NCFJ
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Thanks for taking the time to do this Dave, great read!
Hitt’in the road for 🤷♂️
- Thread starter FJ Noob
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Funny you should mention Mt Rushmore. We are leaving Wyoming in about an hour to meander the southern part of the Black Hills before rolling through. Our ETA is 4PM at Mt Rushmore. We planned on avoiding Sturgis. That good time started on the 6th.
We encountered significant smoke in Salt Lake City but all other stops yielded breathtaking views of this wonderful country. Wyoming is stark and amazing with 6 people per square mile according to our host on Air B&B.
Keep the pictures coming, you guys look like road warriors already (compliment).
We encountered significant smoke in Salt Lake City but all other stops yielded breathtaking views of this wonderful country. Wyoming is stark and amazing with 6 people per square mile according to our host on Air B&B.
Keep the pictures coming, you guys look like road warriors already (compliment).
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Wildfire dynamic maps could come in handy:
- Thread starter
- #24
We have no clue what the crowds may be like at Rushmore, but we’re hoping for the best. I’m thinking it may not be too bad being the middle of the week and maybe some people might be avoiding the area because of Sturgis.
I’ve been in the SEastern part of WY on a
hunt before. It was worth the experience and the area has a certain beauty to it, but again, I’m good to no go back and spend a lot of time there. I’m just not a grasslands and prairie kind of person. Thanks @izzyandsue that’s a much better map than the Forest Service one I was looking at previously.Wildfire dynamic maps could come in handy:
My pleasure. Read about those fire maps in some book awhile ago...can't remember the title...
Crowds aren’t bad at Mt Rushmore. We arrived at 11.
I am enjoying this thread since I was out that way on a roadtrip just last month.We have no clue what the crowds may be like at Rushmore, but we’re hoping for the best. I’m thinking it may not be too bad being the middle of the week and maybe some people might be avoiding the area because of Sturgis.
I’ve been in the SEastern part of WY on a
Thanks @izzyandsue that’s a much better map than the Forest Service one I was looking at previously.
We were at Mt Rushmore over 4th July weekend and even with the crowds, the parking and facilities there made for an easy stop.
I recommend stopping at the Devil's Tower in WY, not too far from where you are right now, amazing place. I actually really liked the wide open spaces of southeastern WY. Laramie has a great pioneer museum that is very well done with interactive displays that the kids would enjoy. Saratoga has a hotspring with 2 pools of diff temps plus a regular swimming pool that is another good stop with kids. There is a stream next to it fed by the hotsprings that you can also wade in. In the same town there is a very good Brewery. Between Saratoga and Laramie, drive via hwy 130, over the Mtn range there, beautiful scenery, very different to the plains country!
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- #28
Thanks for the advice! We were talking about going to Laramie next on the way to Dinosaur National Monument. My youngest is solely focused on going to see the dinosaur tracks.
The only “problem” we’re having on this trip is that there is SO many interesting things/places to go and see. Even doing internet searches of places only scratches the surface of what’s out there. When you start poking around or reading the local signage, you realize you’ll never have enough time to see it all!
so true. you end up wanting to see more stuff, so I'm already planning our next trip!
In SD, south of Mt. Rushmore, there's a mammoth dig site that is pretty impressive and your budding archeologist would love it.
Actually, that Pioneer museum was in Casper, not Laramie. In Laramie we did the territorial prisons museum which was also great, my son enjoyed 'being locked up' in the old cells.
Finally, on the way to Devils tower, check out the trout hatchery in Spearfish SD. You can feed the fish and the history of the live trout shipments to the area is pretty amazing.
I have plenty of kid friendly recommendations for CO, NM and TX if you need them!
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- #30
Our first full day in Rapid City was set aside to see Mt Rushmore. I didn’t go, but my wife took the girls. Out of everything we wanted to do, Rushmore was pretty low on my list. I’ve watched enough documentaries on it’s creation and seen enough pictures that I wasn’t very interested. I used the time to check things on the truck and trailer, do some cleanup on camp equipment, take a nap with the dog, and run into town for some supplies. Dani and the kids had a great time though. After dinner and some gear reorganization, we turned in for an earlier night to get a jump on the next day.
The plan was to get out early to go hit Jewel Cave National Monument, cut through and see parts of Custer State Park, then finish up at Wind Rock National Park. That plan only lasted 20 minutes and we completely changed it on the fly.
I knew that the Crazy Horse Memorial was in the area, but I didn’t know it was on the road we were taking. As soon as we saw the entrance, we ditched the plan and diverted.
