Tuesday, August 3 We left for Helena, Mt. about 9 for the 245 mile drive to Billings, Mt. for a quick overnight stay on our way to Devils Tower, Wy. Shortly after we got settled a nasty t-storm rolled in. It did wash away some of the smoke so that was a good thing!
Wednesday, August 4 Our daughter Chris had rotator cuff surgery today, said our prayers for a successful surgery. We left early (for us) 8:15 for our 293 mile drive to Devils Tower, Wy., arriving at 1:30. From our site we can see a beautiful red rock cliff and to our left we see the Tower. After dinner we picked up a geo cache in the gift store parking lot before driving up to the Visitor Center for a closer look. Unfortunately the sky is hazy from smoke to get decent pictures.
Thursday, Aug 5 First thing in the morning we drove up to the Visitor Center (masked required again to enter building) to hike the Tower Trail, only 1.3 miles around the base and wheelchair accessible. No problem - right? They LIE! part of it is wheelchair accessible but the rest of it is steep. I thought we were almost back to the starting point when I saw the sign for the halfway point. The elevation is a killer, the tower trail raises above the Belle Fourche River 1,267, the summit of the Tower itself is another 867 feet. The elevation at the top is 5,112 feet above sea level. The very first National Monument recommended by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. In 1941 George Hopkins parachuted onto Devils Tower without permission, he had intended to descend by ladder, unfortunately the ladder fell off the top when dropped from the air. What a fix he was in! He was stranded for 6 cold days before a mountain climbing team rescued him. Hundreds of climbers scale the sheer rock every year, there are many established routes from easy to challenging. There is no overnight sleeping on the tower, the climb and repel must be completed the same day. Jim and Pam, friends of ours from Rockport stopped to have lunch with us, they're on their way to Montana and Oregon, so good to see them.
Friday, Aug. 6 Talk about timing, good or bad depending on your perspective, if you're a motorcycle enthusiast you'd be happy. Us not so much. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is happening, it started the first Friday in August (today) and runs for 10 days, over 700,000 people are expected to attend. There are many of them staying in the park KOA Devils Tower, at least 1 1/2 hours from Sturgis. We decided to drive to Deadwood, SD for the day, so did thousands and thousands of motorcyclists. The elevation is 4,531 and is best known for it's gold rush history and where Wild Bill Hickock was killed. He and Calamity Jane are buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery high above Deadwood. The historic Main Street would have been interesting but with thousands of motorcycles and bikers, we weren't able to get a feel for it, maybe another day. We did walk the length of the street but with the crowds, cigarette smoke and engine noise it wasn't much fun.
Sunday, August 8 We left Devils Tower at 9 for the 244 mile drive to Medora, ND., population 129 elevation 2267. We noticed the town looked "new" with a western theme, even though it was founded in 1883. Theodore Roosevelt first came to the area to hunt bison, a year later he returned to grieve the loss of his wife and mother, starting a ranch only to have it fail because of the harshness of the land. Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in 1947 as a national memorial to the President and to preserve the Badlands. The entrance to the South Unit is in Medora, to get to the North unit is another 50ish miles. We decided to skip the North unit.
Tuesday, Aug. 10 We drove through the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a scenic loop of 38 miles - except part of the road was destroyed by bad weather. The Badlands aren't as "BAD" as South Dakota's which are amazing. The Prairie Dog Towns were "cute", they were shared by Bison. We got an up close look at 2 Bison as they straddled the road, you just have to wait for them to pass. We were nervous Luci would wake up and start barking at the behmoths just outside the window. That would not have been good! The Painted Canyon area of the park is the prettiest - you can see it from the Rest Area-Visitor Center off I-94 a few miles East of Medora. I had read on ND Tourism Site about the Emerald Highway, 45 miles west of Medora. It is a stretch of unnamed (county)road that has 8 scrap metal sculptures and as it turned out they all had geo caches placed in them. At the exit, "Geese in Flight" has the Guiness records for largest scrap metal sculpture. Gary Greff had a dream and no money (his words) to revive his hometown of Regent. We finished at Enchanted Castle, motel and restaurant, (that he owns) where he is finishing his 9th, a dragon and knight. A former educator with no art or welding experience returned to Regent to start his project, he says it takes about 6 years to complete each sculpture. The road runs from exit 72 from Gladstone (happy rock) to Regent.
Wed. August 11 Today our niece Carrie had brain surgery to remove a lemon sized tumor, good news after 6 hours they were able to remove it successfully. In the afternoon we visited the Chateau de Mores historic site near our campground. The Marquis de Mores came to the Dakota's from France to make his fortune with a cattle operation, slaughterhouse and refrigerated rail cars. He built it as a hunting lodge, inviting many notable people including Roosevelt. He lost his shirt basically, went back to France, his heirs gave the Chateau and acreage to Medora. All that remains of the slaughterhouse is a chimney after a fire destroyed it in the early 1900's Most of the furnishings are original to the house, he imported most everything from France including 100's of bottles of wine still in the chateau.
Enjoy the pic's,
TTFN,
Gary and Pam
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