Up, Up, and Away

Events of 5/24

On Thursday we woke to the sound of rain pounding down on the tent. It was also very, very cold. I was awake half the night shivering in my extra-long sleeping bag.  I used the extra length to scoot my entire body into the bag, head and all. I found that breathing in the sleeping bag provided a little extra warm air.  Luckily, I didn’t suffocate myself.  While I lay there freezing my butt off, Zoe managed to sleep through the night with no problem. Lucky girl! 

Overall, it was not a very pleasant morning.  As we mapped out our plan of attack for packing up in the rain, we realized we had left our shoes outside of the tent.  They were soaking wet. As a result, I had to walk barefoot to the car and get our extra shoes (thank goodness we packed two pairs!) and rain jackets. I eventually made it back to the tent with our dry gear and we packed up the sleeping bags. We took our sleeping bags to the car and stayed there for a while to warm up. Once we had stored up some heat, we ran to pack up the tent. Throughout this process our hands got very cold and we both ended up with small cuts all over our fingers. Painful. We did not waste any time folding the tent. Instead, we just shoved it into the trunk. Hopefully, there are no holes the next time we use it. At this point it was about 6:45am and we had to stick around until 8am to checkout. We spent this time in the bathroom charging our electronics.

     Leaving the campsite we were able to take the scenic route to Mount Rushmore that we had missed the night before. The roads were windy, and we got to drive through some tunnels.  It was kind of fun. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy, so we didn’t see many picturesque views of the sculpture. We stopped by Mount Rushmore, took a few more pictures, and we were on our way. On the way down the mountain we stopped at Patty’s Place for breakfast. Zoe got a cinnamon roll the size of her head.

We also stopped at Bear County USA. Zoe had requested the night before to stop, but I thought it looked too dumb.  However, passing by again, I decided it would be best to keep Zoe in a good mood, and decided to stop. It was just as touristy as I expected.  Each section of the drive-through park featured a different animal. There were reindeer, artic foxes, and mountain goats. But the most exciting was the bears. As we drove, the bears came right up to our car.  One almost climbed onto the hood. I admit it was pretty cool.

            Next, we drove about two hours to Devil’s Tower. It’s basically just a giant rock formation sticking out of the Earth. It is also the setting for Steven Spielberg’s movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I wanted to go for a short hike around the base of the formation, but Zoe refused claiming she wouldn’t be able to breath in the cold weather (don’t ask me what she’s going to do in Glacier and Yellowstone.)  Instead, we stopped in a nearby parking lot to take a few pictures and eat a peanut-butter sandwich.

            The next part of our day was a long one. We had about 5 hours left of our drive with no interesting stops planned. It was also raining, and I was quite tired due to the lack of sleep from the night before. We ended up parking at a gas station for about 20 minutes, so I could take a quick nap. After my short rest and a can of Red Bull, I felt much better.  And it’s a good thing too because the next part of the drive was not an easy one.

            About two hours outside of Bighorn we approached a large mountain range.  Before we knew it, we were climbing up its side. This drive was not for the faint of heart.  There were quite a few places where one little mistake would have caused us to drive off a cliff. My heart was pounding. At the peak of the mountain, we happened upon a sign with information about the ‘Medicine Wheel.’ Apparently, the Medicine Wheel is atop of a mountain that is only drivable in the dry summer months (there was still lots of snow while we were there), so we weren’t able to see the actual structure. Zoe remembered seeing this site in the always useful 1,000 Things to See Before You Die book, which provided some more information. It’s a ceremonial rock structure built by ancient Native Americans.  I was a little disappointed that we weren’t able to see it for ourselves. Oh well. We continued our trip down the mountain, and were impressed by the beautiful views. We also happened upon some wild moose. (Don’t worry Nana we didn’t approach them.) It was exciting to see true wild animals. Although the drive was scary at times, it was definitely worth it.

            We eventually made it to the campsite at Bighorn Canyon. The site sat upon a lake with beautiful red rocks behind.  It was quite breathtaking. We stopped to talk to the host who said that we were more than welcome to camp, but that we needed to make sure to stake in our tent and use warm sleeping bags because a storm was coming.  This was all Zoe needed to hear to change her mind, but I insisted that this was an adventure, and we were going to try it. However, the wind was so strong that it prevented us from setting up our tent. We didn’t have enough hands to stake it in the ground and hold it in place.  At this point, it also started raining.  I gave in, shoved the tent back in the trunk, and headed for the nearest town.  Along the way we spotted a lovely rainbow, which lifted my spirits. 

            That night we ended up staying at the Western Inn in Lovell, Wyoming. It was your typical run-down motel. We brought in our sleeping bags to use rather than the dirty bedding provided. We also brought in our Bear Spray to use against any human predators that might approach. The accommodations weren’t great, but at least it was warm.