Another trip into Yellowstone National Park took us northeast to Canyon Village. I wanted to go to Hayden Valley and see some wildlife but the road was closed due to a mudslide. So instead of that we took the North Rim Trail back to Canyon Village. Part of the trails and road were closed, even though it's almost the end of May there was a lot of snow all over the place. The elevation was almost 8,000 feet so the snow was not all melted.
Our first stop was Gibbon Falls, which is on the way from West Yellowstone to Norris. Gibbon Falls plunges 84 feet then continues toward the Yellowstone Caldera about 1/4 mile down river. As Gibbon Falls erodes the rock below, the waterfall forever grows higher and migrates farther from the rim of the caldera.
We visited Yellowstone National Park for the first time today - even though season is still not actually here, it was still somewhat crowded. The few geyser basins we drove into were crowded and we could hardly find a place to park. We headed to Old Faithful with a couple of stops along the way. We entered through West Yellowstone and visited the sites on the western side of the park.
Our travels this year took us to Sundance, Wyoming to visit Devil's Tower and tour the city of Sundance as well, where the "Sundance Kid" made his reputation. The Crook County Museum has some of the history of Sundance.
Stopped in Sundance, Wyoming for a couple of days so we could visit Devils Tower National Monument, about 23 miles northwest of Sundance. Devils Tower started forming about 50 million years ago and over the next millions of years, erosion of the sedimentary rock exposed Devils Tower. The Tower rises 867 feet from its base and stands 1,267 feet above the river and 5,112 feet above sea level. The area on top is a tear-drop shape and is 1.5 acres. The diameter of its base is 1,000 feet. Approximately 1 and 1/2 vertical miles of rock and sediment have washed away since the Tower formed.
In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument under the new Antiquities Act. His action made Wyoming the home of both their first national park (Yellowstone in 1872) and their first national monument.
Another "must see" in South Dakota was Custer State Park. We met up with Linda Clayton who we met back in 2012 when we worked for Amazon. Linda is workamping in Keystone for the summer and since she had done the same thing last year, she was our tour guide for the day. It is so great when we can meet up with workamping friends ~ we had a great day.
Crazy Horse Memorial started with the inspiration of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski who was born in Boston, MA of Polish descent. After the 1939 World's Fair, Korczak received a letter from Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, who asked Korczak to come to the Black Hills to carve a memorial of Lakota Leader Crazy Horse. The Lakota chiefs wanted to let the white man know the red man has great heroes as well. Crazy Horse was to be carved not so much as a lineal likeness but more as a memorial to the spirit of Crazy Horse to his people. With his left hand gesturing outward in response to the derisive question asked by a white man, "Where are your lands now?" He replied, "My lands are where my dead lie buried." Korczak began work on Thunderhead Mountain in 1948 with only $147.
Most of us have only seen Mount Rushmore in pictures and that is how we know of it. To see it on the mountain it looks so small against the vast background of sky and mountain. We were not able to get real close to it and Roosevelt was in the shadow due to where the sun was located. The memorial is dedicated to four of our great Presidents ~~ George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
The story of how the United States of America began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence is on display here in Rapid City at the America’s Founding Fathers Exhibit. History meets art in the stunning, life-size sculpture installation of John Trumbull’s iconic “Declaration of Independence” painting. Here, inside a likeness of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, we heard the amazing story of how those 56 patriots forged the American Revolution and invented a country.
