The Edge Show is taking a break as Daniel and Susan heads west to Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Glacier National Park, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and the Snowy Mountain Range……while Americans are still free to travel….feel free to comment below.
DAY 1
First day. Drove from central Indiana through Illinois, Iowa and arrived at campground south of Sioux Falls. We had the entire campground to ourselves except for a howling animal of an unknown species. Stayed one night. West Indiana was a nice drive…Illinois….a freaking hellscape of nasty highways and constant road construction. Every road slow down had the infamous “Slow Down..Photo Patrolled Speed Capture” signs. Iowa was beautiful scenic cornfields on rolling hills. They surprisingly had many wind mills. I’ve heard Iowa mocked for having nothing to look at but the terraced rolling fields were great to see.
Heading west in South Dakota. Locals describe South Dakota as East River and West River. That is because the Missouri River literally splits the state. Liberals being east and conservatives being west. Now East was nice to drive through mostly rolling hills and farms. The state has vast spaces of unoccupied areas. The average farm is 1300 acres. But when you cross the Missouri a unbelievable change of scenery happens. You cross the river and enter into magical vistas of rising buttes and sinking valleys. I have never seen such a stark and dramatic defining change in topography. Massive cow herds start appearing on these hills.
SIDE NOTE
Thanks to Joe TaliBiden killing American energy independence, gas is averaging $3.49 a gallon. Fortunately we have a smaller rig and get about 12 miles a gallon.
DAY 2
Arrive at Buffalo Ridge Campsite in Custer SD. Nice facilities. Got into trouble first night. While I was playing Hotel California on my acoustic guitar I was reported to the Fun Police…they came and told me to stop playing even though it wasn’t quiet hours…bunch of worn out old stooges…who reported me? I’ll never know…..guess they don’t like The Eagles…however…..Winston was the man on duty…he was the one who came and told me about the complaint..when he got back to the office a man was checking in…he was a Beekeeper and gave Winston some honey sticks (I didn’t know that at the time)….I felt bad for causing Winston to have to deal with the issue so we went to the office and gave him a jar of our honey. Winston said in his country of Jamaica bees are a good sign…he said he just got back to back honey gifts from two beekeepers and believed God was involved and he was deeply touched….
DAY 3
Went to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. Rushmore was spectacular. Perfect blue skies…fast intake of visitors, super clean and just beautiful. My patriotism batteries completely recharged. Crazy Horse seemed to be exactly as it was in 1998..didn’t see much improvement…but the owners turned down government money twice…they don’t trust the government to do the right thing or appreciate the plight of the American Indian Nations…so its slow…but honest…sides, I was thinking if the government got involved they would force LGBTQ month there.
DAY 4
Went to Hot Springs SD. Filled up gallons of water from a natural spring and went to The Mammoth Site. The Mammoth Site is not a museum. It is a working archeological dig in progress. 61 Mammoths have been identified in this single spot along with other extinct creatures who evidently drowned in a slippery warm depression. Strangely, a camel and llama was also found in there. In my view, those two animals adds credence to the idea that the earth was once covered in a vapor canopy and all animals existed everywhere on the earth until the great flood.
DAY 5
Went on a drive through Needles Highway…more balanced rocks on top of rock out croppings than you’ll see anywhere. Took a drive on the Wildlife Loop….. multiple herds of bison (not buffalos!)..lol..got within 10 feet of them…herds of pronghorns…and of course prairie dog towns…now the sweet little prairie doggies…love them…they make these cute little noises. Went to Wind Cave in the morning… fortunately, they have a elevator that takes you back up…so in one day we were over 250 feet below the earth and 6446 above the earth the same day!
DAY 6
Went fishing in Sylvan Lake Elev. 6100, Horsethief Lake and the Grace Coolidge Walk-In Fishing Area a six mile walking trail. Caught several rainbow trout.
DAY 7
Got the truck oil changed and washed in Rapid City. Arin at Tires Plus was a real hoot..offered me a job lol….she said Rapid City is a place where more men in town wear guns than masks. She also told us she won’t let any man who can’t drive a stick shift or has a man bun date her daughter. Went to Pactola Dam to Rapid Creek for more fishing. Got back to campsite readied truck for over night stay in Columbus Montana at Mountain Range RV park.
