Happy Trails to You

As you may have gathered, your intrepid narrator ran out of steam in the closing days of our adventure. After arriving home we estimated that we covered about 3400 miles in 2.5 weeks. Whew! This is an overview of the last few stops we made on our way home to Oregon. The descriptions are in the same order as the images above:

1. Statuary at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Grand Teton National Park
2. A parting image of Jackson Lake from our accommodations at Signal Mountain Lodge. We will be back!
3. The warm, mineral water pool at Indian Springs Resort & RV near American Falls, Idaho. It was both a step back in time and a refreshing respite after a long day on the road.
4. Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. The Niagara Falls of the West.
5. Checking in for our last night out at the "Old West" themed Mountain View RV park in Baker City, Oregon
6. Wagon ruts on the Oregon Trail visible near the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center also in Baker City. Happy trails to you!

One Perfect Day

We drove up for the day from our lodging in Grand Teton to Yellowstone National Park. The rivers in Wyoming were swollen with spring run-off as they were in Montana making a short hike at Lewis River Falls worthwhile.

West Thumb geyser basin isn't among the well-known areas in Yellowstone, but it is one of our favorites because it includes a wide variety of geological features in a small area. We saw mudpots, brightly colored pools, and dormant geysers along the boardwalks. One section of the trail follows the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake. The lake level is currently higher than normal and a few of the features we saw during our previous visit in September were covered by water this time.

We attended a ranger talk where we learned more about the science behind the colored pools and geysers. A highlight was viewing a mother and baby elk nuzzling each other, through binoculars, at the center of the geyser basin.

We found a lakeside table at the Grant Village area for a late lunch before heading south to Signal Mountain. A perfect day in Yellowstone for me ...

On The Road Again

We charted our course west from South Dakota, racing ahead of thunderstorms once again. Departing from Casper Wyoming, we found the old Oregon/Mormon trail route to Independence Rock where one can still see original signatures and dates from the pioneers who made the westward journey many years ago. Despite the history, I wouldn't recommend this route for RV travel as the roads were rough and services sparse. Upon arrival at Wind River RV Park in Riverton Wyoming, we noticed that we had lost the plastic exterior refrigerator cover on the bumpy roads. Although this RV park was not the most scenic, it met our 'urgent' requirements for a laundromat and television and the park hosts were incredibly kind and helpful, assisting us with patching the refrigerator.

The eastern approach to Grand Teton Park took us through the cute western town of Dubois Wyoming. We paused briefly here at the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center where we gleaned extensive knowledge about bighorn sheep. They had mounts of all the bighorn sheep species around the world. Apparently this collection is known as a super slam. We only have four species of sheep in North America - a grand slam.


We pulled into Signal Mountain Lodge, our home away from home for the next three nights in Grand Teton National Park. We have stayed here before, and while it is not fancy, the staff is incredibly friendly and the views cannot be beat. This is the view from our patio on the morning following our arrival!

Crazy Horse Memorial

Today turned out to be one of our busier days. After returning to the campground for lunch and a nap, we headed over to the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial. Construction on the memorial began in 1941 and is still far from completion. When/if it is completed, it will be the largest sculpture in the world. Unlike Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse is privately funded and managed by the descendants of the sculptor (Korczak Ziolkowski). The mountain carving is the centerpiece of a complex that includes a visitor's center with an eclectic collection of exhibits focused on Native American culture and Korczak's lifework.

While Mr. Snootypurse took a bus ride to the base of the mountain, I entertained myself by wandering around the museum complex. There were unexpected surprises around every corner in the large collection of rooms and buildings. It seemed that the collection could have been better curated, but then the autographed Green Bay Packers football that I found might be removed!

This is a model at the visitor's center of what the sculpture will look like when complete. Following our time at Crazy Horse, we cruised up to Mount Rushmore again for a more relaxed look at the four faces. The motorhome-friendly road was surprisingly scenic and we were glad we made the second trip.

