Homeward Bound - The Final Leg

Aug. 20-24, 2002

Aug. 20: We left Yellowstone headed towards home. We spent the night in the Big Horn mountains of north central Wyoming and then drove on to Devil's Tower National Monument.

Devil's Tower is an impressive piece of rock standing about 1200 feet above the surrounding plain. It is believed to be a volcanic core that solidified as a more resistant form of rock than the surrounding rock. As the surrounding rock eroded away, the core was exposed.

Devil's Rock attracts a lot of climbers. More than 3000 people have climbed it so far this year. The actual portion of the rock that requires technical climbing skill is slightly over 800 feet high. According to the ranger, the record time to the top is 18 minutes, but most climbers take 4-5 hours to make the climb.  The picture shows one group of 5 climbers on their way up. They have a long way to go and were moving rather slowly, so it seemed unlikely to me that they would make it before sundown, especially since it was already about 3:30 in the afternoon.

Devil's Tower National Monument is also home to a prairie dog colony. This little fellow is getting nervous about me creeping up on him, and jumped into his burrow right after I snapped the picture. Prairie dogs are rodents and are related to squirrels, not dogs, so they are misnamed. Lewis and Clark discovered them on their way across the plains. According to Lewis, it took the entire corps (about 40 men) all day to capture one of  these little buggers.

Aug. 22: We left Devil's Tower on a scenic route that skirted the Black Hills and went into Badlands National Park. We then headed for Pierre, South Dakota where we had a great campsite along the Missouri river. Nancy turned down an offer to go out to dinner (it was her birthday) so we could have a glass of wine and dinner in our campsite.

Aug. 23: We visited the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. It doesn't have much on Lewis and Clark, but it does have an excellent display on the culture of the plains Indians that Lewis and Clark came in contact with. We then followed the Missouri river down to Chamberlain, where  the I-90 rest stop has a very nice Lewis and Clark exhibit.
 

The Lewis and Clark display in the I-90 rest area at Chamberlain. The boat is a full-size "symbolic replica" of the 55 foot keel boat used by Lewis and Clark in 1804 on their journey from St. Louis to the Mandan Indian villages in North Dakota. Can you imagine rowing, poling, or pulling that thing up the Missouri river day after day? Those guys must have been tough. Of course, if they weren't, they wouldn't have survived!

Aug. 24: Arrived home in Madison, WI. The weather was warm and humid, making us wonder why we left the mountains to come here. It was a great trip, but it is also good to be home. One can be a nomad only so long.