Day 23: Lusk, WY to Wind Cave National Park, SD

We had no further issues with the wind this morning and made it to the Mammoth Site for opening. This was lucky since three buses of excited school children arrived for a field trip a half hour later (cue screaming). The Mammoth Site is one of the largest ice age fossil finds in the USA. The now extinct animals here - the Colombian mammoth, the woolly mammoth, the giant short-faced bear - are similar to those preserved in the La Brea tar pits in California. The site is neat because many of the fossils have been left partially excavated so you can see how they are positioned in the ground. The site (now a hill) was originally a sinkhole (yes, karst landscape strikes again!) filled with rainwater that acted as a natural trap. When animals went there to bathe, eat and drink, they got caught on the slippery shale sides and could not climb back out of the sinkhole. They drowned and over millennia were fossilized. The area around the sinkhole eventually eroded away leaving the bone-filled water (now stone) as a hill - geology is a crazy thing. There are over 60 mammoths buried in this pit/hill. It was mammoth tusk mania! 

This is a Columbian mammoth - biggest and not woolly.

Mammoth femur 

(So many) mammoth tusks

Mammoth tooth

Giant short-faced bear 

Mammoth skull and tusks

Most complete mammoth skeleton 

Our afternoon was spent chilling with the bison and prairie dogs and then exploring the wonders of the fancy boxwork formations in Wind Cave on their guided Natural Entrance Tour. I was chosen to be the “caboose” (last person in the tour group) so I had lots of time to take photos of the boxwork calcite minerals fins that this cave is known for.

The boys worked through the Junior Ranger program here too!

I think we once again have the most beautiful site in the park’s Elk Mountain campground. We are in for a relaxing evening before heading out to another busy day tomorrow as we head towards the badlands.

Day 22: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO to Lusk, WY via Cheyenne, WY

We started Week 4 of our great adventure off with a leisurely wake up and breakfast at our campsite. To get our blood flowing and work off any stiffness after yesterday’s hike, we did an easy walk (though here was still a bit of an incline) around Beaver Lake and Nymph Lake. The quote of the day was from Seamus, “Why does every hike here go up?!”

After packing up, our first stop upon leaving the park was The Taffy Shop in Estes Park, CO. This was a recommendation from one of Ian’s colleagues and it was absolutely worth it. This shop has been specializing in salt water taffy since 1935 and they have indeed perfected the recipe. Every flavour we tried (pecan, chocolate, salted caramel, mint, banana, lemon, lime, black licorice, and more) was soft, chewy and delicious. 

A little more driving and we made it across the Wyoming state line only to be greeted by a severe wind advisory (gusts up to 65 miles/hr) and restrictions on driving our trailer on the interstate and other roads heading North in South Dakota and East into Nebraska until at least 6pm tonight. 

No worries, we can be flexible. When given the choice between a bison-focused train ride and swimming, the boys opted to spend the afternoon swimming at the Cheyenne Aquatic Centre in a recreation pool with two waterslides, a lazy river, baseball nets over the pool, and a fancy splash pad. There were only two other families there during swim time so we pretty much had the pool and slides to ourselves. After our swim we each took a hot shower in the deserted change room - what a treat! 

We camped out for the rest of the afternoon and dinner time at a local park, waiting for the wind to die down and the advisory to lift. We finally got back on the road at 7:22pm and headed North to make the most of the break in the wind before it picks up again in the morning.

Day 21: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

We tried our hand at night photography last night in preparation for the many dark sky parks we will be visiting on the trip. Even with the light pollution from Denver, we got a few nice shots of the Milky Way. It was really cold out - about 5 degrees C. I bundled up to venture outside for the photos; meanwhile we ran a space heater in the trailer to keep all the sleepers toasty warm.

Our adventure today was hard but rewarding. We hiked a 10 km out-and-back trail from Bear Lake to an alpine lake full of trout called the Loch in Rocky Mountain National Park. The hike was difficult - entirely uphill for the first half - but with a beautiful pay off. We decided not to hike to the two lakes further on the trail since they were past the snow line which would have meant using cleats on a snowy trail. Besides, the lakes themselves were still frozen, so no fishing. The return trip down the mountain was lovely - all downhill.

All smiles starting out.

We arrived at our destination!

Made it down. Woot! Woot!

We saw many wild animals up close today: mule deer, elk, red fox, settler’s jay, America pika, black-billed magpie, chipmunk, and greenback cutthroat trout.

Elk - note the white rump.

American pika. Not bothered by our presence at all.

Mule deer.

Settler’s jay. He is our new favourite bird. So pretty.

More elk. Munch. Munch.

Our campsite’s resident chipmunk.

This afternoon was a quiet one, hanging out at the campsite. The boys completed their Junior Ranger activities and Ali was pledged in by the ranger on duty and received his badge. The big boys are still working on theirs. Some of the boys got DIY haircuts in anticipation of hotter weather as we leave tomorrow for the Black Hills.