Wyoming

Road Trip U.S.A. – Living It Up in Deadwood, on the Way to Badlands

mhoustonflLeave a comment

After leaving Yellowstone, we had to drive practically the full length of Wyoming, along the northern side. The landscape varied between high prairies and rolling hills, and ultimately morphed into higher hills and mounds of orange, white, and green.

We stopped for lunch at the City Park in Cody, Wyoming, across the street from the high school. The whole town seemed right out of the 1950s, and I kept wondering what it would be like to grow up there. The city park was very nice; people having picnics, a Sunday, quiet.

After Cody, things got wilder. Some very desolate two lane roads (the routes Google Maps picks out are interesting, to say the least). After the colorful mounds (if they had been green they reminded me of Moundville, in Alabama), we started to climb up and up into the incredible Big Horn National Forest. Massive gorges, edged by towering rust grey walls, outlines of rock structures that looked like imaginary cities against the sky. We reached well over 9000 feet elevation, and the good old Explorer just kept chugging along.

Finally we left the Big Horn area, and returned to long straightaways – only to encounter yet more mountains. We finally crossed the border into South Dakota…where gambling is legal.

Deadwood, very close to Sturgis, site of motorcycle rallies, can only be described as insane. No other word for it. We stayed at the historic Franklin Hotel, which was a world class celebrity spot from 1903 to 1929. It was then converted into apartments until it was rehabbed in the 2000s.

The bottom floor is an opulent 1900s recreation with casino, but the rooms are likely as they were in the apartment days. The same wainscoting, fixtures, and tiles. A very comfortable king size bed and it was pretty great to take a shower after three full days of camping. Free parking and a coupon for a free drink in the casino. Dinner was in the basement restaurant, which was very crowded, but it was reasonably priced and actually very good. We also had a great server, who told us all about the wildlife loop at Custer State Park.

After breakfast, we strolled down the main drag. Deadwood is not only the site of the TV series, but was THE place to party for miners in the 1870s who had struck gold in South Dakota. According to the New York Times in 1877 – it was full of flim flam men, brothels, and gambling. Currently, there are lots of historic hotels, western wear, and casinos. Every shop has a bar, and people start drinking very early. It’s a unique vibe, to say the least.

We left Deadwood to drive through the plains to Rapid City, where we made a Walmart grocery store shop. I’m a lot more of a Walmart fan after this trip.

We finally reached Custer State Park, and had lunch at the nice visitors center. Wooded, evergreen black hills, interspersed with grassy plains. Very bucolic. On our way to the wildlife loop, a huge herd of bison crossed the road right in front of us. We immediately say a pronghorn (antelope), more bison, a mule deer, wild donkeys (left over from an old tourist attraction), and lots of prairie dogs.

After Custer State Park, we decided we couldn’t stand the shame of admitting we hadn’t seen Mt. Rushmore, even though we had not planned to visit. So, with me at the wheel, we took the Iron Mountain Road to Mt. Rushmore. The road is crazily and intentionally curvy. It’s the counterpart of the Needles Highway. You go through three tunnels, and at the third the four heads of presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore are perfectly framed. It is remarkable, regardless of your views of taking a natural (and sacred) landscape and carving presidents’ heads into them. The little town at its base is the epitome of tacky tourism.

After the hairpin turns and corkscrew bridges, it was a positive relief to be back on the interstate. But it wasn’t long before we were back on S.D. 44 – over prairies, and suddenly, in the distance, white jagged walls emerged in the distance. If I wasn’t fairly confident we were on Earth, it really could have been a scene from another planet. We were about to reach Badlands National Park.

Road Trip U.S.A. – A Taste of the Tetons

mhoustonfl1 Comment

Jackson Hole may be best known for skiing, but snowless summer months offer plenty of entertainment.

Although we are hardly equestrians, J and I have gone horseback riding during many of our travels. So far we have managed trail rides in South Africa (that one also involved zebras), Hawaii, Russia, Croatia, and Arizona, to name a few. The Tetons seemed an appropriate addition.

We met up with our niece, F (who really does live near Nice, France), as she was the only of our family group willing to brave the large four legged creatures that were to take us up one of the nearby mountains. She rode a very hungry “Chuckles,” J had a chunky “OT” (for Overtime), and I was blessed with Rhinestone. Apparently the trail company has over a thousand horses between Grand Teton National Park and one other location. Beautiful wildflowers, including lots of Indian Paintbrush, which is the Wyoming state flower. My favorite part was when our guide instructed us to get a move on so our horses weren’t spooked by the nearby bear cub who had climbed a tree, with Mama Bear right below.

Next up was a drive around the beautiful Lake Jennie loop. It was rainy but that didn’t keep us from enjoying sandwiches and a beer at Dornans, a long time Jackson establishment. And saw another bear. Bears were sort of a theme in the Tetons.