If you’ve never heard of the Crazy Horse Memorial, I recommend looking it up and reading about it. I thought the story was fascinating. If you’re ever in the area and get a chance to visit, I HIGHLY recommend it. The mere fact that it is the largest mountain sculpture in the world and that it was started by one man walking hand tools up to the top is amazing to me. As much as I have mixed feelings about carving up a perfectly good mountain, there is something about this sculpture that seems to make it ok with me.
This is a scale rendition of the final sculpture and the actual sculpture in the background…
Closer view of the mountain…
The final vision is to have more than just the mountain, but also an integrated cultural preservation and education campus. The onsight museum is fairly impressive with it’s collection of artifacts. There are additional sculptures and art pieces on the grounds that are quite impressive by themselves. We were also able to catch a presentation by some local Lakota women doing traditional hoop dancing.
Fighting mustangs sculpture…
A stand alone piece…the Black Hills Nature Gate…that depicts different animals (and some dinosaurs) in each panel…
I think a quick trip to the steel yard and a couple cases of beer should be all I need to get @GLTHFJ60 to fire up the plasma and crank out a replica for me to install at the house
BTW…just about all of the day’s activities were in the Black Hills National Forest. Absolutely beautiful country. Postcard worthy scenery at nearly every turn. After leaving Crazy Horse Memorial, we headed over to Jewel Cave National Monument. It was small (the above ground part) but very nice and well put together. We did the easy cave tour with no real spelunking, but unfortunately camera phone pictures inside a cave don’t work out so well. For those that are a bit more adventurous, they have an 11 hour route to a subterranean campground…that’s a huge NOPE from me though.
The one thing I really wanted to see all day was the one native animal I have never seen in the wild (besides mt lion…zoos are fine for that one)…a bighorn sheep. South Dakota did not disappoint. On the road back to Rapid City through the Nat’l Forest, I had to stop and let 5 or 6 bighorn sheep cross the road. They were some impressive specimens too…
After that we did a standard touristy thing and hit Bear Country USA, a drive through zoo for native species. We were able to check off bears and mountain lions in a controlled environment!
I think we’ll be extending our time here in SD because there is so much more to see…
The plan was to get out early to go hit Jewel Cave National Monument, cut through and see parts of Custer State Park, then finish up at Wind Rock National Park. That plan only lasted 20 minutes and we completely changed it on the fly.
I knew that the Crazy Horse Memorial was in the area, but I didn’t know it was on the road we were taking. As soon as we saw the entrance, we ditched the plan and diverted.
If you’ve never heard of the Crazy Horse Memorial, I recommend looking it up and reading about it. I thought the story was fascinating. If you’re ever in the area and get a chance to visit, I HIGHLY recommend it. The mere fact that it is the largest mountain sculpture in the world and that it was started by one man walking hand tools up to the top is amazing to me. As much as I have mixed feelings about carving up a perfectly good mountain, there is something about this sculpture that seems to make it ok with me.
This is a scale rendition of the final sculpture and the actual sculpture in the background…
Closer view of the mountain…
The final vision is to have more than just the mountain, but also an integrated cultural preservation and education campus. The onsight museum is fairly impressive with it’s collection of artifacts. There are additional sculptures and art pieces on the grounds that are quite impressive by themselves. We were also able to catch a presentation by some local Lakota women doing traditional hoop dancing.
Fighting mustangs sculpture…
A stand alone piece…the Black Hills Nature Gate…that depicts different animals (and some dinosaurs) in each panel…
I think a quick trip to the steel yard and a couple cases of beer should be all I need to get @GLTHFJ60 to fire up the plasma and crank out a replica for me to install at the house
BTW…just about all of the day’s activities were in the Black Hills National Forest. Absolutely beautiful country. Postcard worthy scenery at nearly every turn. After leaving Crazy Horse Memorial, we headed over to Jewel Cave National Monument. It was small (the above ground part) but very nice and well put together. We did the easy cave tour with no real spelunking, but unfortunately camera phone pictures inside a cave don’t work out so well. For those that are a bit more adventurous, they have an 11 hour route to a subterranean campground…that’s a huge NOPE from me though.
The one thing I really wanted to see all day was the one native animal I have never seen in the wild (besides mt lion…zoos are fine for that one)…a bighorn sheep. South Dakota did not disappoint. On the road back to Rapid City through the Nat’l Forest, I had to stop and let 5 or 6 bighorn sheep cross the road. They were some impressive specimens too…
After that we did a standard touristy thing and hit Bear Country USA, a drive through zoo for native species. We were able to check off bears and mountain lions in a controlled environment!
I think we’ll be extending our time here in SD because there is so much more to see…
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- #31
The dog has found his favorite nap time spot…
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So thankful you have the opportunity to take this trip with your family. What a great way to make life long memories.
