Heading for South Dakota

  We took two days to get to Rapid City, South Dakota, but we made two stops along the way.  The first was at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  This was where Custer and 263 men of the U.S. 7th Calvary lost there lives trying to push the Lakota and Cheyenne Indians back onto their reservation. It was interesting to envision the chaos that happened, while standing in the very spot that it took place.

More information on the Little Bighorn Battle

U.S. Army's 7th Calvary Memorial

Custer's marker and the markers of several others who fell and are buried at this spot.

Part of the Indian Memorial

Markers of fallen soldiers

More markers

Even more markers

  Our next stop was at Devils Tower National Monument.  It is essentially just an igneous intrusion that stands 867 feet.  In 1906 it became the first national monument.

Our home at Devils Tower

One side of Devils Tower

Another side of Devils Tower

A wooden spike ladder that was used in the first climb of Devils Tower

Climbers

Prairie Dog

Another prairie dog

Sydney in our trailer with a view of Devils Tower

Mustangs

  We spent the day in Cody, Wyoming and went to the Buffalo Bill Museum.  It is actually five museums in one and covers seven acres.  It was a bit overwhelming.  I found Buffalo Bill to remind me a bit of Bernie Karl.  We spent the night at the Buffalo Bill State Park.  It was nice, but we had an incredible wind and lightning storm.
  Today we headed for the Big Horn National Recreation Area and Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range.  The scenery was awesome and we saw five mustangs.  Two were close enough that we were able to identify them using a field guide that we picked up at the Wild Mustang Center.

Our home at Buffalo Bill State Park

Buffalo Bill Reservoir

Red Canyon walls

Big Horn Canyon

More of Big Horn Canyon

Canyon walls

Three wild horses

Belle Starr

Hidasta

Belle Starr and Hidasts

At the Ewing- Snell Ranch (Historic site in the park)

More Yellowstone and Tetons

 We spent almost a week in Yellowstone and made a day trip to the Grand Tetons.  We have had amazing weather and seen some great sights.  We saw very few animals in the Tetons, but lots in Yellowstone.  Elk and buffalo have become boring.  We saw a black bear and a pika in the Tetons. We saw three wolves in Yellowstone, including one today that was running down the side of the road.  The other two were way off eating an elk calf.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Sydney in the canyon.

The Upper Falls

The lower falls.

We climbed down 350 steps to view the falls.

The brink of the upper falls.

A view of the stairs from the other side of the canyon.

Canyon

A natural bridge.

Coyote

The Grand Tetons

Tetons

More Tetons

Pika

Climbing to Inspiration point in the Tetons.

We made it to Inspiration point.

Sydney with the Tetons behind her.

Yellowstone National Park

  We made it into Yellowstone and the weather has been beautiful.  We started out looking for geysers and mud pots, and we were not disappointed.  Old Faithful was of course faithful and gave a great display.  The mud pots and steam vents are awesome as well.  We have seen many bison, elk, and deer.  Yesterday we drove to Mammoth and dodged elk as we tried to get to the river where we could lounge in the warm water.  After finally passing the elk, we saw a big bull snake.  On the way back to the car after our soak, we got watch a big bull elk run off a smaller bull elk from his herd.  So far, I think that was the highlight of Yellowstone.
  Today the weather is a bit cool and wet, so we are washing clothes and getting caught up on school work.  Tomorrow we will check out the lake area.

Microbial Mats.

Elk keeping us from the river.

Old Faithful.

Mud mats and steam vents.

Green algae grow and cooler temperatures (like 100 degrees).

Got to watch for bears.

Emerald pool.

Calcium carbonate mound,

Geyser basin.

Mud pots.

Bull snake.

Big bull elk.