Custer State Park

Well Custer State Park beat out all the National Park sites for my favorite places I visited while on my road trip. Because it was still considered the "Winter Season" some roads were closed, along with ranger stations. So I didn't know where to pick up any hiking trails or even get a park map, so I just winged it and it was a blast. I didn't get a chance to see the famous Black Hills "Needle Eye" or visit some of the parks beautiful lakes, but now that gives me the reason to go back in the summer months and maybe drag someone along with me.

Custer State park encompasses portions of the Black Hills and then prairie habitat as well. It was ever changing from habitat to habitat, and even climate to climate. Higher altitudes were colder with snow, and the flatlands were breezy, pleasant, and snow free. The amount of wildlife I saw was unreal and it was all visible from my car. But since there was a lot of wildlife there also are a lot of the substances that come from wildlife, that’s right there was a lot of shit. You didn't have to worry about road kill at Custer State Park, you had to worry about terd kill. Its like the animals purposely crap in the middle of the street. It’s like the circus came to town and the clowns forgot the pooper scooper. I really wanted to see my first American Bison (aka Buffalo) in the wild, and I was getting pretty mad that I didn't see one at any of the other parks yet. But when I came to Custer I saw Buffalo chips (buffalo shit) everywhere, so I knew they were there, but where.... finally towards the end of my journey I started seeing herds and herds of them and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, but it wasn't the most pleasant smelling thing in the world.

Black Hills National Forest

When I entered into the Black Hills in the morning they weren’t black at all, I wanted to call them the White Hills because the ground, rocks, and pine trees were covered with a fresh blanket of snow. The snow did not make it easy to drive among the hills which were really like mountains. They truly were a beautiful sight to see. As the day went on the snow melted away to revile the 2.5-billion-year-old blackish Precambrian granite. But due to the winter conditions I couldn’t access many of the roads that took you to the locations of the well know Black Hills Needles and the higher elevated scenic areas.

The Black Hills just look like massive rocks in a sea of pines, but if you take a closer look at them you can see the variation of colors due to the life that the rocks support. It is an amazing ecosystem that supports a variety of living things. But the Black Hills aren’t just known for their beauty above ground, below ground you can explore many of the caves in the area as well.

Another neat thing about the Black Hills was how many movies were shot around the area. There were signs that stated which movies were filmed where, like North by Northwest with Cary Grant. And I know what your thinking... I did not see Nick Cage looking for the City of Gold.

Its Just Crazy...

Well the only crazy thing about the Crazy Horse Monument site is the people that actually think that it will be completed some day. When it is completed it will be the largest sculpture of all time, big than Mount Rushmore, the Washington Monument, and even the Great Pyramids. Mount Rushmore can actually fit where Crazy Horse's head is. He is pointing to where is people are buried and where their land was. Other then the unfinished monument there was many buildings that housed native American artifacts and displays about their culture. Also I took a picture of the model of what the sculpture will look like, with the actual monument in the background. While I was there I did here blasting, so they were working on it, but I really don't see an end in sight for this project.

The Four Big Stone Heads

Ok so Mount Rushmore isn't just four stone heads, it is a monument to four great leaders that helped shape our country. Ok for everyone that doesn't know their American Presidents... from left to right: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and last but not least Abraham Lincoln. This monument represents the birth, growth, development, and the preservation of our country. Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills in South Dakota among beautiful scenery.

The visitor center was very nice, and looked newly remodeled. Two films were shown about the creation of the monument and the other about the natural resources in the park. The exhibits displayed information about all four Presidents, tools used to create Mount Rushmore, and information about the sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Interesting facts... 90% of Mount Rushmore was sculpted by dynamite and you can still see the ruble on the hillside today, it took 17 years to complete the sculpture, but the sculptor Gutzon Borglum never saw it completed, his son Lincoln finished the project after his death.

When I arrived at the monument in the morning it was covered with a blanket of snow and the landscape of the park was white. As the day progresses the temperature rose and melted the snow and added some color differences between the wet and dry stone. As I was leaving the fog was rolling in and you could barely see the monument, I guess my timing was perfect. I was disappointed however in the lack of hiking trails; I wanted to get some different angle shots of the monument. I did however hike the Presidential Loop which gave me the great "up the noses" shot. But all in all I had a great time at the famous American Landmark.

