Views of Mount Rushmore

Since we stayed in the Mt. Rushmore area for almost a week, we got several glimpses of it going back and forth to different things, as well as making two visits to the memorial itself. The first was for the lighting ceremony in the evening and the next was as part of our 9-hour tour of the area.


Anytime we mentioned that we were going to Mt. Rushmore, we were told that we had to make sure we went at night to see the lighting ceremony. The campground we were staying at (Palmer Gulch Lodge and Mt. Rushmore KOA, guess why I picked it??) offered a shuttle service to the memorial for the lighting ceremony each night so we took the opportunity. They do a wonderfully moving program and then the lights gradually come up and light the faces. It was great.

The next day, Mt. Rushmore was the first of our tour stops on our 9-hour tour. This starts with an all you can eat "cowboy" breakfast, includes stops at Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, drives through Custer State Park and on the Iron Mountain Rd., and finishes up with a chuckwagon supper and musical show. We thought it was fabulous. And it gave us time to see Mt. Rushmore during the day. Rob and Matt pose here while we wait for our tour photo to be taken.


Matt's impression of Mount Rushmore? "It looks just like the pictures!"

My friend Lisa and I collect piggy banks from our travels. Wherever one of us goes, we find tacky ceramic piggy banks and send them to the other. There has been a decided dearth of pigs on this trip. I can't seem to find them almost anywhere. Here, Rob offers a suggestion for a possible replacement for the pigs. I'm sure the finger placement was strictly a matter of chance. Really.

For his birthday, Matt wanted to have his face added to Mt. Rushmore. He had to settle for this.

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!!

For our first adventure in the Mt. Rushmore area, we headed to Keystone to investigate the Big Thunder Gold Mine and see if we could find our own gold there.

Matt shows off his hardhat as we prepare to enter the mine with Ross, our tour guide.

Here's a shot of Rob and Matt inside the mine. The entire mine was dug out by two German immigrants. They spent 35 years on it and pulled out about 8 - 10 ounces of gold all together. Gold was approximately $20 per ounce at the time, yielding them the princely sum of approximately $200 for all of their labor. Except that they only received half of that. They were financed by another mine, in exchange for half of the gold that they pulled out. So for 35 years of work, each of them made about $50.

After the tour, we decided to try our hands at panning for gold ourselves. We received a pan, complete with rocks and sand, which they guaranteed we'd find gold in. We also received a wee bottle in which to place our gold after we'd successfully separated it from the sand and gravel. You fill this wee bottle with water and then, once you have a gold flake or nugget, you pick it up with a dry finger and it drops like a rock into the water. Matt found lots of "gold", although some of it was the kind that is meant for fools. He also liked to pick up the mica that shone like gold as well.

After a successful afternoon's panning, Matt shows off his wee bottle of gold and enjoys an ice cream cone. Rob hit just about all the troughs in his panning and has the most pure bottle. I ended up with more gold than he did but I have at least one chunk in mine that I'm pretty sure is fools gold. But it was great fun and I'm sure that if I added it all up, my gold would be worth at least $1.

Wind Cave National Park

On our way to the Rushmore area, we took the scenic drive through Wind Cave National Park. We opted against doing one of the cave tours due to time constraints but we wanted to see if we could spot any of the wildlife that roams the park. The signs that said "Wildlife at large" just cracked us up.

This was our only glimpse of the buffalo that roam the park. They were *very* far away and looked more like black spots against the hillside than anything else.

The prairie dogs, on the other hand, were everywhere. And they were most adorable. Vehicle traffic didn't phase them at all but if you stepped outside the car, they went scampering.

We also saw several pronghorn antelope. This guy had some nice "prongs".

There were also lots of little ones, like this mama and her babies. My being out of the car to take pictures didn't bother them but it set off the prairie dogs like you wouldn't believe. They protested loudly and vociferously the entire time I was out. Then once I got back in, they quieted right down.

Evidently, Matt got a little creative with the camera when I was checking us in to our next campground. I'd turn the other way in a hurry if you encounter this psychotic driver...

More pictures are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/WindCaveNationalPark

The Mammoth Site

We had a slight change of plans when we left Estes Park, since we couldn't find a place to stay in Cheyenne, WY due to Frontier Days going on. We therefore decided to just push straight on to South Dakota. We arrived on Saturday the 19th and spent the next 6 days in South Dakota so there will be lots of pictures and posts to come. We decided that since we were in Hot Springs and The Mammoth Site was in Hot Springs, we'd go ahead and do that on Sunday, July 20th before heading towards Mt. Rushmore. Originally, I'd had it on our itinerary on our way out of South Dakota.