The afternoon saw a short but fun Lake Phelps hike. This part of the park is on the Lawrence Rockefeller Preserve. The Rockefellers, who had built a large estate on the property, donated it all to the park on the condition that all man made structures were to be torn down and the area returned to nature. Towering mountains peering over at a serene mountain lake. And on the way back we encountered a very large moose.

The following day, which was beautifully sunny, our hiking party consisted of my sister in law, T, J and me. I think the others were turned off by the fact the trail bore the auspicious name, Death Canyon. After driving through some of the many road construction sites (it seems as though most of the USA is currently building roads), we entered the park and ventured just beyond Phelps Lake. The trail starts wooded and a bit of an uphill, and then a very steep downhill, which you unfortunately know you will face up on the way back. You cross a number of boulder fields, but the trail is so well constructed you aren’t even aware of the exposure. Meadows of yellow daisies and purple thistles (which are not native, apparently), periwinkle blue flowers that looked like bluebells, and deep purple wild snapdragons. We walked alongside a river that cascaded into waterfalls before encountering a long uphill slog to the saddle right below Static Peak, at the patrol station. We keep going until the IPhone promised us we were at 8000 feet. I’m not sure what our total elevation gain was but it seemed considerable.

We pulled out our Maasai blanket from Tanzania and had a great picnic, which fortified us for a fast downhill followed by the uphill section we knew was coming. 

We couldn’t leave Jackson without some exploration of the town. Yes, we did see the iconic antler arches, browsed through a mountaineering store, and took advantage of the Snake River Brewery.

A very fun spot, and even the fact I left a hiking sock in T’s dryer didn’t seem that important. I guess it met up with the hat left in the Yorkshire Dales and the visor left in Hot Springs. I’m considering a blog post called “things I left behind on sabbatical.”

Road Trip U.S.A. – Camping and Canyons in a Rooftop Tent

mhoustonfl1 Comment

Once we left Golden, CO the temperature had crept far enough below three digits that we had no excuses left. Rooftop tent camping had to begin. After all, we had already lumbered a couple of thousand miles from Florida with the thing stuck on top of our car roof. It was time to do something with it.

Another set point on our road trip was the start date of an AirBnb in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where we were meeting up with family members. Hence, day 1 of camping had to be somewhere between Golden and there.

We managed to reserve a Hipcamp in Buford Canyon, Wyoming, just west of Cheyenne. After a quick stop at a Colorado grocery store (with the unlikely name of “King Soopers” – but that was actually a Kroger’s), we had miles of driving north through Colorado. The burgeoning development outside of Denver reminds me in an unfortunate way of Florida, but then we shifted into high prairie and desert, multiple shades of yellow. Plus the wind picked up…no wonder Kansas had a song called Dust in the Wind. (Incidentally, the Spotify playlist for Kansas contains only two tolerable songs. It was J’s bright idea that’s what we should listen to while driving across the prairies.)

We stopped at the very modern Wyoming State Welcome Center. It’s more like a museum than a welcome center, with lots of interesting displays. The wind blew everything off our picnic table…

We decided to drive through Cheyenne, but there wasn’t much to see other than the capitol building and a very inactive downtown. Even though it was Sunday, I don’t think that was the problem.

Our campsite was about a mile off of the very heavily trafficked I-80. This part of the country is apparently home to the freight train industry with one plus mile long trains. I didn’t even know such things existed.

The campsite was absolutely stunning. A beautiful shelter for a picnic table, with a “designed by” plaque commemorating the architect. A spotless composting toilet and two sites with tiny houses. We set up camp, and walked around the interesting rock formations on the property, and over the ladder the owner had placed to allow entry into state land and the canyon itself.

After a brief scare when we couldn’t get the lighter to work we managed a pretty good first night camping dinner of steak and asparagus. The night sky was a spectacular tapestry of silver and black. The only downside was the I-80 traffic and train noise, which was constant. But it was more than made up for by the convenient and beautiful location. Elevation was about 7600-7800, and we could feel it.

The next day was a long day of driving the length of Wyoming. After we broke down camp, we drove through high desert with the Wind River mountain range on one side. Unfortunately much of the drive was on I-80, with 18 wheelers careening in the wind, and my fingers were sore afterwards from my white knuckled driving.

Some of the area looked like what I would call salt flats. Very desolate, with tiny hamlets of only 100-200 people. I especially liked the truck stop called “Stinker.” We even went through a small town called Eden, which had a few green fields.

Eventually we climbed higher and higher, suddenly saw evergreens, and the next thing we knew we were approaching the Tetons and Jackson.

We located our AirBnb in Teton Village, a major ski resort with lots of condos. What a change from what we had been driving through. J and I managed to get cleaned up – after a night of camping and days of driving we were pretty grimy – and rendezvoused with family. Time for a few days of real R&R – hiking and the like, and a nice break from the road.