West-X Day 13 (8/13/2009) : Trail Ride and The Long, Hot Drive Home

We had an early start to the day since we needed to have the minivan loaded, check out of the hotel, and make the 45 minute drive from Sylvan Lake Lodge to Blue Bell Lodge so the girls could check in and be ready for their trail ride. The ride had been cancelled the day before due to rain. This day, however, the sky was clear, the bison which passed through the area were cleared out, and the trail ride was a go. While the girls were on their ride, Ilene and I went to Blue Bell Lodge for breakfast and a nice time of conversation. I had buffalo tips and scrambled eggs, continuing my practice of having a daily serving of bison while in the Black Hills. Bison was very available and not priced at a premium on the menus.



After the girls returned from their two hour ride, we headed east and then north, exiting the Black Hills. Lunch time was approaching as was Rapid City. People were in the mood for a Wendy’s, so we consulted Mavis, our navigation system, noted one eight miles ahead, and told Mavis to get us there. Unfortunately it was a fair distance off the freeway, something we wish Mavis had told us about. We got there, ate, and eventually were heading east on I-90 about noon.

It is over a nine hour drive from Rapid City to Fargo with an hour time change against our favor. The previous night I had checked the weather along our Google maps route of I-90 to Sioux Falls and then north on I-29 to Fargo. Across I-90, temps were to be near 100 F. Due to the time spent with the trail ride and lunch and the heat, we opted to not drive through the Badlands. Wall Drug was never firmly on our itinerary (too touristy); the Minuteman missile site historic site only got one vote as a stop; the 1890 town didn’t make the list. The plan was to just get home with maybe a stop at Chamberlin, SD where I-90 crossed the Missouri River and the first McDonalds in 205 miles from Rapid City was located (a billboard in Rapid City noted the “last chance” there and we confirmed the distance).

While the I-90/I-29 route from Rapid City to Fargo didn’t require Mavis’ navigation services, we did use her as an MP3 player with navigation active. A ways out of Rapid City, she advised us to turn off of I-90 onto US-14, taking us on a route through Pierre, SD which on a 100 F day would likely be 105 F. It is a hot spot in the Dakotas and in the summer can reach 115 F. Ilene checked the map, we discussed the recommendation in light of some Mavis’ other recent recommendations, and opted to stay on I-90.

Several hours passed and we reached Chamberlin were we stopped at McDonalds for our afternoon snack. We also stopped at a state wayside there which had a Lewis and Clark exhibit including a keelboat replica. We arrived a few minutes before the museum’s 4:30 closing, so had to rush through. We then resumed our drive east, but after a while ran into construction and our speed dropped to 60 mph. Mavis had been urging us to head north at every major interchange. With the speed limit on South Dakota two-lane roads at 65 mph and I-29 doing some backtracking from Sioux Falls to Watertown, we opted to head north to Huron and then to Watertown where we would join I-29.

Our cross country route worked out OK with a gas and potty stop in the metropolis of Woonsocket and supper at Arby’s in Watertown. We enjoyed the sunset to our west as we crossed into North Dakota and then arrived home from our epic western expedition. Our cat warmly greeted us and it was nice to be in our own beds after nearly two weeks on the road.

Day’s driving mileage : 642 miles Total driving mileage : 3493 miles

West-X Day 12 (8/12/2009) : Ascending Harney Peak and Visiting Mt Rushmore

After breakfast in our room, our first activity of the day was to ascend Harney Peak, the highest peak between the Rocky Mountains and the Pyrenees at 7244 feet. We did a short drive to the trail head at Sylvan Lake, elevation 6175 feet, and were walking by 8:30 AM. The two hour walk up went from Custer State Park into the Black Elk Wilderness Area with most of the climb in the last third. The trail material had large amounts of the glass-like mineral mica which made it shimmer and even appear wet from its glimmering in the morning sun. Some of the mica flecks were up to several square centimeters in size.


We stopped to rest as we desired and spent half an hour at the top before our descent. The view from the 1930s era CCC fire tower was great, but a little diminished by the humidity in the air. We had wondered how they had transported the building materials the 3.25 miles we had come, but later learned there was a road that came very close to the tower. Another thought morsel was the fact that Ilene’s parents had honeymooned at Sylvan Lodge, where we were staying, and had hiked to the peak some 63 years earlier.

We had lunch in our room and rested a bit before heading down to Blue Bell Lodge where the girls were scheduled to go on a horseback trail ride at 3:30. About 3:15, rain and a little hail began. The ride was cancelled shortly thereafter and we rescheduled the girls for 8:30 the next day. The rain ended and it was clear by 4:00.