- Thread starter
- #33
Drove from Laramie, WY to Vernal, UT yesterday. We took the route through Flaming Gorge Recreation Area…absolutely amazing landscape. However…about 20 miles out there is a 9 mile stretch of 8% grade with 10 switchbacks. That was not fun in the LC getting pushed by a trailer…I needed a 
after that 
.
after that .
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Looks like a great trip so far...
and yea....carving up that mountain is a s***ty move. I know we destroy stuff all the time for natural resources collection, but that was one natural landscape feature we could have left alone for the next generations to enjoy. The carving dude just thought he could carve up a mountain for his enjoyment? What about the other 8 billion people on the planet? What if everyone just decided that they want to destroy the piece of land they claimed,? Leave only footprints, you know. I hate Rushmore for the same reason.
Carry on.
and yea....carving up that mountain is a s***ty move. I know we destroy stuff all the time for natural resources collection, but that was one natural landscape feature we could have left alone for the next generations to enjoy. The carving dude just thought he could carve up a mountain for his enjoyment? What about the other 8 billion people on the planet? What if everyone just decided that they want to destroy the piece of land they claimed,? Leave only footprints, you know. I hate Rushmore for the same reason.
Carry on.
lumbee1
Native American
- Thread starter
- #36
If anybody can swing it, I highly recommend doing something like this. Anybody could do something similar within their own state and probably see quite a bit they didn’t know was out there. It doesn’t even have to be as long as our trip. We’ve realized that there is a TON of stuff out there that just isn’t advertised like the big National Parks or monuments. Some of the best/coolest things have been at the state parks and just randomly along the way.
Start planning now and dig deeper to see what’s out there.
lumbee1
Native American
We've done a similar trip in 2017. Drove to the Grand Canyon. 4 days of driving at 8 hours each day. We had a blast. Once we got to Arizona we found there was so much cool stuff to do and while we tried to fit in 2 or 3 items each day, it wasn't nearly enough for the limited time we had. Oddly enough the driving was an awesome part of the trip. Audio books, watching the scenery change, restaurants, roadside attractions, etc made the trip that much better.
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- #38
Looks like I left off in Rapid City, SD...
Before we left, we took a side trip to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. An ancient sinkhole filled with the warm waters of the hot springs in the area attracted wooly mammoths and other local animals for thousands of years, some of which were trapped in the sinkhole. The end result is a treasure trove of complete skeletons that was turned into a viewing site while remaining an active dig site as well.
The rest of the day we spent eating some local BBQ and letting the kids swim in the natural hot springs pool downtown.
From Rapid City we shot over to Laramie, WY to just rest overnight at a motel. It was time, so I knocked out a clandestine nighttime oil change on the LC in the parking lot. We hoped to get some good rest, but the room had terrible beds and I don't think anybody got a good night's sleep. We all woke up early, got cleaned up, threw our overnight bags into the trailer and went looking for breakfast. We found a cool local place and all had one of the biggest breakfasts any of us has had in a while...it made up for the crappy room.
After breakfast we shot down to Vernal, UT like I mentioned earlier. I'd never heard of the Flaming Gorge area before and didn't realize we were going to pass through it. The scenery was stunning, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. It's not the kind of road you take your eyes off of! Once we got to Vernal, we decided to take it easy and got a cabin at the local KOA for a couple nights. It wasn't anything fancy, just a bed for us and bunk beds for the kids, but it was a nice to shake up the routine.
Before we left, we took a side trip to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. An ancient sinkhole filled with the warm waters of the hot springs in the area attracted wooly mammoths and other local animals for thousands of years, some of which were trapped in the sinkhole. The end result is a treasure trove of complete skeletons that was turned into a viewing site while remaining an active dig site as well.
The rest of the day we spent eating some local BBQ and letting the kids swim in the natural hot springs pool downtown.
From Rapid City we shot over to Laramie, WY to just rest overnight at a motel. It was time, so I knocked out a clandestine nighttime oil change on the LC in the parking lot. We hoped to get some good rest, but the room had terrible beds and I don't think anybody got a good night's sleep. We all woke up early, got cleaned up, threw our overnight bags into the trailer and went looking for breakfast. We found a cool local place and all had one of the biggest breakfasts any of us has had in a while...it made up for the crappy room.
After breakfast we shot down to Vernal, UT like I mentioned earlier. I'd never heard of the Flaming Gorge area before and didn't realize we were going to pass through it. The scenery was stunning, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. It's not the kind of road you take your eyes off of! Once we got to Vernal, we decided to take it easy and got a cabin at the local KOA for a couple nights. It wasn't anything fancy, just a bed for us and bunk beds for the kids, but it was a nice to shake up the routine.
