring up the levelling jacks on the RV as it would lower it too much for him to get back out.

We drive down the I-25 back into Colorado.  We pass Denver on our way to Colorado Springs and then head west, past Pikes Peak Mountain, to Eleven-mile Lake State Park just past Lake George.  Although the journey is only 215 miles it took us nearly 6 hours from when we left the ranch and we didn’t get to camp until after 6pm.