Today marks the halfway point of our road trip. We start by packing our… oh wait, no packing today! I knew there was something to it about staying somewhere more than one night. Regardless, we still had to wake up early in order to start a busy day.

===== Part 1 =====

At 8:00am MDT, we headed south on Hwy 16 to Hwy 385, towards our final National Park of the trip. We reached Wind Cave National Park shortly before 9:00am. It was a good thing too, because the NPS failed to update their website and had not switched to their fall schedule as far as cave tours were concerned. Instead of the expected 1/4-mile 1-hour tour at 9:30, our only choice was to opt for the 1/2-mile 1.5-hour tour at 9:00, which included 300 stairs (mostly heading down, with an elevator ride back up at the end). I assumed this would be within my folk’s abilities, but unfortunately it was a little strenuous for mom, as she can only descend one step at a time. We were constantly far behind the main tour group. Despite this, we were able to complete the tour and view just a tiny taste of the hundreds of miles of caves that have been explored in this area. Our ranger tour guide was very well-versed about the caves so we learned a lot from him. There’s a few fascinating geologic features in these caves, but with the lack of light, was only able to capture them on film with the assistance of a mini-tripod and tons of patience.

Next on the agenda was the Mammoth Site near Hot Springs, SD, not too far from Wind Cave. A 26,000 year-old sinkhole that is home to dozens of mammoth bones and fossils has been completely encased in a huge building and preserved for scientists, diggers, and visitors. You get a 30-minute tour of what’s been uncovered so far, plus exhibits and the option to take the elevator to the lower floor and view the laboratories of excavated fossils. It’s an intriguing place to visit!

===== Part 2 =====

Back up Hwy 385/16 we go and take a little rest in our suite. An hour later we’re back on the road, heading down to Crazy Horse, something we were going to do tomorrow, but figured we could knock out today. We had all been here before on Roadtrip #2, but was overcast that time and we didn’t get to see the actual mountain. This round we were in luck. Not only was the mountain visible, but we arrived in time to see an Indian dancing presentation. Fun to watch, especially at the end when the girl performing used 23 hoops during her dance. For once I didn’t buy any souvenirs here (already have my share) but mom found some more of course.

We stayed there about 90 minutes, then headed out again, using Hwy 87 to start the route around Custer State Park shortly after 5:00pm, coming in from the northwest entrance. The first area we hit was on the Needles Highway, which in my opinion are the most impressive features of this park. Spires of rock are jutting out hundreds of feet in the air all through the mountainside. There were also several one-lane tunnels that we drove through (pretty sure all man-made, but still kind of awesome). You can’t help but stop and take pictures at almost all the turn-offs. You feel just a tad small.

The frequent stops unfortunately put us behind schedule. The plan was to take the Wildlife Loop Road and circle back around in time to catch the Evening Lighting Ceremony at Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately the park is much bigger than you think, and it was loosely raining which meant not driving as fast. By the time we reached the halfway point of the loop, the dark rain clouds made it extremely difficult to take pics of what wildlife we could see. Upon reaching Hwy 16A, it was pitch dark, and now apparent that we wouldn’t make it to Mount Rushmore in time, so we decided to cut our evening short and just take Hwy 16A back to the hotel, managing to spot a few far-off lightning strikes along the way. We’ll hopefully catch the light show at Rushmore tomorrow evening.

We’re going to take tomorrow morning off and get some things done/re-organized. Our adventures will continue in the afternoon. Keep it here!