Rapid City, SD. Wednesday, 1 August 2012

US Presidents, Tatanka, and the Badlands.  Headed out to the Mt Rushmore area this first day of August via Hiway 16, going thru Hill City and Custer.  The morning was overcast with a threat of rain, but all we got was some light drizzle.  Arrived at the monument amid what I’d call “light” tourist numbers, which made everything a lot easier to get around and take pictures.  And did I take some pictures!  The whole Mt Rushmore area is set up quite nicely for tourists and we both felt the entire experience was wonderful.  The monument is spectacular and I hope the pictures I took do it justice.  I used my “good” camera that I purchased from J. Kuntz Discount Camera Gear & Equipment and Bagel Shoppe at rock-bottom prices (Thanks again, Jon!).   Anyway, we were very absolutely impressed with the actual monument itself – very extraordinary.  We hiked up one trail as far as my bad knee would take me to get as close as possible for photographs.  I think I got some really good head shots of all four presidents, from several different angles.  We’ll see once I download the pix onto the laptop and get a better look.  I promise to pick out some of the better ones to post on the blog.

Once we left the Mt Rushmore Memorial we drove into Custer State Park in search of wildlife.  Lynette was beginning to think that all the buffalo had disappeared with the westward expansion of the US since we were coming up empty as far as seeing anything other than some prairie dogs.  Coming around a bend in the road we suddenly came upon a small herd of the great American bison -- and finally saw the great Tatanka.  We counted about 20, including one big bull and several calves.  Here are a couple of the many photos I took.  Magnificent animals, especially up close.

Other than those few buffalo in Custer State Park, we had struck out for seeing wildlife, so decided to head for South Dakota’s Badlands, about 70 miles east of here.  We’d seen the exits for the Badlands area on our way into Rapid City earlier this week.  On this excursion we took a “back road” – much of it gravel – into the area and saw several bighorn sheep, plus the ever-present prairie dog mounds.  The Badlands are such an unusual landscape, almost alien-like; much like a moonscape.  We saw such different rock formations and hills that have been eroded by wind and rain.  Also learned that as the Black Hills – which are 2 billion years old, as opposed to the Rockies that are about 20 million years old – eroded, they filled the Badlands area with loose soil and rock.  This soil/rock would later be eroded quite easily by the wind, rain, and other weather conditions over millions of years.  Anyone visiting the Black Hills area should include the Badlands as a ½ day excursion…well worth the drive.