Custer State Park

For our stay in the Southern Black Hills, we camped at Big Pine Campground a few miles west of Custer City. We recommend this privately owned campground with all essential services, well-arranged sites, and friendly staff that even delivers firewood to your campsite. We got up early this morning to drive the Wildlife Loop Road in Custer State Park. We ran into a small herd of bison early on, including babies, blocking the road. The babies are light brown. I was worried the bison might charge the motorhome but we managed to weave our way through. We saw a few prairie dog towns and also some beautiful pronghorn antelope but unfortunately none of those pictures came out. Many of the buildings in Custer State Park were built by the CCC out of stone and timber.

These are the begging burros in Custer State Park. The park neither encourages nor discourages their presence and they manage to make do with the ample grazing lands and handouts from visitors. The main visitor's center at this park was a worthwhile stop with an IMAX movie narrated by Kevin Costner that gives a good overview of the park including the annual buffalo round-up. This park isn't quite up to the standards of the national parks, but it is close, and worth getting up early for.

Mount Rushmore

We spent the night before our visit to Mount Rushmore at a motel in Rapid City. There are two roads near Mount Rushmore (Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway) that were architected to showcase the scenery. Their paths included turns and tunnels that were not compatible with our Forester motorhome, so we rented a car in Rapid City for the day. My prior visit to Mount Rushmore was about 30 years ago, but I still have fond memories of the pigtail bridges on the Iron Mountain Road, thus this is the road we selected for our approach to the monument. The road twists and turns as you get closer to the mountain and the presidents are framed by two of the tunnels.


Honestly, once we arrived at Mount Rushmore I found it to be hot and crowded. The National Park Service has been running an ad campaign the last few years telling Americans to "find your park". This is definitely not mine, but it is a landmark that all Americans should visit. The movie and the visitors center were informative and air-conditioned. There is a trail that leads closer to the mountain but it was partially closed and too hot for me this day. We concluded our visit with some of Thomas Jefferson's vanilla ice cream which was big enough to share (We didn't). I hope that we can return later in the trip, perhaps at a cooler and less busy time of day.


On the way back to Rapid City, we stopped at the Presidential Wax Museum in Keystone. It was a cheesy attraction (or perhaps cheesier than one would expect) and some of the statues were more realistic than others. Returning the rental car to the airport was more frustrating that we had hoped. The airport doesn't have regular ground transportation, like taxis, so we spent half an hour waiting for a shuttle to take us back to our parked RV. Also, the airport is almost 20 minutes out of town which is surprising given how much available space is closer to the city. When we later learned that the unfortunate radio call sign for the Rapid City airport is KRAP, we were somewhat mollified.

Spearfish and Lead

After our harrowing drive from Devil's Tower, we pulled into a site in Spearfish City Park which is at the northern terminus of Spearfish Canyon. As mentioned yesterday, Mr. Snootypurse is from the Midwest and has a fondness for frozen custard which I now share with him. This dessert is similar to soft serve ice cream, but richer because it contains egg yolks. We were delighted to find an outlet of Wisconsin-based Culver's in town and made that one of our first stops. Spearfish has a cute downtown and lots of biking trails but we spent most of our time in the campground, recovering from the excitement of the previous day. We did spend a couple of hours at the D.C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery and Archives, located close to the campground in Spearfish City Park. While the exhibits were interesting, we most enjoyed talking to the retirees volunteering at the site.

Following a two-night stay in Spearfish, we started our journey into the Black Hills of South Dakota driving south through Spearfish Canyon. There are three picturesque waterfalls along this drive but we only had time to stop at the closest one, Bridal Veil falls.

Upon exiting Spearfish Canyon we headed for Lead (pronounced leed) and stopped at Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center. This is the site of what at one point was the largest gold mine in the world. Within the last several years, the network of tunnels underneath the mine has been repurposed for sophisticated physics experiments. I'm not going to try to explain the parameters of their work but take a look at their website if you are interested in such matters.
Mr. Snootypurse took a short tour of the town of Lead including the hoist elevator associated with the mine. If you're ever in the area and interested in science and/or history, this site is worth a stop.