DAY 8
Traveling west on I-90…. scenery was OK, but a unbelievable amount of houses and trailers on either side for most of the way had junk cars, junk trailers, boats, toilets, refrigerators, trucks, tires, rims you name it in their yards…. now if you’re in the market for a used toilet with some stains, I’m sure you could find a bargain on this stretch of highway….Along the way there was a white Jeep on the side of the highway…a family had run out of gas…we pulled the rig over picked up Steve took him to nearest gas station then brought him back to his family and they got on their way……then we got to Billings MT. Total surprise. It was mostly run down, smog emitting factorys, trash lined highway, nasty industrial structures along the Yellowstone river which goes through town ..I wouldn’t even swim in that. Traffic jams..a hellscape that reminds me of Cincinnati. It took many miles to get through that industrial wasteland to get to the Mountain Range RV park.
DAY 9
Drove to Glacier National Park .. Went through Browning…a Indian town…lock the doors people.. a creepy rundown place…got to Glacier heading to Moose Creek Campground. You won’t believe this…we were in Glacier in the middle of the forest… traffic was stopped for road work, we were at the end of the line…we rolled the window down to take a picture and two Sasquatchs were talking in the forest right beside us…..I kid you not!.. we couldn’t believe what we were hearing. I realize no body would believe our first day this happened, but it did….we grabbed the cell camera and they shut up. We know what they sound like because we’ve heard audio tapes known as the Sierra Sounds from one of our previous guests Ron Morehead. I believe they we’re upset with the road work in their area. Later in the evening got gas and truck washed. Had a steak at Paul Bunyan Bar & Grill to end the day….drove back to campground nearly hit a deer….run little deer run!
DAY 10
Took a drive on the venerable Going To The Sun Road…spectacular doesn’t even come close to describe this road and its views. We stopped many times along the way and took a couple hikes as well. One was Gunsight Hike and the other was Hidden Lake….wow…you get to this overlook over the lake and you are just awe inspired about God’s creation.
DAY 11
Spent the day checking out Kalispell and Columbia Falls… Kalispell is a nice mountain town…the usual corporate stores, good and bad neighborhoods..…northwest being really nice and new. Columbia Falls is a beautiful little mountain town. Stopped in a ReMax office said hey how much can I buy property here? He said 500K will get you a used barn….I said OK…wheres a good restaurant? Got a little fishing on the beautiful Middle Fork Flathead river.
Day 12
Took a hike on the Trail Of Cedars, a pocket of Pacific rainforest..huge old growth trees….tied into another trail the Avalanche Lake trail…beautiful hike fishing in the lake caught some cutthroat and rainbow trout. I taught a couple from Chicago how to use my fly rod…they were so happy about that!…Begging chipmunks haunted the area…Saw our first Steller Jay…a very friendly bird totally unafraid of humans.
DAY 13
Took the western road in Glacier Park north called Camas….went up this crazy 30 mile long pothole filled gravel road traveling to Lake Kintla…past meadows and prairies…got to a one store town called Polebridge..they had a Sasquatch exhibit in front..I asked them was it a road side gimmick or were there sightings…they said it’s a tourist gimmick…however..at the Ranger Station just 7 miles from the Canadian border (border closed) they had casts in the station..one was a Bigfoot.
- Our campsite at Glacier. 2. Fishing in Lake Kintla
DAY 14
Heading to Yellowstone…camping in Gardiner MT just north of the park….first day drove through the west side..checked things out saw a couple smouldering pools. Walked to Cowboys Bar & Grill to get a local brew to end the day.
DAY 15-18
Drove through west side of the park…took various hikes to mud pots, acid lakes, boiling lakes and other geysers. Yes there are many geysers here. Amazing natural wonders of all kinds in Yellowstone.
Pro Tip: Get the Thomas Jefferson Ice cream at Mt. Rushmore!
Looks like good times!
Enjoy!
Have a wonderful time! Enjoy! Great recaps and pictures for each day of your trip.
Hey Daniel, hope you guys enjoy plenty of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness out here in the amazing west! Peace and blessings.
Good to see Daniel has legs! This is fascinating, along with the pictures you paint a great picture. The scenery in the US can be stunning. I hope you continue to have a great time, but get back soon coz I need the show back!
You got it!