Done - 2605.4 miles

Re Me Do Do Sol

Devils Tower!

Its formation is still not completely understood. Obviously aliens have had a hand in this wonder. Roosevelt appreciated the significance and proclaimed it the first national monument.

We had a wonderful time at this isolated location. It was hot (but of course we had a pool). Lisa and I went bouldering on the scree at the bottom of the tower. (now aren't you glad you read the scree reference earlier) There is no path to the top without ropes. One of the first to make it to the top used a parachute to get there. However he never planned his decent and was stuck there nearly a week.

We stayed in a 8x10 ft cabin (shown below) directly on the Belle Forsche River. The campground was built on the set from Close Encounters (yes pop culture again).

The desert-like air was extremely clear at night and the milky way stretched across the entire sky.

Friendly biker dude takes our pic as we approach. Everybody stops their car when it comes into view - just like Richard Dreyfus!

Cabin on river next to Spearfish rock formation.

We saw a prairie dog colony on the roadside at Devils tower.

Did you know that prairie dogs carry bubonic plague? Stay away!

Bouldering on Devils Tower.

At the base. How did nature make those columns so regular?

Devils Tower is held sacred to many Native Americans.

It is an impressive natural wonder.

Wyoming

Twelve Thousand Feet Above Sea Level

We were supposed to go to the highest point in the area on our first day. But dad was suffering from altitude sickness.

Oxygen:

You get too much you get too high
Not enough and you're gonna die

- Sweet

Finally, we ascended via Old Fall River road. A one way, one lane gravel road to the Alpine Tundra Visitor Center. The road was getting narrower as we climbed the many switchbacks and my reaction time was getting slower as the oxygen level dropped to 67% its value at sea level value.

Our highest point was 12,300 ft. Karly was getting very light headed and I started to worsen. Lisa and Kira felt nothing.

Below you can see our pics of nice scenery, yellow bellied marmots and elk.

Above the trees (tundra)

A mountain lake,

Elk

Marmot

Yes, Karly, it really is snow.

Miscellany (Rockies)

"Lisa, it's supposed to smoke, It's a smoker"

"Karly, it's supposed to be hot, it's a hot tub"

Some days you visit the bear; some days the bear visits you.

The next morning we were awakened by strange noises outside our door. I opened the door in my jammies to see some black fur scrabbling around the garbage can by our deck. A cowboy in a white pickup truck was slowly driving by the scene. He casually looked at me and said, "There's a bear eatin' yer garbage," and drove away unimpressed.

This is when Dan said to me, Quick get your camera and get up real close.

So I did.

The Tale of the Old Bear (as told by DPCH)

Well, you should understand that there are two versions of the bear story. There is Lisa's (also known as the LIE or Satan's version) and there is mine (a.k.a. the gospel truth). There is no reason to relate Lisa's version. You only need to know two things: The first thing you need to know is that I never left her behind with the bear. The second thing you should know is that I don't remember much about what happened.

But that is OK. I have photographic evidence. See the photo below. I am standing right beside my darling wife. Just as any simian male is instinctively driven to do.

We are directly in the center of the photo on that rock. Actually this was taken on the way up by Kira (who is at the bottom of the mountain). We were probably about a fifth of the way up but we were not sure we would make it to the top so we had Kira take a picture at this point.

Indeed we did make it to the summit (almost). The top can not be seen from this pick - it is too high. At the top there are only steep rock faces and we had to look around for some passage to the summit. I found a perfect passage.

Now being an educated person I certainly did some reading on how to avoid a confrontation with a bear. The particular article I read recommended making lots of noise as we walked so that the bear will avoid you. Now I understand that this is probably not a good strategy for bears that are asleep. You should probably be quiet during their bedtime.

