Three States Behind

  Since my last post we have stayed in Idaho, Wyoming, and now South Dakota. I suppose I have gotten a little lazy plus a little overwhelmed from all the scenery and photos I have taken. We left Utah, August 5 and went to Idaho. I wanted to get a campground close to the West Entrance of Yellowstone National Park which is actually in Montana but the rates are expensive there. When you are camping for this long a time you become conscious of what you are paying because if not, you can eat up your budget fast. With that in mind I book at state parks or Corps of Engineers facilities if possible before booking at a private campground. My next choice is using my Passport America membership and of course best case is Thousand Trails.
  So here we are at Lake Henry's State Park in Idaho, about 15 miles to the west entrance of Yellowstone:

A beautiful setting but the wind sweeping in from three surrounding mountain passes is brutal. We also experienced a hail storm:

Speaking of storms we are getting one right now. It is Eclipse Day and we are in Mitchell South Dakota and the sky is dark; not due to the eclipse but by a massive thunderstorm. Right now should be optimal viewing for the eclipse, but nothing doing thanks to the storm. Luckily we are at the north edge of the storm because softball size hail is hitting to the south of us.

That is a street light on behind us at 12:24 PM CDT.

  This is a perfect chance to get caught up on the blog. Yellowstone was the main objective and we finally made it on Sunday August 6:

The West Entrance Road is about 14 miles long and passes by some spectacular scenery:

We got our usual late start about 1 PM thus limiting our ability to get too far in the park so we plotted a course to Old Faithful and would take in some sights along the way:

There are numerous geysers and steaming pools throughout the park:

Finally at Old Faithful. The crowd had already started forming for the eruption when we got there:

And here we go:

Doesn't last long, about two minutes. 

  Yellowstone is a massive park at 3,500 square miles in three states; mainly Wyoming and parts are in Idaho and Montana. We did not see the entire park through three separate visits. Four counting the day we left. I was disappointed with the lack of wildlife sightings other than elk. When we eventually made our way to the eastern part of the park I was rewarded with a bear and some buffalo:

The views and scenery are endless and I had to resist the urge to stop every few miles for more pictures

Our stay came to end and we drove through the park to our next destination- Ranchester Wyoming. 

After leaving Yellowstone our route took us through Shoshone National Forest and was just as amazing as Yellowstone:

Not to be outdone the Bighorn National Forest was equally amazing:

We took US 14A over the mountians which is an 11% grade taking us to the sky:

We stayed at Lazy R Campground in Ranchester, a two stop sign town and basically took a break from sightseeing. We were able to do laundry and make a Walmart run. Our campsite was not exactly spacious compared to previous sites:

Some local wildlife:

  Next we were on our way to Deadwood South Dakota and Steel Wheel Campground and Trading Post:

A day trip to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument were about and hour away:

I had heard people say the monument was far away and you could save the $10 parking fee by seeing the monument from the road but I disagree; the view from Grand View Terrace  and the views from the Presidential Trail are worth the fee.

Washington, father of our country:

Lincoln, the Great Emancipator and preserver of the Union:

Jefferson, authored the Declaration of Independence and fulfilled our Manifest Destiny:

Teddy Roosevelt, champion of the middle class and father of the National Park Service:

Crazy Horse Monument is a privately funded monument not supported by state or federal dollars. The entrance fee is $11 a person or $28 per car load.

Scale model of the monument at completion:

The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski and his wife, both deceased, had 10 children and seven of them have dedicated their life's work to completing the sculpture. Korzcak worked alone for for the first seven years climbing the more than 700 steps he constructed to the top of the mountain every day, sometimes several times a day. Here is his air compressor he used to power his tools:

Notice the "kaput" sign on the stack. During an interview Korczak described how he would start the machine before climbing the stairs and the engine would cut out, or go "kaput" and he would have to go back down to start the engine again. This happened several times. Mount Rushmore was completed in 14 years while Crazy horse was started in 1948 and the face wasn't completed until 1996. They have a long way to go! 

