Mt Rushmore to Yellowstone (almost)
9am- Hotel Breakfast then headed to Mt. Rushmore. I wan’t sure what to think. I had heard that you couldn’t get close to the carving and that it was a bit underwhelming. I was pleasantly surprised! Getting glimpses of the faces while driving through the beautiful Black Hills was very cool. There were small tunnels to drive through and the Black Hills forest is one of my favorites.
The actual monument. (Outside of the gate, no dogs allowed,)
10:00 am Got gas at Keystone across from the largest Bigfoot chainsaw carving in the US. (Or so they say)
Drove along the Needles Hwy in Black Hills Mountain for a few lovely hours
Saurabh decided to check out Devil’s Tower National Monument. I was stressed about time, but it was worth it. There is traffic when you are close to the park and parking is tight, but we got to see two (very tiny) people climbing up and hear about the creation myths and (possible) ufo activity. Spooky fun.
By this time, it was around 7:00 pm and our next location was a dome in Wyoming and I was (weirdly?) stressed about tracking through the wilderness in the dark.
But we had another forest to drive through and this one was also amazing. It blows my mind how beautiful these national parks and forests are. Thank goodness for the National Park Service.
Bighorn National Forest vis hwy 14 (8,347 elevation)
Then on to Shell Creek (where I was still unsuccessfully trying not to stress about bears and darkness)
The drive from Shell Creek to Cody and Wapiti was beautiful, the sun was setting (still scared) and a storm was brewing in the distance. But we pulled in @ 10:00 pm and made it into the domes without rain or bears. Yay!