Remember that perfect passage to the top I mentioned above. Well, it stands to reason that the bear was well aware of this passage long before I arrived at the mountain. In fact there is a little cave at the top of this passage and the bear chose this passage for its home. Quite a wise choice given that little critters that bears find delicious would probably also fancy this path. It all makes sense now. Too bad I only deduced this after I almost stepped on the sleeping bear.

Here are my exact words as Lisa tried to tell me that I should not attempt to find a path to the top - "Yes, Lisa, this is a perfect path - except for the .... beaaarrr!"

Then I proceeded down the mountain with my darling wife in front of me - sort of pushing her along.

Rocky Mountain High

Entering the Rockies - words fail.

Mammoth Site (Hot Springs, SD)

At Mammoth Site we saw real, live actual paleontologists carefully digging out fossils. Most fossils were mammoths, but there were also some sabertooth cats, camels and other cool stuff. This archeological site is completely enclosed in a beautiful, air conditioned building.

Yabba dabba doo!

We need to get this tent for our next camping trip.

Black Hills (Sylvan Lake, The Needles and Custer State Park)

As you may have noticed by now most of our connections with national history is through pop culture such as North by Northwest, the Flinstones, and the movie Dances with Wolves. Sylvan Lake is a serene lake in the black hills rimmed by rock formations that come directly out of the water. But more importantly it served as a setting in one of the kids favorite movies - "National Treasure".

In the rocks surrounding the lake we found a passge way that lead to the hiking paths. Karly was first to go.

We hiked for a couple of hours. Lisa wanted to stop about 20 ft from the top.

As the rocks were getting very steep and dangerous I considered the situation.

You can always make more children I concluded. A quote from Star Trek is always appropriate "The higher, the fewer."

Mountains are not fair or unfair - they are just dangerous. Reinhold Messner

If you don't let go, you can't fall off! Jerry Moffat

At the top!

After descending the mountain we took a drive along one of the first roads in the black hills. It was larger than a one lane but not quite two lanes. This is the view from the Needles Scenic Highway.

The Needles.

A one lane tunnel. "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers"

Note the GPS in the above picture. We used it heavily. I finally figured out why it allowed me to go 10 miles in the wrong direction at the end of the scenic highway - Obviously it wanted to show us the buffalo.

“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam”

Down Under - Jewel Cave

Jewel Cave National Monument is the 2nd largest cave system in the world. It is 13 miles west of Custer, SD (where we stayed in the Black Hills). Again Karly was a little apprehensive just as she was in Cosmos Mystery Area. But she stayed calm throughout the tour and I think she liked the tour overall. Pictures can not capture the beauty of a cave but we tried and some of our pics are found below.

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Mount Rushmore

Keystone, SD--We visited the famous site of Alfred Hitchcock's, North by Northwest, after a hailstorm hence the blankets and "crying" presidents. (BTW the cafe from the movie never really existed as said from the park ranger with a wry smile.) A truly amazing site. As we read the informative postings along the way, we asked Karly what number president was Jefferson unhesitantly she answered: "the 3rd". I was impressed with my genius daughter. I asked - "How did you know that". "He is the third in the row". Sigh. Evidently she reads from right to left too.

Give those boys a Kleenex.

The rubble at the bottom of a mountain is referred to as scree. Didn't you need to know that?

Karly and I being fascinated with 3D constructed this anaglyph - if you have red and cyan glasses - check it out.

Cosmos Mystery Area

I am not at liberty to discuss all the strange phenomena associated with the Cosmos Mystery Area. As you may know I get car sick. And that is exactly how I felt while in this place. This place will likely be what Kira and Karly remember most vividly. An honest description would be - "It's a cabin built at an angle on a wooded mountain". An accurate description would be - "You have entered the Twilight Zone"...

In the above pic, our perspective was that we were vertical and that gravity was pulling us back.

Kira was in the car so long she was climbing the walls.

She was asked to hang from a bar.

A little apprehensive.

Well, I consider this a test of rationality. Both my daughters believe there is something different with the gravity in this cabin. Sigh.