After the ride was cancelled, the only time weather caused a cancellation on our entire trip, we continued on with our itinerary by taking the Iron Mountain Highway with its tunnels and pigtail turns to Mount Rushmore. Ilene and I were shocked at the renovation of the site which had occurred since we were there in 1994 and since I had visited in the mid-1960s. The narrow winding road was replaced with a new three lane highway (2 up, 1 down) coming to the monument from two directions, there was now a parking ramp instead of a lot, there was a palatial entrance, etc. It felt less intimate and more sterile. Ilene and I preferred Mt Rushmore as it had been.


We got our pictures taken and walked around, getting much closer to the faces than was easily done in the old days. We considered supper there, but ended up just getting ice cream.

Our route then took us to Keystone which was another tourist town. We stopped at a rock shop where Ilene got some rocks for the garden, but didn’t find a restaurant to our liking and convenience there or at Hill City. We ended up eating under the stars on the patio back at Sylvan Lake Lodge, very satisfied with our choice.

Day’s driving mileage : 79 miles Total driving mileage : 2851 miles
Day’s estimated hiking : 7.5 miles

West-X Day 11 (8/11/2009) : Needles, Wildlife, Windy Cave, and Mammoths

Our room at historic Sylvan Lake Lodge had a balcony where we ate breakfast before heading out at 8:30 AM MDT for sightseeing on the needles highway and wildlife loops in Custer State Park. We stopped at the eye of the needle for pictures and climbing as well as for wild donkeys on the loop. During our whole Black Hills stay, the wildlife was more abundant and closer to the highways than at other places on our trip. Besides the donkeys, we saw bison, mountain goats, deer, and pronghorns (antelope).

We toured the cave at Wind Cave National Park which features 95% of the world’s cave “boxwork” intricate mineral formations resembling post office boxes. From the cave, we went to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs where mammoth bones were discovered in the 1970s and have been excavated ever since. The theory is that about 26,000 years ago, a sink hole with a hot spring was there. The hot spring enabled green vegetation year round which seems to have lured teenage male mammoths to their deaths and bone preservation.



We picked up groceries in Hot Springs and then headed back to the lodge for supper on our balcony.

Day’s mileage : 115 Total driving mileage : 2772

Day’s estimated hiking : 0.5 miles (underground)

West-X Day 10 (8/10/2009) : Oregon Trail from Ft Caspar to Ft Laramie and into the Black Hills

It was another sunny morning which started with me getting gas for the minivan and milk for our family’s breakfast at the hotel. Once we had eaten and the minivan was loaded, we headed east on I-25 along the Platte River to the town of Guernsey which has a couple of Oregon trail historic sites. One is some rock which has ruts left by the ox and hand garts which had traversed the trail 160 years ago. The second is Register Cliff where travelers left names and dates dating back to the Oregon trail days.

Our next stop was Fort Laramie National Historic Site, but first we wanted to have lunch. Mavis had few options in the area, but a stop at the Ft Laramie (town) information center provided a lead. We got some turkey, noodle, and turkey dinners to go and had them at a park by an army bridge constructed in 1875 across the Platte River. The bridge was critical for troops to reliably head north to conflicts with the the northern plains Indians which ran until about 1890.


Ft Laramie was restored to the 1880s-1890s period, well after our 1840-1870 Oregon Trail period of interest. The buildings we saw were the third incarnation of the fort. The first was a wooden palisade style up till the 1840s and the second, concurrent with the peak of the Oregon Trail, was an adobe structure. Both of these earlier structures were more focused on trade than military.

Upon leaving Yellowstone, we had started listening to a Librivox audio version of Francis Parkman Jr’s book The Oregon Trail which he had written after adventuring on the trail in 1846. We got about half way through the book including the portion about his visit to the cosmopolitan fort. At that time it was a crossroads for Mexicans, Indians of various tribes, Oregon Trail settlers, and military people. We stopped listening because the girls didn’t like it. Parkman is a bit difficult to follow, but he has a rich vocabulary he uses to paint the people, land, and events he witnessed. I would like to finish it. The other audio books we ended up listening to the second half of our trip were by Jeanne DuPrau: City of Ember, The People of Sparks (only half, we found the characters frustrating), and The Prophet of Yonwood.

After the historic site, we picked up some malts at the place we had gotten lunch and then headed north-northeast to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Supper was at Subway in Hot Springs, SD. Our drive from supper to our room at Sylvan Lodge in Custer State Park featured lots of deer along the road at dusk. Fortunately none had a death wish, but we did wonder if a wildlife encounter totaled our minivan, but left it drivable, could we combine the insurance money and the government “Cash for Clunkers” program to have about $8500 towards a new vehicle.


