Leave only your shadow

 To the right is Roughneck Falls. It is one of a series on a section of route 14A, designated a Black Hill Scenic drive from just south of Lead to Spearfish. There is a "lodge" and some rental cabins along the route but by Black Hills standards it has avoided commercialization. It is National Forest. The BHs are a mixed bag of vacation amusements and natural environment. If you want the bison stay south of Mount Rushmore. If you want playland stay to the north. The Sturgis Motorcycle Pilgrimage in early August is well known but as reported earlier Cool Nites Deadwood (50s and 60s cars and hot rods) is the weekend before Labor Day and then LD weekend is the Sturgis Mustang Rally. Fords not horseys. Actually, the motorcycles never leave but probably are outnumbered by ATVs. The powers that be seem to have done a fairly good job at balancing interests. You can take the path less traveled on foot and find places that you do not have to share with internal combustion. Still, I wonder about the pressures for commercial development despite quite a lot of businesses for sale. (Sign of the economic times?) In the movie The Big Sky, Uncle Zeb (Arthur Hunnicutt) talks about the White Man's Disease, "GRAB." First they grab from the Indians and then they grab from each other.

Another visit to Custer State Park

I did not get to a blog entry yesterday before the campground wifi service disappeared. We were in Custer State Park again and after driving through the bison herd (I have more than enough photos) we found a small band of pronghorns. I have a lot of photos of pronghorn also but this fellow was in his prime. His coloring was bright and distinctive and he looked in perfect health.

Throughout this trip the wildflowers have been a treat. Even in the desert areas they were in bloom. This one seemed to be at the end of its season. Goldenrod, thistle, and black-eyed susan are still strong here in the Black Hills where it seems unnaturally green as autumn approaches.

1880 TRAIN

The 1880 Train runs on a former spur line between Hill City and Keystone, South Dakota. The locomotive is interesting and unique but not dramatic. The ride (one way) is relatively slow and takes an hour or so to cover less than 10 miles. The narration is mildly interesting but intrusive and the use of the term "choo-choo" is offensive. Yet, we have ridden a number of excursion trains and the Black Hills scenery is probably the best of all. (Truth is the ride along the Oregon coast was not bad.)


For the sake of those who notice such things, this was yesterday's activity. Today was laundry day. I did not see a real need for photographs.

A day at Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, any questions?

CCC example

This is the visitor center at Custer State Park in South Dakota. It was built by the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Civilian Conservation Corps

 Upstairs in the visitor information center in Hill City, South Dakota is the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum for the Black Hills. I have noticed some items in National Park Service gift shops related to the CCC. Perhaps a day late as the young men who served in this depression era program still living are few. If you visit national parks, forests, or similar Federal government areas you may well see the efforts of the CCC.

The father of a good friend served in the CCC and the rumor was that this was the reason he could not do carpentry with any wood smaller than a 2X4. These young men built their own camps and then went to clear woods, build bridges, dams, as well as other things. The picturesque stone bridges on park roads may well be a legacy of the CCC.

The organization was quasi-military. Work parties were led by junior military officers to give them command experience they would not get in a small peacetime army. The young men got a job at a time when there was no work. The pay was a dollar a day
and almost all of that was sent to their families to help out in the hard times. The worker got three meals and a "flop" (place to sleep). Camps also had recreation halls and educational programs were provided. An enlistment was for six months and if the experience/training did not provide an opportunity in the outside world, you could reenlist for another six months.

Please be patient.

After being dragged across the coals, demeaned, threatened, and otherwise criticized (all by one person), for not blogging I thought I would offer a feeble excuse. We went to Riverton, Wyoming for 8 days on family (Denise's) business and if you knew Riverton you would understand why there was no reason to photograph or write.

We arrived in the Black Hills of South Dakota yesterday and are now in the trailer hiding from a repetition of downpours. The campground is just south of Deadwood where this weekend is Cool Nites Deadwood. It is a 50s-60s thing with zillions of restored automobiles and bands playing rock music that has no hope of being restored. The area just got rid of the motorcycles and they attracted cars. This is one of the most beautiful NATURAL areas of the country and they bring in noisy, smelly, polluting machines. Isn't our truck enough? They should have stopped after defacing a perfectly good mountain with carved heads of presidents.

Anyway, check back as I can promise there will be pictures of bison (better than cats on Facebook) and more than likely the 1880 Train. With luck maybe something a tad more rare.

The Eagle has Landed, or maybe just about ready to take off.

Just north of Kremmling, Colorado, is a reservoir lake part of the Wolford Mountain Project. We were pleasantly surprised to find a nest of Osprey. The birds were less than pleasantly surprised. Daddy raised the alarm, or maybe a warning to us, the moment we got out of the truck. As I tried to find a better sun angle he glided toward us but veered off and found a nearby utility pole. I think that these birds might have been introduced, as our bird book suggest they would be very rare in this part of the country.

 

 

Packer Saloon (Give or take a lie or two)

Yesterday I made reference to the Packer Restaurant. As you can see in the photo I misspoke. If you look closely you will see an icon on the sign, yes, a football player. The Packer they are referring to is a Green Bay CHEESEHEAD! They do however have the Cannibal Grill so the relationship to Alferd (you will also see it as Alfred) is not ignored. What is also to be noted is that you will see an overwhelming number of signs, even nearby in town (Lake City),warning you that this is BEAR COUNTRY! Apparently the stupid cheeseheads are disregarding the warning. So, "BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS....'

Lake City, Colorado

The RV park is at 9300 feet and I am able to walk the 100 yards or so to get the two mountain photos on the right. The sheep we had to drive about 5 miles on something laughably called a road. We will be here until Sunday and then move farther, or is that further (?) north. The wifi here is not very convenient so I do not know if I will post very often. The area is so stunning you almost have to say a lot or nothing. Lake City does have the Alferd Packer Restaurant. For those who don't know about Al, do a web search.

 

Fort Union

Sorry for the lack of posting but the wifi is less than great at our current location. We are back in the Taos, New Mexico area. Having seen most of the local sites/sights we ventured east to the remains of Fort Union. It was the main US Army post in the southwest. The first fort, pre Civil War, was built to protect a section of the Santa Fe Trail. It lasted only a short time and the next fort was an earthen "star" shaped fort constructed not only to guard the trail but to block invading Confederates marching north from Texas. It was never tested and was replaced by a large complex, a small part of which is in the photos to the right. The complex included the military post and a quartermaster's depot that received and transshipped supplies for the military posts throughout the southwest. The Park does a very good job at interpreting the scale of the operation. By the standards of the west in the second half of the 19th-century this was a small city.

 

OK, it is the south end of a pronghorn facing north but if you have ever been near one of these beasts you will realize this is the normal view.