Ray of Sunshine Travel

Hello all! It’s been a crazy season of life recently, and I’m quite behind on these adventure posts. I’m hoping to use January Break as a chance to catch up a bit!

Last winter, we discovered that my brother was going to have six weeks between his graduation from Rose Hulman and his start date at Milwaukee Tool. This got the gears turning, and we started brainstorming places to go on vacation – our first full-family, extended vacation in about 15 years! We soon settled on a road trip out to the Dakotas, as nobody in the family had been there before, and it would help me check three more National Parks off my list.

July rolled around, and we took off from Crawfordsville early morning on Saturday, July 2. Mom and Dad had rented a nice big mini-van so we could spend our 40+ hours of driving in comfort, which we were all quite grateful for. We drove straight through to Palisades State Park just inside South Dakota. After getting settled in to our little cabin and fixing dinner, we began exploring the small but beautiful park, just in time for sunset. Those pink rocks are so unique!

In quaint state park fashion, there was an outdoor showing of Charlie Brown educational films at the amphitheater. We stayed for a little while and enjoyed 25-cent popsicles before turning in.

Sunday we packed up and hit the road again. Our first stop was Sioux Falls, which had some pretty interesting history (including a nineteenth century scammer’s successful efforts to fund and build a mill) and neat falls.

Next up was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, famous for its corn-covered facade, decorated with a new theme annually. What we thought would be a quick stop at a tourist trap turned into a decently long stay once we realized there was a lot of history displayed inside! I particularly enjoyed their exhibit on Oscar Howe, who designed the palace’s corn murals for decades.

Our final touristy stop of the day was at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. From the Cold War through the present, this area of South Dakota has housed a large percentage of the country’s nuclear missiles, numbering 1000 at its peak. We arrived close to closing time, so our tour of the museum was rather quick. It was shocking to hear how many times the USSR and the US came close to launching missiles; I was thanking God for the people that had intervened in these times, often facing punishment for their actions.

Practically next door was Badlands National Park, our first of three parks on the trip. Immediately after entering the park, we reached the Big Badlands Overlook and of course stopped to grab some photos. A storm was brewing on the horizon, which made the pictures that much more striking.

We set up camp at Cedar Pass campground and made dinner. My hopes for a good sunset were slowly diminishing due to the ever-darkening clouds, but to my delight, beautiful pink patches started appearing in the sky! We had already planned to squeeze in a short evening hike to avoid the crowds and heat tomorrow would bring, but the threat of impending rain and the allure of sunset hurried us back into the van and onto the road.

We ended up at the trailhead for the Door, Window and Notch trails and decided to traverse the former two, leaving the Notch for tomorrow. The Window Trail was scenic despite being very short, but the Door Trail was the highlight of the night, as it led us out into the badlands with just the occasional marker to find our way. With lightning flashing nearly continuously in the distance and the winds picking up, it became an awesome experience we won’t soon forget.

We arrived back at camp, but Braden was the only fortunate enough to make it inside the tent before the rain finally unleashed. Monday morning (July 4!) we awoke very grateful that our site was on slightly higher ground, as many of the nearby sites were submerged.

I was hoping to catch sunrise out at the overlook that morning, but complicating things was our rental car, which was only under Mom and Dad’s name. This reduced costs but meant that they had to “chauffeur” Braden and I everywhere. I got lucky this morning, as Mom was gracious enough to wake up early with me. The results weren’t as stunning as I had hoped for, but the Badlands still looked beautiful in the early morning light.

After packing up camp, we piled back into the van and returned to the same trailhead as last night to check off the Notch trail. This trail was longer than Door and Window and even more exciting – we were climbing ladders and shuffling along ledges to reach the end. Definitely a challenge for those who dislike heights, but Mom made it through!

After we were done playing around on the formations, we stopped for a quick lunch outside the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, then “overlooked” our way through the rest of the park. There were some pretty neat stops, such as the Yellow Mounds Overlook. We even saw a mountain goat at one stop!

Before long we were out of the park and onto our tourist trap of the day: Wall Drug! If you’re not familiar, it’s a chintzy, ginormous, old-fashioned rest stop, complete with hokey animatronics, arcade games, a soda parlor, shops, etc. They first gained traffic when they started offering free ice water, which they still do to this day, though now there’s a lot more to draw in visitors.

Our next stop was at South Dakota’s most famous spot: Mount Rushmore. I have to say, it was pretty neat being there on July 4, even if there wasn’t a fireworks show this year.

We honestly weren’t sure what to expect visiting Rushmore – though iconic, we had heard others call it small and unimpressive. After we had experienced it, we all concluded that we disagreed pretty strongly with this perspective! Spending time in the museum is a must, however, to truly appreciate the massive undertaking this memorial required.

