We planned to hit the road very early so we could avoid rush hour traffic and get to South Dakota so we could see our first stop, Wind Cave National Park.
We finally were on the road about 8 AM, then we hit fog in northern Colorado that extended for 125 miles into Wyoming. We pulled off at the Wyoming Visitors Center to take a potty break and find out about the fog. We decided to take a different route because the fog was going to be bad for awhile.
After about 30 minutes, we were back on the road. A couple hours later, we got a flat tire. This was not shaping up to be our best time trip.
Finally, we made it to our first stop Wind Cave National Park.
We were just in time to get on the last tour of the day, see the exhibits and work on our Jr. Ranger books.
First, stop the Touch and Feel table.
Then we learned about how important the Bison were to the Indians.
The Ranger gave us our badges before we were finished because he would be closed when we got out of the cave tour. That was nice of him because otherwise we would have to come back.
Finally, it was time for our tour. First, we got to see the natural cave opening where the first people who went in actually went in. This is where the cave gets its name. See how the kids hoods fill up with air and see the scarf blowing? Wind goes into the cave and out of the cave depending on the weather pressure outside the cave. Can you guess which way it goes when the weather outside is a high pressure system?
The most fascinating aspect about Wind Cave is its unusual cave formation called box work. It is actually older then the cave.
This is frost work.
After the cave tour, we were driving out of the park when we saw this herd of bison. There were some people who were out in the field with them. Lucky for them, the bison were too busy eating.
This guy was right next to us. We didn't use the zoom on the camera.
Next we saw this lone Pronghorn. I thought he was going to come up to the car.
We decided on a campsite right before it got dark. Here are the tent builders. I was trying to get dinner together. See the large pile of lumber in the background? These stacks of lumber were everywhere in the park. South Dakota Black Hills is having an infestation of pine beetle too, like Colorado. They were actually sending people in to harvest trees to try to stop the spread of the beetle and to cut down on fire danger. It was sad but cool at the same time. There were lots of animals living within the piles.
Dad even had time to get the hammocks up for the kids before the sunset.
We had burritos for dinner and headed off to bed. It was a very full day with promises of more of the same tomorrow.