This giant Columbian mammoth skeleton greeted us as we entered the Mammoth Site. This place is phenomenol. The site is currently being excavated and the dig is enclosed in the building. So far, 57 mammoth skeletons, both wooly and Columbian, have been excavated here. It's believed that a sinkhole formed when a cave collapsed. An artesian spring then filled itin with warm water and grass grew along the edges even in winter. Mammoths and other mammals would go in to the warm water to eat and drink and then couldn't get back out because the edges were too slick. Eventually, the artesian well was diverted to feed something else and the bones in the sinkhole became covered with silt and sediment. They are *not*, however, petrified and so are very fragile.

Matt demonstrates how strong he is by holding up a mammoth femur. Or so he'd like you to think. This is actually a light-weight cast. The actual femur is much, much heavier.

This skeleton is entirely intact except for the head. It was originally named "Marie Antoinette" but they had to rename it Murray after it was determiend to be male. From this angle you can see his leg and feet bones, ribs, and vertebrae.

Prehistoric man, which evidence shows hunted mammoth, used to construct houses out of mammoth bones and skin. Matt checked out the recreation at the site, made from using fossil casts.

Oh, oh! Looks like Matt pushed Rob too far and is about to get pay back! As you might expect, I took *lots* of pictures, which are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/TheMammothSite. Enjoy!

Alberta Falls

The hike to Alberta Falls was great. Both uphill and down, it wound through a variety of terrain and provided some beautiful vistas.


As seen from the trail to Alberta Falls.

Matt likes to climb boulders. He also likes to have his picture taken. So we now have lots of pictures of Matt on boulders. :)

He climbed up from the trail to get closer to the top of the falls. Then he made me join him up there. Actually, it wasn't bad and the view was great. I just kept worrying that he was going to back up a few too many steps and fall into the falls.

Who knew that Rob was going to be tall enough to totally obliterate the falls in the background? But they're there, trust me.

A shot of the falls themselves. It was a nice spot to relax for a few minutes before heading back. There are many more pictures from our hiking adventures around Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Alberta Falls here: http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/AroundBearLakeRockyMountainNationalPark.

Around Bear Lake

After our day off in Estes Park, we had a gorgeous day to go back into Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and used the free shuttle service to go to Bear Lake and do some hiking.

First up was the half mile hike around Bear Lake itself. Yes, I now realize how truly hideous my outfit was. No, I don't know what I was thinking. Please ignore it. A fellow hiker took this picture of the three of us with the lake behind us.

Shortly after we started hiking, we encountered this little guy. He was a most adorable ground squirrel. The fact that he is not striped over his eyes is what lets us know that he is a ground squirrel rather than a chipmunk. Matt got mad at me because evidently after I'd taken this shot and another one, the ground squirrel was practically touching Matt's leg and I didn't get a picture of it.

After we'd finished hiking around Bear Lake, we headed the half mile to Nymph Lake. While it's only a half mile, it's entirely uphill to get there. Still, it was worth it once we'd arrived. The lake was full of lily pads with lots of blooms. I love this shot.

And here's a nice shot of my handsome husband, taken on the edge of Nymph Lake.


The nice thing about climbing a half mile up a mountain is that it's all downhill going back...There was a nice stream on the way down and Matt crossed using the rocks rather than the bridge provided. So naturally he stopped to pose.

After coming down from Nymph Lake, we headed out to hike the mile to Alberta Falls. That get's it's own post, though.

Trail Ridge Road

After leaving Hot Sulphur Springs,we headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. We were headed to Estes Park to stay and the gorgeous Trail Ridge Road drive was right along the way.

One of our first stops along the drive was Farview Curve, which looks down into the Kawuneeche Valley, which you come through when you enter the park from the south. A park volunteer took this picture of us there.

I had to include at least one shot of the mountains here.

We could see snow when we stopped at Milner Pass so we hiked down to it. Matt and Rob contemplated acting out the Robin Hood/Little John fight scene on this bridge but opted to just pose instead.

Matt was thrilled with the snow. Shortly before you get there, there's a sign telling you not to go any further if there are big horn sheep in the area. Sadly, we saw none and so felt safe to proceed to the snow.

Milner Pass also marks the Continental Divide. Rob and Matt had fun being on opposite sides of it. Some other people there liked their pose so much that we saw them doing the same pose for *their* family picture. :)

There are more pictures from Trail Ridge Road up at http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/TrailRidgeRoadRockyMountainNationalPark, including lots more mountain views.