Day’s mileage : 344 Total mileage : 2657 Day’s estimated hiking : 1.5 miles

West-X Day 9 (8/9/2009) : Oregon Trail from Ft Bridger to Ft Caspar

The sun was up and I drove down to the corner to fill the minivan with gas and get some milk for breakfast. While our nominal starting point was Ft Bridger, we didn’t take time to visit the state historic site. Instead, we headed east on I-80 to Wyoming 372, then north until we turned northeast on Wyoming 28 which paralleled the Big Sandy River and Oregon Trail. I-80 was fairly busy, as expected. Wyoming highways 372 and 28 were pretty desolate. Occasionally we would see the odd cow or pronghorn some distance from the road. The lonely crossroads town of Farson was a handful of houses, a gas station, and a couple convenience stores. We stopped to use a bathroom and get midmorning snacks.

Continuing northeast out of Farson, we came to the South Pass monument, marking South Pass: an easy way to get through the Rocky Mountains which did so much to enable settlement of Utah, California, and the Oregon Territory. The absence of South Pass might have contributed to another country holding what are now the western two or three tiers of US states. While Wyoming 28 is now a road less travelled, it was THE road for many pioneers in the 1840s through 1860s. Once the transcontinental railroad was completed, the 5-6 month journey on the Oregon Trail was reduced to a 2-3 week train trip.

A short distance from the monument, we stopped at the South Pass City State Historic Site for the abandoned town of South Pass. It was not there for the Oregon Trail, but rather for gold mines that ran sporadically from the 1890s to about 1950. The buildings were restored and furnished to the 1890s. It was a nice stop.

With a current population of about 7 people, South Pass City didn’t offer much for lunchtime dining, so we drover further down a gravel road to Atlantic City which has about 50 people and an eating place. After checking out the restaurant, we opted to drive on. Leaving town, we came to a fork on the road which wasn’t on our official Wyoming highway or Rand McNally maps. I thought we should take the left fork, but Mavis our navigation system said to go right and we deferred to her judgment.

That choice was brought into increasing question as we continued down the washboardy gravel road at speeds of 5-15 mph, were told to turn onto a couple wheel tracks departing from said washboardy road (we declined), and were told to turn onto a couple wheel tracks departing said road and leading to a steel gate (we declined again). I eventually activated my hiking GPS to get a second view of where we were relative to Wyoming 28 and eventually got back on the road we wanted.

This incident along with a similar scenic route Mavis took us through in Montpelior en route to the trails museum led to some conclusions about Mavis’ knowledge and programming.

1. In rural areas, NAVTEQ, the map supplier to Garmin and Mavis, must just use local maps without checking to see if the roads on the map would be considered roads by most drivers.

2. The questionable roads did not have speed information associated with them. Mavis must be programmed to use some speed like 40 or 55 mph to evaluate routes even though, as we found out, those speeds are not achievable.

Our trust in Mavis for routes involving non-paved roads was greatly diminished for the rest of the trip.

Back on the paved road, but now well past lunch time, we consulted Mavis for dining options in the upcoming town of Lander. “Mom’s Malt Shop” sounded good, so we locked in the destination. On reaching downtown Lander, Mavis guided us right to the location of a building which had a “For Lease” sign. Fortunately, the town had a new McDonalds, not listed in Mavis database, to which we returned for lunch. I wondered if the opening of McDonalds had something to do with the closing of the malt shop.

Leaving Landers, there was again driving through open country until we paralleled the Sweatwater River and eventually got to Casper. Along the way, we made stops at the Oregon Trail landmarks of the Devil’s Gate and Independence Rock. The girls climbed pretty much to the top of Independence Rock.

We ate at a nice Mexican restaurant in Casper en route to Hilton Garden Inn, our 4th and final free night on the trip.


Day’s mileage : 353 Total mileage : 2313 miles Day’s estimated hiking : 2 miles

West-X Day 8 (8/6/2009) : Potatoes and Pioneers

Today proved to be cool with scattered showers until mid-afternoon. Grey clouds were draped over the mountain peaks, occasionally leaking rain onto the earth below. Fortunately this was a driving day with two museum stops, so rain was once again not a factor

We headed south out of Idaho Falls to the town of Blackfoot, self-proclaimed potato capital of the world. Our objective, requested by daughter L, was the Idaho Potato Museum. It provided a nice historical view of potatoes in the world and in Idaho. With our admission, we also got three boxes of dehydrated hash browns made from Idaho potatoes.


