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Yesterday we entered South Dakota! Soon after entering we were in the Black Hills. We went to Jewel Cave National Monument and went on a tour there. Pretty cool cave to see and over-the-top but informative tour guide. As we drove further into the Black Hills it seemed like every other vehicle or more was a motorcycle. Sturgis officially starts on Monday and motorcyclists and signs welcoming and enticing them are everywhere! We've decided that if we were bikers our biker names would be Danger Dave and Hellfire Haley. So many motorcycles and black leather.
We camped last night up in the hills beyond Hill City. Dave was sad about the no campfires signs as we bought some cheap firewood in Custer. Our camping location was ideal because in the morning we got up and did a 20 mile bike ride on the George S. Mickelson trail we camped next to. It's an old railroad path that's been converted to a gravel bike path. We started at mile 67 of it and had a wonderful 10-mile coast down to mile 77. We crossed lots of bridges, weaved through the beautiful hills, and went through three tunnels. Unfortunately the coast down meant it was all uphill on the way back. Thankfully it wasn't too steep and a cold shower felt wonderful after. Great ride.
After the ride we drove past Mount Rushmore which thankfully can be viewed pretty well from the road as it's $11 to park at it and I've seen it before. We left that area and headed South to Wind Cave NP. I convinced Dave to drive through there not to go to the cave, but to see the prairie dogs! We went prairie dog hunting and I love watching them and hearing them squeak! Unfortunately no bison were seen in the area. Now we've driven out of the Black Hills on highway 18 and are back in Wyoming.
- Haley
- comments
Love ya, mom Haley, I remember being there with you and seeing sooooo many prairie dogs. You wanted to spend more time with them but couldn't since we were off to the caves. Glad you got a chance to really watch them in action!