The Beautifulands

When I entered the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, I decided to make a congressional decision and change the name to the Beautifulands National Park. I realize the historical significance to the name “Badlands”, but I truly think the park is negatively associated due to the word “Bad” in the title. Would you honestly visit a place called “Crappyland”…? NO WAY.

But this park is truly beautiful and very mysterious. I was lucky to be there to witness a weather change and how it impacts the change in color of the Badlands. As I was hiking in a T-shirt early in the morning with a blue sky and a light breeze the layers in the Badlands weren’t as evident as it was when a storm came through, it dropped 20 degrees, and began to snow. I was completely amazed by this park, I have never seen anything like it in my life it was like I was in another country. Any photograph I took couldn’t do the landscape justice.

As for wildlife at the park I saw it mostly at a great distance. The park has a vast amount of land designated as wilderness, and I unfortunately didn’t have the time to venture through it. Hey if you were an animal would you be in a location where annoying people (like me) were driving around trying to take pictures of me. Not really. However I did see a lot of western birds that I haven’t seen before such as the Mountain Bluebird, Western Meadowlark, and the Magpie. But my favorite encounter by far was with my new favorite animal, the Prairie Dog. I say that now, but I’m sure when I leave Theodore Roosevelt National Park I will think of them like squirrels. But they really are a funny little animal. As I drove along the grassland portion of the badlands all you could see is little mounds at a distance, as you approached closer you heard the funniest sound that sounded like a bird screaming, and then you saw the little animals scrambling around to get to their home, and as you continue on you can see them poke the head out of the ground to sound the alarm that it’s all clear.

Roadside Americana

While driving along highway 90 during the very very flat and boring portion of South Dakota there really isn’t much to look at. But other than the flat land that was treeless it had another feature decorating it… the very cleaver advertising form the billboard. The sign for the famous Wall Drug (as seen on the Today Show, in Newsweek, Time,…) began 300 miles away. This American institution is proof if you put up signs and advertise free ice water tourists will come. This little drug store has since tripled in size and is visited by millions each year. Signs were placed announcing the distance from the store all over the world, GIs from WWII helped out with that, but due Lady Byrd most of the signs in this country were taken down. I really can’t believe there used to be even more signs than the ones that remain today. When you get to Wall Drug you can still get your free ice water, a 5 cent cup of coffee, and see the old “Jackalope”, but all it really is a tourist trap with a history.

Another intriguing sign was the sign for the Corn Palace. If you see a sign for the world’s only palace made of corn you pull over for the hell of it. So I pulled over to Mitchell, SD to see the famous World’s only Corn Palace, but it wasn’t completely made out of corn. But the designs and murals were made with multicolored corn cobs. The funniest thing though was the fact that it shared the building with city hall.

It is truly only in America the only place you can see the world’s largest prairie dog, skeleton man walking a skeleton T Rex, and the Corn Palace. I am disappointed however I missed the world’s largest pheasant, but I saw enough crazy ones running across the road. The joke should go “why did the pheasant cross the road…” not chicken.

Effigy Mounds National Monument

The Effigy Mounds National Monument is located in Iowa on limestone bluffs of the Mississippi River. This was my first stop on my trip and the first time I saw the mighty Mississippi River. The monument consists of land along the Mississippi River were Native American mounds are located. These mounds are formed in many different shapes such as circular, hawk, and bear shaped mounds. The mounds' shapes aren't truly visible from ground level. An aerial view is needed to see the forms at their best. It is believed that Effigy mounds were found throughout the Mid-West but were destroyed due to the development of cities and the creation of farmsteads. Many different hypotheses have been made about who made them, when, and why. Due to archeological studies it is now known that they aren't all burial mounds, and other hypotheses arouse of the other mounds used for ceremonies to gods.

The park site not only holds cultural resources, but natural ones as well. The Mississippi supports many different species of wildlife. As I reached one of the park trail's overlooks of the Mississippi, I saw a Bald Eagle soaring boldly overhead in the strong wind gusts. While hiking along the wooded portion of the trail I heard and saw many different species of birds like Black capped Chickadees, woodpeckers, and Nuthatches.

I arrived at the park when the weather was beautiful and sunny, and of course when I left the park visitor center a storm front was moving over the Mississippi. Due to the weather the pictures aren't the greatest, but common it’s the Mississippi, just to see it is all there is to me!