Road Trip Out

Alright ya whiners, I’ll start my blog back up so you can read about my shenanigans if you so please. Once again, internet is super limited, so try not to be too nit-picky about the frequency (or lack there of) my posts. As a benchmark, in some areas of the park, I have half a bar of service—in the most areas I have none.

But anyways, so I packed up all my crap and set out in my nice little car for an 1150 mile journey out west to Yellowstone for the summer. By myself. Now, the train last year may have won in number of hours—51.5 vs ~32ish, but it was much less boring for me because I didn’t have to actually drive. I mean, c’mon, I-90 sucks! But I knew that going in so I tried to break it up with some planned stops. Also I totally knew that I’d fall asleep because driving is a real bore. And I played the license plate game (I’m at about 40 with 3 Canadian provinces at the time of writing. If you live in Rhode Island and would like to drive your car to Yellowstone to visit, that’d be much appreciated! And bring your friends from Deleware…)

So anyways, stop number one was at Palisades State Park in South Dakota. The Sioux Quartzite was pretty cool and it was a nice place to sit on a rock in the middle of the river and eat my awesome pb&j lunch. After I stretched my legs for a bit though I got back in my car and started plugging away again.

I stopped at some rest areas along the way, but this one in Chamberlain, SD was particularly memorable because of the giant Sacagawea statue—and I found 7 new license plates there. Major jackpot.

Then there was this random Prairie Dog place close to the Badlands where you could feed prairie dogs food from there store. I just went and looked at them, and naturally took a picture of the “largest concrete prairie dog in the world.” What a cool claim to fame. :) Also right next to there is Minutemen Missile National Historic Site, which was really interesting because I had no idea that there were so many nuclear warheads in South Dakota, especially during the Cold War.

So my next stop was Badlands National Park. Unfortunately, NPS employees getting into other national parks free isn’t a thing. :( Being the person I am, gas was super expensive at the place right outside the park entrance, so I decided that a quarter tank should be enough to get me through to Wall. (It made me a nervous wreck, so I’m not entirely sure the $0.30/gallon that I saved was worth it. Just kidding, it was totally worth it.) Anyways, I went and hiked the Notch Trail, which has a sign that recommends sturdy, closed-toe boots. I looked down at my Tevas and decided I’d be fine. (Hint: I was fine.) There was just this one really weird ladder/cable/log thing that you had to climb up that people were freaking out about. Seriously, it was so much easier than the cables at Half Dome—you’re fine people, you’re fine.

 

 

So I had originally intended to stay at a backcountry campsite in the Badlands, but storms were predicted and they shut down that road if they get too much rain. So off to Wall I went, to fill up and continue on my way to Rapid City. Finding lodging in Rapid City was a real challenge, seeing as how I’m a cheapskate and all the motels were either full or only had their suites left. So I decided that I didn’t care it was pouring and went and stayed at a campground.

Well, if you’re unaware, I’m terrible at sleeping. And it was cold. And it was raining and loud. And somebody came into the campsite next to me around midnight and was super loud. So I was packed and out of there by 5:00 the next morning and went to Dinosaur Park to watch the sunrise.

 

^Not a dinosaur at Dinosaur Park

It was still pretty early by the time I got to Chapel in the Hills, so I did something super illegal and went through the gate that was closed to take my picture and then leave again. I swear I didn’t hurt anything and I felt terrible the whole time. They should open at 0600 instead of 0800…then my problem would be solved.

A bit later I was in Belle Fourche aka the “Center of the Nation.” I don’t really know how that works out to be the center, but whatever trips their trigger.

Then, what feels like a batrillion miles later because you’re on the same dang stretch of road for flipping ever—I arrived at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. There was a Hawaii license plate! Little Bighorn was really awesome. Custer sucks. The national cemetery that was there was ginormous and all decorated with flags for Memorial Day. Absolutely amazing. I really liked the Native American memorial that they added to the site—it doesn’t make sense to me that they would commemorate a monument to the U.S. government soldiers that were forcibly removing a group of people that had a right to the land, courtesy of the 1868 treaty—but not commemorate a monument to the group of Native Americans that died defending their land. So that was a good addition in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut out my last couple stops because I was so sick of driving and really just wanted to get to Yellowstone and get moved in. So I got there around 3:30 MST and got all my stuff moved in. I went and explored the Terraces at Mammoth a little and then planned my adventure for the next day…

Minerva Terrace (I believe.)

From the Overlook

Mound Spring

My home for the next few months :)