It was fascinating to me the perseverance required to see it through multiple obstacles: Jefferson’s original head, carved on the other side of Washington, had to be blasted off after the rock was found to be too soft; Roosevelt was carved much deeper in than planned to escape hard rock; Jefferson’s face had to be rotated up multiple degrees after a crack in the rock threatened to run through his nose; and so on.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the trails around the monument, which allowed us to get closer. Overall, we would highly recommend – a highlight of the trip!

One similar attraction we did not make it to was the Crazy Horse Monument – we simply ran out of time, and we were pretty tired at this point in the day. We did make it a point to drive past it and snap a quick picture.

As we started traversing the windy roads towards our lodging for the night, we were suddenly surrounded by granite spires, and the sunset just became more and more vivid. We finally found a pulloff, so Dad and I leaped out and started scrambling up the nearest rocks to try and get the best views we could. It was all just absolutely stunning.

We finally pulled ourselves away and continued into Custer State Park, our destination for the night. Tonight we were tent camping at Sylvan Lake Campground, which is perched on a hill. We took shifts setting up camp and cooking dinner, and those not on duty traveled up the hill to watch fireworks being set off in some town below. The Badlands, Rushmore, insane sunset, and fireworks made for a pretty epic Fourth of July!

Tuesday I rose early again, not too exhausted yet to catch a sunrise. I traveled a little further up than our firework-viewing post from the night before, and with just a little scrambling I had myself a pretty scenic perch for watching the sunrise.

By the time I went back down to camp, the others hadn’t woken yet, so I managed to catch a little sleep before we were all up and going again.

I cannot say enough good things about Custer State Park – in fact, it’s rivaled and even exceeded some of the National Parks I’ve been to! One of the biggest highlights is Black Elk Peak, the highest point in the State and the highest point east of the Rockies. One of my good college friends had summited it on a trip to SD, and I was eager to follow suit. Unfortunately, the weather looked a little sketchy for this afternoon, so we decided to do a driving day.

First, however, we did a small hike around Sylvan Lake, which is just a gorgeous spot. Dad and I spotted anchors in the granite boulders and made mental notes to look into guided climbing should we ever come back.

Iron Mountain Road is another highlight of Custer. Designed to keep drivers at a speed less than 35 mph, this road is an architectural delight: it contains four tunnels – each perfectly positioned to frame Mount Rushmore – pigtail bridges that gracefully lower/raise drivers through elevation changes, not to mention countless curves weaving through monstrous granite spires. On top of this, it has multiple letterboxes!

We drove the whole road, stopping a few times at overlooks and letterbox hiding spots, then turning around and driving back once we reached the end. It turned out to be a gorgeous day with almost no rain in sight. After a busy previous day, it was nice to sit back a little.

Once we got back to the park, we decided to keep driving and try to find some bison, which none of us had seen in the wild before. A park ranger directed us to the southern part of the park, where some had been reported not long before. We soon traded the paved roads for gravel, and after a few minutes, we came across a whole herd!

We knew they would be big, but man, even from several feet away and within a car they seemed mammoth. Most barely seemed to react to our presence.

A few more places on the map piqued our curiosity, so we finished out the loop to check them out. A letterbox was waiting for us in the French Creek Nature Area. Badger Hole was a neat cabin tucked back into the woods (I would gladly have lived there!) Coolidge Fire Tower was unfortunately closed. After these mini-adventures, we headed towards our lodging, tonight a cabin at Blue Bell Campground, and settled in.

Wednesday morning we rose bright and early and ate breakfast on the road so we could reach Wind Cave National Park and purchase cave tour tickets (FCFS) before they sold out. Fortunately, we were pretty much the first in line, so there was no question of getting tickets.

Wind Cave is most known for its boxwork formations – in fact, more boxwork is found here than in all other known caves in the world combined.

In addition to its scientific importance, it’s also the backbone of the Lakota people’s creation story: its biggest natural opening is a hole 10 inches wide, and since it’s a barometric cave, air flows in or out as the pressure changes, giving it the appearance of breathing. Of course, settlers didn’t exactly treat it with the same respect as the Lakota: the first known person to enter the cave shimmied down this hole and told his buddy where to plant dynamite to blast a more convenient entrance, and later cave managers built a shack over it to provide themselves with some all natural air-conditioning.

After the tour, we returned to Custer. I had hoped to hike a trail or two on the surface at Wind Cave, but our plans to hike Black Elk Peak necessitated we start soon. We grabbed a quick lunch, then set off towards the trailhead. All four of us initially started out on the trail, as there was supposed to be a letterbox near the trailhead. After a while searching, however, we gave it up, and Dad, Braden and I continued on the trail.

We first hiked to Little Devil’s Tower, which actually bore little resemblance to its namesake. It did have great views and a pretty fun scramble at the end, though it was a little sketchy in the slight sprinkles that had accompanied us.

Next we continued on to the Cathedral Spires, which were also really neat.

Dad decided to turn back at this point, and Braden and I continued on. We grabbed one letterbox on the way and reached the peak in decent time, which was good because I was starting to dread the thought of any more uphill. Views from the peak were absolutely stunning, and the 1930s CCC fire tower was also beautiful and fun to explore. Plus our weather had cleared up!

