Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We were up early and got on the road quickly knowing that we had a five-hour drive from Spearfish Canyon to the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. We arrived at the visitor center in the South Unit in the early afternoon and had a picnic lunch in our car, before going into the visitor center. We watched an informative video on the national park and walked through the Maltese Cross Cabin located behind the visitor center. This restored cabin was built by Theodore Rooseve in 1883 and was originally located on his Chimney Butte Ranch in the Dakota Territory.

The Maltese Cross Cabin

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving the 36-mile scenic loop through the South Unit of the park. We stopped frequently at the overlooks and did a few short hikes at the Wind Canyon Trail, Coal Vein Trail, and the Ridgeline Trail. It was a pretty drive through the badlands where we saw lots of bison and even a few of the wild horses that roam freely through the park.

The Little Missouri River

We spent the night in the historic Rough Riders Hotel in Medora before heading farther north into North Dakota to explore the North Unit of the national park. We only had a few hours to spend here but we made the most of it by doing the 14-mile scenic drive. Our first stop along the scenic drive was at the Cannonball Concretions Pullout to see these near perfect spherical boulders made of sandstone.

We continued along the scenic drive enjoying the views from the rim of the badlands. 

By midafternoon we were back on the road driving back to Rapid City, South Dakota for our flight back to Fresno the next day. 

Spearfish Canyon and Devil's Tower National Monument

We started our morning with a quick hike to Roughlock Falls. The trailhead was right at our hotel which made it really convenient. The hike was an easy one mile walk to the waterfall that is fed by Spearfish Creek. It was a pretty trail with lush greenery all around.

 

After our hike, we got in the car and drove the 75 miles to Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. As we were getting near to the national monument, we could see the monolith standing 867 feet into the air. As usual, our first stop was the visitor center where we learned that Devil's Tower was designated as the first National Monument in the United States in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt. We also found out that there are two main trails that circle the base of the monument. The shorter one, the Tower Trail, is paved and hugs close to the base of the monolith. The second is the Red Beds Loop which is about 2.8 miles and travels a wider circle around the base. We decided to do both starting with the Red Beds Loop.

Devil's Tower from the back side.

The red beds that the trail is named after.

After making it around the Red Beds loop, we walked the inner loop - the Tower Trail. This is a shorter, paved path that circles the tower.

After the two hikes, we headed back to our hotel in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota. As we were just a few miles from the hotel, we came upon a spot in the road where several cars had pulled over and people had their cameras out pointing toward a hill across a stream. It turned out to be several mountain goats that eventually came down the hill, crossed the creek, and came up onto the road. We watched them for a long time and got a kick out of the biggest one who kept jumping and twisting about.

It was a fun way to end a great day of sightseeing!

Wind Cave National Park and Deadwood, South Dakota

This morning we woke up and drove from our hotel in Custer, South Dakota to Wind Cave National Park which is about 30 miles south of Custer. We got there with a little extra time to check out the visitor center before our scheduled 9am cave tour.

As we neared the entrance to the cave, we noticed bright strips of cloth tied to the surrounding bushes and trees. Our cave tour guide explained to us that several Native American tribes believe that the natural entrance to Wind Cave is sacred and, as such, they often tie these "prayer ties" as part of their sacred rituals. Later in our trip we saw more prayer ties along the path at the base of Devil's Tower.

Upon entering Wind Cave, we learned that it is one of the world's largest caves and is known for its extensive boxwork formation. It was the first cave in the US to be made a national park and got its name due to the whistling air that blows from its natural opening.  

Some of the boxwork formations in Wind Cave

We enjoyed the informative tour, however Jim and I both agreed that it wasn't the most interesting cave we have ever toured as it is quite dry inside and does not contain stalactites and stalagmites. After our tour of the cave, we set out to explore more of the national park. We did the Rankin Ridge Trail which is a one-mile loop that took us to the highest point in the park (5013 elev.). At the high point there is a historic fire tower and beautiful views of the Black Hills and Badlands. It was very windy on this trail!

The historic fire tower

We drove back over near the visitor center to a picnic spot for lunch. As we drove, we saw lots of prairie dogs and buffalo.

After the morning at Wind Cave National Park, we headed 1.5 hours north to Deadwood, South Dakota which became well known in the 1870s during South Dakota's gold rush. This gold rush attracted Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane who are both buried there in Mount Moriah Cemetery.

 

We visited the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are both buried. Jim is distantly related to Wild Bill Hickok, so his grave was especially neat to visit.

Jim at his long-lost relative's grave

Next, we headed to downtown Deadwood and its historic Main Street containing many saloons and shops that reflect its 19th century frontier character. Jim stopped into the saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was shot, while I checked out the shops. We met back up in the center of Main Street to watch a reenactment of a frontier shoot out.

After our afternoon in Deadwood, we drove a few more miles into Spearfish Canyon to our hotel - The Spearfish Lodge.