The monument is a lot farther away then Rushmore. There is an American Indian Museum, restaurant, and gift shop on the premises.

  The entire town of Deadwood is a National Historic Site, the only city or town in America designated so. Historic Main Street is the big attraction:

Saloons and casinos are in nearly every building and of course each has a history connected to the myths of the Old West. Especially Wild Bill Hickok who was killed by Jack McCall here:

The Bullock Hotel was opened by Deadwood's first Sheriff, Seth Bullock:

Of course there were the brothels in Deadwood:

Deadwood is similar to Dodge City in history. They share many of the same characters such as Wild Bill and Wyatt Earp. Dodge's economy was driven by the cattle drives while Deadwood's was the gold rush. 

 So here we are in Mitchell South Dakota; eclipse day has come and gone and so will we tomorrow. But we were able to get one last taste of the South Dakota of the Midwest: The world's only Corn Palace in downtown Mitchell:

The building is decorated with actual ears of corn. This has been going on since the turn of the Twentieth Century. Each year a new theme is mounted on the building at an average cost of about $130,000.

Basically it is a multipurpose arena seating several thousand:

A very unique attraction.

  That is it for the westward swing of the trip. The weather has been crazy; driving rain and thunderstorms, hail, wind, temperature extremes (100 degrees to 40 degree nights). 

Mile high mountains to green lush valleys. We passed through ten different national forests and visited five national parks and several national historic landmarks.

We have had to replace a tire, repaired blown off body panels on the trailer,replaced a torn off roof covering, battled an ant infestation for weeks, and fought a gnat war. 

Heading east now and hope to be in PA sometime in mid September.

The Beehive State

  Who out there knew the state nickname for Utah was the Beehive State?  Our first stop after leaving Colorado was Moab Utah. Moab is a quaint small town in the  eastern part of the state.  We got another great view from our campsite at OK RV Park on the southern end of town. Very convenient right off US 191:

Sunset was spectacular:

After about a ten minute drive we were at Arches National Park:

There are web cams of the entrance gate you can view before heading out because sometimes the park is so crowded there is a long wait at the gate. We got lucky this day and the next with no waiting.

  The park is not as big as Mesa Verde. A short drive from the visitor's center takes you to your first viewing area, the Park Avenue Viewpoint and Trailhead:

All of the rock features are named and easily hiked to. 

This scene reminded me of something out of an old Star Trek episode:

This is called Balanced Rock:

The famous Double Arches:

I cannot emphasize enough, that if you are going to visit Arches, take seriously the warnings about having enough drinking water with you. The temperature hits 100 degrees and just a short easy hike can dehydrate you.

There are so many awesome views and photo ops:

A few days later we drove to Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is a huge park with three separate sections with their own visitors centers: Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. The Island in the Sky was the most accessible for us, about a 45 minute drive. 

As the name implies there are many canyons:

In the above photo you can see a roadway in the center-right on the side of the canyon wall.

There is a persistent haze in the air caused by pollution from wild fires, farming, and carbon emissions.

  Our next stop in Utah was Willard Bay State Park about an hour north of Salt Lake City:

This was one of our best campsites. All the sites are large with covered picnic tables. A bargain too at less than $30 a night.

We took a day trip to SLC and saw the Mormon Temple:

The old Union Pacific Train Depot:

The splendor that once was the golden age of rail travel. Now an empty shell:

There are street cars though:

And panhandlers, in spite of signs telling people not to support such activity and the panhandlers themselves:

Traffic was abominable on I-15 between SLC and Ogden so we got out of town before the afternoon rush our and stopped in Ogden for dinner:

  That concludes our Utah visit. We are moving north to Idaho and base camp will be Henry's Lake State Park. We will be close to the West entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The weather will be in sharp contrast to what we have experienced up to now. The 100 degree days will give way to highs in the seventies and lows in the forties. And I brought only one pair of long trousers. Stay tuned.