Leaving the Snake River basin behind us, we turned east into the mountains through the tourist town of Lava Hot Springs, famous for its bathing pools fed by hot springs and through the town of Soda Butte where we had lunch at a Taco Time restaurant.

We then descended into the Bear Lake Valley and the town of Montpelior , ID where we picked up a branch of the Oregon Trail and toured the National Trails Center Museum. Costumed docents took us back to 1852 and through a number of theatre stages and narration/instruction helped us get provisions in Independence, MO at a gun shop and a general store, load our wagons, camp on the trail, and arrive at Oregon Territory after 2000 miles and 5 ½ months. Tomorrow we pick up the trail again near Ft Bridger, WY.

We continued south in the valley and then along the eastern shore of Bear Lake itself into Utah. At Garden City, UT, we had supper at a pizza place which featured a 28" diameter size called "Old Ephraim". The large pizzas and boxes were a unique sight.

Bear Lake in Utah

Rounding the southern end of Bear Lake, we crossed an indifferent mountain pass into a plain in Wyoming. It was a stark landscape with limestone hills, yet it was scenic with broken clouds and evening light shining on the buttes. We drove past, but did not stop at, Fossil Butte National Monument, through the town of Kemmerer (birthplace of JC Penney’s cahinj of stores and now a mining town), and then south to Mountain Butte, Wyoming were we spent the night at a modern cabin at Mountain Cabins Inn.

Day’s mileage : 289 Total mileage : 1960 miles Day’s estimated hiking : 0 miles

West-X Day 7 (8/7/2009) : Craters of the Moon and Scenic Sand Dunes

Because of the previous day’s forecast of rain in the morning, we had decided to have a leisurely start to our new day so hiking would be in the afternoon instead of the morning. I had originally feared temps in the mid-90s, but we were fortunate that temps would be in the 60s for hiking. On rising, we learned that the forcast and changed and rain was now forecast with highest probability in the afternoon. The precipitation ended up being only a few sprinkles which didn’t impact our day.

Our first destination of the day was Craters of the Moon National Monument about 90 miles west of Idaho Falls. We took US 20 which qualifies as a “road less travelled” thought a sparsely vegetated plain and Idaho National Laboratory. Jutting out from the plain were three large buttes of volcanic origin. We could also see little building sites off in the distance with restricted access roads.

We drove by EBR-1, Experimental Breeder Reactor 1, which played a leading role in nuclear power research in the 1950s and 1960s and is now a historic site. It is where the first electricity was generated by nuclear power and also the only place in the US where there have been fatalities in a nuclear accident. We didn’t stop due to concerns about rain later in the day, the fact that I have been in decommissioned reactors elsewhere, and lack of interest by other family members.

Craters of the Moon is part of a large volcanic area which is currently dormant, but left lava flows, spatter cones, cinder cones, and lava tubes (caves) which we explored. Indian Tunnel is the largest lava tube and it has some collapsed areas so it has good natural lighting throughout. At Boy Scout Cave and Beauty Cave, flashlights were needed by each person. We lacked flashlights in sufficient number and quality to do much exploring and this was a disappointment.

Hiking up a Cinder Cone

Hiking on a lava flow

Heading east, we stopped in the nearby town of Arco, population about 1000, for lunch at a place called Pickle’s. It was a small town burger joint where the girls ordered the Atomic Buurger, named not for it’s spiciness, but in commemoration of Arco being the first town with 100% of its energy supplied by nuclear power: an experiment involving EBR-1.

After lunch, we continued east to the Scenic Sand Dunes near St Anthony, ID. The story there is that winds which pick up sand in the Snake River basin can’t get it over the mountains. The result is an area of sand dunes up to 400 feet high. We had hoped to have an experience similar to the one at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, but that was not the case and led to the second major disappointment of the day.

Scenic Sand Dunes in managed by the Bureau of Land Management and priority is given to ATV use rather than hiking. There is also no visitor’s center. Not wanting to be run over by an ATV nor wanting to walk great distances from parking areas to the dunes, most of our viewing was at a distance. This was the low point of our whole trip.

Potatoes, white sand dunes, and mountains

After the disappointing drive along the southern boundary of the dunes, we returned to St Anthony where we had a picnic supper along the Henry Fork of the Snake River before returning to Idaho Falls and our hotel.