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- #39
We went to Vernal to use as a launching point for Dinosaur National Monument. Unless you're going to do some high country desert hiking, the dinosaurs are the main attraction...but a really cool attraction to see in person. Unfortunately my pictures of the entire fossil wall are too big for MUD to upload...
From the fossil observatory, there is a 1 mile exploration path you can take back down to the main visitors center. I walked down with the kids while Dani drove the dog down. That's the only inconvenience we're having with the trip being combined with a move...there are a lot of places we can't take the dog. We spend a lot of time splitting the dog watching duties.
Along the path are areas with smaller marine animal fossils and some petroglyphs. Pretty cool to see, but it was starting to get HOT.
We headed back to the KOA site and spent the rest of the day swimming, playing, making friends, and roasting marshmellows. A great time was had by all.
The next morning, by chance, I asked one of the KOA old-timers about which route to take out on our way south. He ended up recommending a route that didn't come up on the phone. I'm glad I ran into him...that route was spectacular and the highlight of the trip for me so far.
From the fossil observatory, there is a 1 mile exploration path you can take back down to the main visitors center. I walked down with the kids while Dani drove the dog down. That's the only inconvenience we're having with the trip being combined with a move...there are a lot of places we can't take the dog. We spend a lot of time splitting the dog watching duties.
Along the path are areas with smaller marine animal fossils and some petroglyphs. Pretty cool to see, but it was starting to get HOT.
We headed back to the KOA site and spent the rest of the day swimming, playing, making friends, and roasting marshmellows. A great time was had by all.
The next morning, by chance, I asked one of the KOA old-timers about which route to take out on our way south. He ended up recommending a route that didn't come up on the phone. I'm glad I ran into him...that route was spectacular and the highlight of the trip for me so far.
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- #40
If you leave Vernal, UT and head south towards Moab on the eastern route (CO 139) you'll eventually get on I-70W. The "normal" directions will have you continue until the exit for US 191 South go straight into Moab. The KOA old-timer told me to go about halfway down I-70 and take the exit for Cisco, UT (HWY 128). HWY 128 cuts across from I-70 to US 191 along the Colorado River for about 50 miles. He said he has driven all over the west and that this section of 128 is his favorite. It only added about 25 minutes to our total drive time for the day so we decided to do it. For anyone else that may consider taking this route, be aware that there is no gas stations between Vernal and Moab...just a little over 200 miles.
When we first got off I-70, I was a bit skeptical for the first few miles. As we dropped lower into the canyon, my skepticism quickly faded.
Begininning the descent...
Stopped for some shameless LC pics about halfway through...
I've stood at the base of the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan, but was not as impressed with them as I was with this 50 mile stretch of the Colorado River. My dad did a canoe trip during spring break down the Colorado River in the 1960s with a group of his friends. I can remember while growing up that whenever any of the remaining friends got together, the stories about that trip would eventually be told and re-told. Now I understand why.
All along the river there are free campgrounds. I stopped counting around 8. As you get closer to Moab, a section of the road hugs the rock face on one side and a drop to the river on the other. A spot where you need to be paying attention. Also the spot where my attention was broken by the 3 young ladies practicing some topless stand-up paddle boarding. A little rumble from the edge of the pavement and I was laser-focused the rest of the route.
We eventually popped out in Moab and made a stop for gas and a fast food dinner. Our final destination for the day was Mancos, CO and we still had some miles to kill.
3,343 miles so far....
When we first got off I-70, I was a bit skeptical for the first few miles. As we dropped lower into the canyon, my skepticism quickly faded.
Begininning the descent...
Stopped for some shameless LC pics about halfway through...
I've stood at the base of the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan, but was not as impressed with them as I was with this 50 mile stretch of the Colorado River. My dad did a canoe trip during spring break down the Colorado River in the 1960s with a group of his friends. I can remember while growing up that whenever any of the remaining friends got together, the stories about that trip would eventually be told and re-told. Now I understand why.
All along the river there are free campgrounds. I stopped counting around 8. As you get closer to Moab, a section of the road hugs the rock face on one side and a drop to the river on the other. A spot where you need to be paying attention. Also the spot where my attention was broken by the 3 young ladies practicing some topless stand-up paddle boarding. A little rumble from the edge of the pavement and I was laser-focused the rest of the route.
We eventually popped out in Moab and made a stop for gas and a fast food dinner. Our final destination for the day was Mancos, CO and we still had some miles to kill.
3,343 miles so far....
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