A nice day here, but nothing dramatic. I got up early, a bit cold and stiff, but rallied from the tent, motivated to hit Rushmore before the crowds. I showered, shaved, and headed out by 8 am. I was only a few miles from the mountain, but the road were full of switchbacks and what not, and I'm glad I arrived early. I enjoyed the site for about an hour, but by 9 am it was mobbed and I had seen what there was to do and moved on.
I decided to head to Hot Springs, SD to see an area where mammoths were found and are still being excavated. The site was once a hot spring (hence the town's name) around 200,000 years ago. Apparently the mammoths were attracted to the warm water and grasses along the shore, but the sides of the springs were steep. Occasionally when they went in to swim, some couldn't hoist themselves out and perished. Their skeletons were then preserved in the soft mud. It was pretty interesting, but not that big so I had time for more exploring.
I took off for the badlands in the southeast corner of the state. Mostly the land is the reservation of the Oglala Sioux. Its really wide open territory, with interesting rock formations. In some places it is so white and rocky it looks like you're on the moon. Once again I found myself on dirt roads, but you know me, I didn't mind. I did see a pair of antelope (or is a pair of antelopes?) but they were skittish and ran off before I could snap a pic.
After that I was tired and headed back to the campground. Made some spaghetti for dinner and hung out. Overall, a pleasant day and not too frantically paced. Since I'm ahead of my roughed out scheduled, I called and was able to move my Yellowstone reservation up a day.
Goodnight, all!
I love that you got to Rushmore, saw it, left the crowd, and headed to natural wonders that you spent time describing. A great Odyssey!