But what about the Badlands?

That's why we came after all. But this whole Black Hills area has been so spectacular it's been hard to leave.

Today Icky lead us on a 7 mile hike called Crow Peak. Toughest one yet -1,500 vertical feet and steep narrow paths but stunning views at the end. This took a while though and since we didn't finish until about 3 pm, we decided to go over to Devil's Tower today instead of in the morning as planned.

Wyoming is pretty cool also - at least the area around Sundance, WY. (Polly had to tell us that the film festival is in Sundance UTAH - thanks Polly). Beautiful farms and many for sale.

Devil's Tower was our 2nd biggest surprise after Rushmore. Quite dramatic and peaceful - not crowded at all. America's first National Monument, it just rises straight up out of the plains.

We hiked around the base and could see a half dozen or more climbers on the shear sides of the monument. Also there were dozens of vultures / eagles / hawks flying around at the top leading us to conclude that the whole thing must be a really tall bird bath.

There are a few more pictures - click here.

So tomorrow we will finally visit the Badlands, first in North Dakota, then South Dakota. We're driving 4 hours north to Theodore Roosevelt National Park for two days before heading south to Badlands National Park. Posts may be missing or sketcky for a a day or two.

Potato Creek Johnny

Spearfish, South Dakota.  The area around this town has some of the most beautiful scenery we've seen yet. We hiked two trails on Wednesday and will do one more long one tomorrow.  The plan is to drive to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota on Friday by way of the Devil's Tower. Icky's grumbling because we've been here a week and only hiked 29 miles.  I'm sure we'll catch up.

This is what you think of when you hear about fly fishing.  Rivers, creeks and streams everywhere.  There's  a fish hatchery and museum in the town with a rail car that was outfitted to move fish from the hatchery across the country.

One of the trails we hiked today climbed 1,000 vertical feet in just 3/4 of a mile and was used by Potato Creek Johnny. He was a prospector famous for finding one of the largets gold nuggets in these hills and often hiked the trail we took from his cabin 5 miles away to the Latchstring Inn to trade his gold for supplies.  The trail leads to a summit called Buzzards Roost.  After hiking the trail we figure that Johnny's mule was none too happy with him.

There are a few more photos - click here.

Still no Mountain Lions

But, lots of other cool stuff. Safari this morning w/ a guy named Ken and hundreds of buffalo (Bill's getting to know them really well).

Two great hikes today in Custer State Park. Then a drive up to Spearfish, SD with a quick no-thank-you to Deadwood, SD. Two nights here w/ lots of hiking planned and then possibly off to Sundance and Devil's Tower (remember "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"?). Scenery in Spearfish is beautiful so far.

For a few more photos from what's happened so far click here.

What's that sucking noise?

It's either the entrance to Wind Cave or the two of us holding our breath and backing up when we ran into a bison on the trail. The hikes here are teriffic. Wildlife is everywhere - no rattlesnakes yet but hopefully we'll see one soon.

We're in Custer State Park so no phone service and they just heard about the Internet last year. So limited blogging and no photos but hopefully we can put some up in the next day or two.

Plan is to be in Spearfish tomorrow night on the way to Devil's Tower later in the week.

Guided wildlife safari early tomorrow.

Icky, Smokey and Teddy

We slowed down the pace a little. Stopped by a National Forest information center and collected maps and regional information. Then, in spite of many warnings that Mt. Rushmore was cheesy, we went to see the boys.

We thought it was pretty cool. That is if you can ignore the fact that some Danish stone cutter totally defaced the side of a hill and if you can get your mind around the fact that they let him pick out the subjects.

But the park is very attractive and clearly built to handle volumes of people; overweight pickup truck driving ice cream eating Amuricans with lots of screaming rug rats. The park entrance is closely guarded by the town of Keystone, pop. 311, which has twice the number of hotel rooms as permanent residents and is like Rock City and Myrtle Beach combined on steroids.

So, to shake off the dust of all of that, we put some more dust on our boots and went for a 7-mile hike outside the park. We thought we were hiking to a remote lake in the hills. After 2 hours we came to the lake and some of those people from Mt. Rushmore had invaded the place by road with their cousins and their ATV's.

We're moving to Custer state park lodge tonight for a couple of nights to revisit some of the awesome sights that Kristen and Eric introduced us to. Icky has a couple of excellent hikes picked out and hopefully there will be a way to post some photos.

Buffalo Bill

We named him on the spot.  Poor guy didn't hve a name before then.

The Black Hills - what a beautiful part of the world.  So named because due to the high density of Ponderosa Pine the hills actually look black when viewed from a distance.

Kristen and Eric gave up their entire day to give us personal tour and intorduction to the area including a car tour through a wildlife area with Bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn / muledear and burros.  We also hiked to Harney Peak, Elevation 7,242 - the region's highest mountain - whew!  Good start and Icky has her motor running now.

I'm gonna kick your butt......

"and I'm going to keep the chicken coop." This phone conversation was overheard as we got off the plane. An early indicator that we are now really in the Badlands.

Arrived in good form and had a great dinner with Kristen and Eric at the Corn Exchange in Rapid City.  They have generously offered to take us on a an adventure tomorrow - a day full of hiking.  Check back later for some photos.