This site also happens to be sacred to the Lakota people, and the name was just changed in 2016 to reflect that heritage. It wasn’t until we got back to camp and were showing Dad pictures that he pointed out the massive, eye-shaped cloud in the last photo and half jokingly said the Lakota gods were watching us. The only god I believe in is Yahweh, but it was definitely still eery!

The descent didn’t take super long, maybe 1.5 hours, and then Braden and I met Mom and Dad back in the trailhead parking lot. We headed back to the cabin, made dinner, and lit a fire for a little while before turning in.

Thursday morning was another bright and early morning, as we packed up and bid goodbye to Custer and South Dakota. Our next stop: Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. (Or if we’re really being technical, a neat letterbox of Devil’s Tower and then Devil’s Tower itself!)

One of the most interesting aspects to me were the several climbers ascending the tower! And it wasn’t just me – you could practically see the wheels turning in Dad’s head in regards to the logistics of climbing out here. We walked the loop around the base of the tower, then hit the road again for our final National Park: Theodore Roosevelt NP, or as we nicknamed it, “Teddy”.

Teddy is the only US National Park to be named after a person. Though Roosevelt wasn’t the first president to sanction a National Park, he was pivotal in the early years of creating National Parks and is often known as the Conservation President. He doubled the number of National Park Sites during his term and signed the Antiquities Act, which allowed Presidents to establish National Monuments. He spent significant amounts of time ranching out in North Dakota, years he later called formative in his journey to the Presidency, and returned there after experiencing personal tragedy.

The park is split into three units: the north, the south, and the Elkhorn Ranch, where Roosevelt once lived. We started out in the South unit and arrived at the Visitor’s Center just in time to grab a backcountry permit, our first one of the trip! With differing abilities/experience throughout the family, we were more interested in finding an interesting place to camp than racking up a ton of miles, so we settled on the Jones Creek Trail. It helped that the park rules were pretty lax – we just had to hike in a 1/4 mile from the trailhead! The trickiest part would be finding a flat spot to pitch tents.

Dark was still several hours away, so we went overlooking and were quite pleasantly surprised at the gentle beauty of the park.

We decided to eat dinner before backpacking so we could avoid packing in kitchen gear and food. All that was required was a pretty place to dine, and we soon found it!

We were even lucky enough to spot a mustang!

Soon enough it was time to start on the trail, so we filled our packs and headed for Jones Creek. It was really pretty, even with the clouds.

I had packed my 1-person tent with me in anticipation of sleeping by myself for the first time on the trip. There are definitely perks to traveling with others, but the solo traveler in me was quite ready for a break!

We found our spot probably 3/4 of a mile in, pitched our tents, briefly convened in Mom and Dad’s tent for dessert (knock-off Honey Grahams for the win!), then turned in for the night.

Friday morning we awoke to not a single soul outside our family, only a lone buffalo in the distance. It was blissful!

We hadn’t really packed breakfast, so we didn’t dawdle in packing up. I did “caboose” the pack for a little while to get some pictures of the fam while they were hiking back.

We were entertained on the way back by walking through a prairie dog farm, though a little more wary after hearing a story of a man who had died after being bitten by one.

The trailhead was in site shortly, and we were off again. We stopped near the visitor’s center to view Roosevelt’s cabin, transplanted from the Elkhorn Unit…

…then at nearby Medora for some ice cream, letterboxing attempts, and this gem:

We stopped briefly for lunch and a letterbox at the Painted Canyon Overlook/Visitor Center…

…then headed for the North Unit of Teddy, an hour and change drive Medora. We were immediately greeted by a herd of carefree bison as we tried to enter the gate and had a good chuckle again at the rule to get no closer than 200 feet from them – within the safety of our car, of course.

We found the views as we went overlooking quite a bit more drastic in the North Unit, though definitely more remote.

Of particular interest was geological formations known as cannonball concretions – as I understand, large balls of sediment glued together by minerals formed by pockets in the earth. As the earth around dissolves, the concretions are left behind.

I had heard about the Caprock Coulee Trail from EarthTrekkers, and we thought it looked really neat, so Dad dropped Mom, Braden and I off at the River Bend Overlook. It took us a while to find the trail, but once we did, it didn’t disappoint.

The whole trail is a 4.1 mile loop, but we just hiked the section along the ridge, and Dad met us coming from the other way a mile or so down the trail. Though it was a little tricky to follow at times, I thought it was a lot of fun!

Sadly, it was time for us to bid adieu and start the long journey home. We didn’t have that far to go tonight, as we had reserved a hotel just down the road in Dickinson. After cleaning up, we treated ourselves and went out for pizza!

All of the next day was spent driving home, so this seems like a good place to cut this post off. Overall, I highly recommend visiting the Dakotas – what they lack in terms of big cities is more than made up for in beautiful, interesting places to visit.

May your next adventure be wonderful, wherever it is!