Click on any image for a larger view
This is part three of our trip. Go to The Thursday September 27 posting for the first part of the trip.Leaving Mount Rushmore we drive to our campsite at the Sylvan Lake campground in Custer State Park. The campground is on the Needles Highway. For those of you unfamiliar with the Needles Highway it is a mostly two lane road winding over, around, and literally through some of the rock formations making up part of Custer State Park.
At times it is a one lane road with visitors
taking turns going through tunnels carved through the rock. Last year I carefully measured the width and
height of my truck/camper making sure I could get through the tunnels. The smallest one is 8’ 4” wide and around 9’
high. No problem for us; class A and C
motorhomes – no way. I am sure I gave
the people watching vehicles passing through the tunnel a show being one of the
larger vehicles to successfully make the drive.
The ‘needle’ rock formations are something to be seen. The next day we hiked the backside of the
same needles on the Little Devil Lookout Tower Trail. The end of the trail is the most exciting
part climbing up small crevasses between boulders to make it to the top for the
360°
view. Smoke from wildfires keeps getting denser as we continue our hike. It never did clear up for the rest of the day. 
After the Needles highway we drive
the Iron Road, yet another marvel of engineering. The road has three tunnels and three
‘pigtail’ bridges winding around to change road elevation in a small area. Each of the three tunnels line up with Mount
Rushmore so viewing the monument is possible while passing through. Ending the evening we return to Custer State
Park driving the Wildlife Road starting around 5 PM hoping to see local
wildlife out for their evening meals.
Turkeys, and mule deer are the first ones to be seen. Buffalo are what we are hoping for. Several miles go by without seeing
anything. Coming around a corner we spot
a meadow of huge dark brown boulders moving off in the distance… Buffalo.
Off to one side of the buffalo herd are a dozen or so burros, they are
neat to see, but the buffalo steal the show.
Hundreds are in the first meadow slowly grazing the short grass. A few young ones make a break across the road
as we watch. Looking past this meadow we
spot a line of cars stopped on another road literally surrounded by buffalo. 
Three minutes later we join the line of cars. Buffalo are everywhere; you cannot look around and not see a buffalo. As we sit in line shooting away (our cameras) a large bull stops next to the truck inspecting the front tire on my side of the truck. I think it meets his approval; he nudges the tire, looks around then proceeds to walk around the front of the truck.
20 minutes later we are able to move through the buffalo traffic jam continuing on the Wildlife road back to our campsite. Enroute we see a few more single buffalo but they are not as interesting as being surrounded by a herd of them.
 |
| Scale model of the finished sculpture |
The next morning we leave for our next destination; Crazy Horse Memorial and Wind Cave NP, both in the immediate vicinity of Custer State
Park. The Crazy Horse Memorial is
another sculpture in the Black Hills. Crazy Horse a Lakota warrior is riding a
hose. The monument is a Native American
sculpture counterpart to the Mount Rushmore Monument. The sculptor was one of the men sculpting the
Mount Rushmore Monument. Work on the
Crazy Horse Memorial was started in 1948.
We can see Crazy Horse’s face and the outline of his outstretched hand
and plans for the horse. Korczak
Ziolkowski, the original sculptor, passed away in 1982, his widow continuing
the work also passed away, now his children and grandchildren are carrying on
with the project. Truly a labor of
love.
Our second destination; Wind Cave
NP is just south of Custer State Park. The
cave is one of the oldest; the 7th national park overall. Since we are working on our list of national
parks we stop to see what it is all about.
The cave at this point has over 140 miles of explored passages. All the passages are within a one mile
footprint. The cave has several ‘floors’
stacked on top of each other. There are
formations here that do not exist anywhere else in the world. One the surface a large tall grass prairie
exists. The fall colors of the grasses,
trees and late summer wildflowers prompt us to add this NP to our return again
list.  |
| Bear Lake RMNP |
The next morning I am Googling ‘propane refilling locations’
finding one about 2 miles away which opens at 800. We are there at 805 getting refilled and back
on the road. Before we do, we stop to
get Nicida a hot cup of coffee - all is well.
Today’s destination is Rock Mountain National Park (RMNP). We are lucky to get in, there was only one
site available when I checked the reservation system for the park. Speaking with one of the rangers at the
visitor center we find the prime lakes and waterfall to visit within our 4 – 5
mile hiking criteria. Camping at the
Moraine campground has the added benefit of being part of the park’s shuttle
system. The area gets so filled with
people the local parking lots for trail heads are packed by 8 to 9 each
morning. The shuttle system takes us to
the Bear Lake trail head which is also the trailhead for Nymph, Dream and Emerald
Lakes as well as Alberta Fall. After
lunch we look at the mountains seeing the heavy clouds in the area get even
heavier. Packing our rain jackets we
head out for the shuttle stop. Changing
shuttles at the Park and Ride we make it to the Bear Lake Trail head. All the while we ride up to the trail head
the cloudy skies start misting then finally raining as we arrive. Each of us make the short walk to Bear Lake but
decide it will be better to hike this tomorrow.