Day’s driving mileage : 301 miles Total driving mileage : 1671 miles
Day’s estimated hiking : 3 miles

West-X Day 6 : (8/6/2009) : The Grand Tetons and on to Idaho Falls

The day started with a crash of thunder at midnight and there was rain at other times prior to our 6:15 AM MDT departure south to the Grand Tetons and then west into Idaho. The drive to and out the south entrance of Yellowstone was uneventful and we then encountered a brief road construction delay. The rest of our day didn’t quite follow the itinerary, but the result was a very good day.

Grand Teton National Park is directly south of Yellowstone and basically consists, moving east to west, of a rolling, grassy plain at 6000 feet of elevation followed by wooded mountain lakes followed by a dozen ragged mountain peaks which rise 4000-6000 feet above the plain and the lakes. It is very scenic.

Our original plan was based on a one day itinerary in Frommer’s, so we stopped first at the Colter Bay visitor’s center on Jackson Lake to pick up additional information as well as view exhibits. We planned to do some hiking and found out that moose were regularly seen in Cascade Canyon just west of Jenny Lake to the south. Wanting to take advantage of the wildlife activity and coolness of the morning, we cut our stay at Jackson Lake short and proceded to Jenny Lake.

Between the lakes and south of a place called Signal Hill, we encountered a crowd of people and several rangers along the road, frequently an indication that something is up from a wildlife perspective. We joined the crowd and spent 45 minutes watching a 2-year-old black bear in the woods. It was hoped that the bear would cross the road in a corridor blocked off by the rangers. The crowd and the steady flow of traffic on the road probably led the bear to decide after all that time to head deeper into the woods. It was fun watching and the best bear viewing we had on the trip.

Due to the bear watching delay and the length of time since breakfast, we decided to stop at Jenny Lake Lodge Dining Room which Frommer’s rates as one of the best eateries in any national park. We arrived about 11:00 only to find out that lunch wasn’t served until Noon. We then decided to head further south to the village of Moose where, at the bear site we had learned, there was a moose seen near the Snake River. The moose was still there and we watched it from the bridge over the river for a while.

We drove a little further to the Chuckwagen of Dornan’s for lunch, which also didn’t start serving till noon. Between the drive, the moose, and the nearby store, it wasn’t much of a wait. We ate outside, under a tent, with a great view of the mountains.

After lunch, we headed back to Jenny Lake for the afternoon. We hiked the south side of the lake and then to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point on the west side. The trail had a lot of small, angular rocks which made it rough for walking. There were also building clouds followed by a light shower as we got to our Hidden Falls.

Thunder was heard as we boarded the boat for our trip back across the lake. While it didn’t start raining until we were back in our minivan, the spray from the boat got the girls wet and made for a refreshing ride. We then headed south out of Grand Tetons to the town of Jackson which I didn’t like due to its touristy appearance and congestion.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton have different characters starting with nature. Yellowstone features elk and bison while Grand Teton features bear and moose. Yellowstone is more of a place to see while Grand Teton is a place to do. Besides the hiking at GT, there is water recreation on the lakes, bike trails along the roads, float trips on the Snake River, and more horseback riding opportunities. Grand Teton also appears more upscale as evidenced by the bottles of Perrier mineral water at the general stores.

Leaving Jackson, we took a brief detour in the rain to drive through the ski resort town of Teton Village. The ski tram operates in the summer to take visitors to the top for a view of the area, but not during thunderstorms. We resumed our westward travel which took us over the Teton Pass (8431 feet) and a lesser pass into Idaho. It was another opportunity for our minivan to show its vigor in old age. I also found myself more proficient in downshifting to utilize engine, versus wheel, braking.

After some routine driving, we made a surreal entrance into Idaho Falls, ID. Like Fargo, it is relatively flat. It had 30-45 mph winds as we arrived though a light industrial section of town, similar to Main Avenue is western Fargo. The wind had picked up a fine dust which gave the city an eerie orange glow. It reminded me of dust storms on Mars.

Mavis’ recommended route to the hotel was blocked by construction and as the detour brought us to a McDonalds, we took the opportunity to eat supper and get four more Beanie Babies via Happy Meals. The toys were mostly ones we had, but they could and would be used as trade items. After supper, we continued to the Hampton Inn which was to be our free home for the next two nights. We stopped at a second McDonalds where through trade and cash purchase, the set of Beanie Babies was completed. A collateral objective of our trip had been achieved and greater menu possibilities were available for the rest of our trip.

At the hotel, a check of the weather indicated heavy rain for the next morning….

Day’s mileage : 247 Total mileage : 1370 Day’s estimated hiking : 3.25 miles