We see many people returning from their hikes in all stages of
wetness. Some were prepared, some we
wearing plastic garbage bags, others were soaked; wearing shorts, wet t-shirts
and soggy footwear. My concern is what
is it doing back at the campsite; we walked about a quarter mile from the
campsite to the shuttle stop. My fear is
unfounded; the rain diminishes to mist then dry but cloudy conditions as we go
down in elevation. A breeze persists all
afternoon into the evening so we remain in the camper planning our hikes for
the next day deciding to wake at 530 to be at the trailhead in the truck by 7
AM. |
| Dream Lake RMNP |
 |
| Emerald Lake RMNP |
530 comes around really early today. Nicida jumps out of bed at the first ringing
of the alarm; I take a few extra minutes before I become as energetic. Our plan works; we have breakfast and are up
at the trailhead by 710. About half of
the parking spots are already taken when we arrive. It is cloudy and slightly cool as we start
our hike. The three lakes are within 4
miles of the trailhead roundtrip. The
alpine lakes are beautiful, each one having a different character. There were several people hiking up to the
lakes along with us, each passing the other as we stop at a beautiful scene
that just has to be photographed. By the
time we get to Emerald Lake, the last one in the chain, there are about a dozen
visitors taking in the scene. One the
way down we must have passed over 75 people hiking up to the lakes we had just
visited. 
We have the same experience
hiking to the Alberta Fall. Many people are
on the trail going to see a breathtaking piece of scenery. I brought my tripod so I could shoot a few
long exposure images of the falls. This
attracts several other people wanting to shoot the same images as I since I was
a ‘professional’, I was told. That
afternoon we tour through another area of this large park. I know we missed other areas but time and
campsite availability limit what we can see.
Later we drive to Estes Park for dinner and window shop the quaint shops
on main street. 
Returning to RMNP we
take in a ranger led talk on the elk rut.
We learn many details about what is going on during this part of the
year. It was fortunate to hear the talk
since on the way back to the campground we ran into an elk traffic jam. Scores of empty cars are parked alongside the
road and hundreds of people with real cameras, not phones or tablets, are
shooting the elk activities. 
This is
another place where there is lens envy, I am happy with my 400mm zoom until I
see people with 800mm lenses mounted on tripods. Rangers have to direct traffic with all the
vehicles coming to see what’s going on. Once the sun disappears we decide to return to
the campsite for an evening fire and obligatory S’mores.
The next morning we wake to frost on the windshield as we prepare to leave RMNP heading back to NM. We are taking Trail Ridge Road cresting at 12,200’, west out of the park. Every pullout has a spectacular view of the park. Many of the spots are in the tundra, above the tree line, opening up the views in every direction. It also means there is nothing to stop the wind, quite cool when coupled with the low 40 degree temperatures. After crossing the highest pass we descend into the Colorado River valley. There is a noticeable die off of the pine trees due to beetle infestation.
 |
| Colorado River valley |
On the way back we stop for lunch in Breckenridge , CO. The area is very green with little pine die back. Much of the town has historical status so the shops all look as they did when first erected. What they sell in not from that time period through; exotic coffees, ATV rentals, brew pubs…
We stop at the O’Haver Lake campground just south of Salida,
CO in the Pike and San Isabel National Forest.
Almost all the sites are reserved for the weekend. We get the last site as long as we stay for
only the one night. The lake is small
but that does not stop people and lots of kids from having a fun time fishing
and running into the lake after sundown catching crayfish. This is only a stopover for us; the fall
colors and the lake are an added bonus. The
campground is at 9,200’ so the colors come earlier than at lower elevation. In our minds this is a great stopping point
for any trips into CO or beyond. 
The next morning we enjoy a leisurely breakfast of pancakes before packing up for our trip home.
Our last detour is to go west out of Antonito, CO, following
the path of the Cumbres and Toltec train.
The mountains glow with yellow and gold leaves. We even catch and photograph one of the steam
engines returning to the station in Chama, NM.
The return to Albuquerque reminds us how much we enjoy being away from the big city. Traffic is everywhere; it has not improved since we left. One can always hope.
This was a good trip. Can’t wait for the next one.
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
nice pics and writing! Can't wait to see your next trip... :)
ReplyDelete