My Side of the Adventure

After Devils Tower, I proceeded up through Montana making my way to Glacier National Park. The route included a visit to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and other usual interesting sights along the way.

Richard Dreyfuss violently heaving potted plants in through his windows – Those five familiar musical tones – Cute little martians puttering across the tarmac – How many of us first saw Devils Tower in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”? I’m raising *my* hand.
Well, I didn’t see any little green men or experience anything of the paranormal (probably because I don’t believe in either), but it is definitely an amazing hunk o’ rock. More info in the captions. (And if you’ve never seen “Close Encounters…” be sure to stream it. It’s a “classic”.)
EDIT: Forgot to include photos from a stop along the way at “Sand Creek Wildlife Habitat Management Area” in Wyoming. A very big name for a small camping area but with a toilet, dumpster, and beautiful water features–and a very nice and helpful caretaker. One negative – the flies were terrible so come prepared – at least in July/Aug of the year.

If you’ve been to southwest South Dakota, you know there is a lot to see.
I made it to Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park, Badlands National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Town of Custer, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial. Luckily, I found a dispersed camping site about five minutes from Mt. Rushmore. I want to go back to spend more time in the Black Hills and also go back to Custer State Park for the annual Buffalo Roundup in the September timeframe. (Photo captions are a combination of my verbiage and borrowed verbiage from a tourism site).

Next, I headed northeast across Colorado just barely crossing the southeast corner of Wyoming. The Rapid City SD area–with all it has to offer–was next.

Next camping spot was the one we discovered just after our frightening (to me) nighttime mountain trek. The camp itself was crowded and people-ee, but the view was unmatched. To this date, probably the most beautiful vista I’ve experienced directly from a campsite. It is in the mountains above Telluride. (Just added a video at the top of the post).

I decided to return to the nearby Woods Lake with the hopes of capturing the Milky Way’s reflection. (Nothing like a nighttime hike by yourself in bear country.) If you’re a kayaker or a hiker–or a photographer–you would especially enjoy a visit to this Recreation Area.

Continuing from the previous post, I was camping with friends near the tiny town of Placerville. As I mentioned before, one day, a friend and I went exploring where we saw incredible beauty but where we enjoyed ourselves so much that we stayed too high too late. We did not get lost but ended up on a mountain-side rabbit trail after dark with a high wall (and a tire-sized ditch) on one side and a drop into oblivion on the other. I was driving and I have a fear of heights. To further complicate matters, we came to a point where part of the road was washed away on the oblivion side. Fortunately, my friend Rachele got out in front of the car and successfully talked me past this frightening point, but it was truly terrifying for me. What an experience! (We did receive a reward for surviving this adventure, because as we emerged from the last wooded area along the route, we stumbled onto what was to be our next camping spot. And it had a view like no other. More later.)

In my last post, I forgot to include a short day trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park which was not far from our camp. Unfortunately, something went wrong with my SD card and I lost all my photos from the Park plus some from the San Juan mountain pass over which we drove. Broke my heart. Anyway, I did retain a couple cell shots.

Last, I’ve included images from other excursions in this beautifully scenic area. (More details in the photo captions).

I headed on up through Colorado from Mesa Verde. The southwest part of the state, which includes the “Million Dollar Highway”, contains some of the most stunning scenery I’ve seen in the the U.S.

On my way to Mesa Verde, I passed by Monument Valley but decided not to actually go there. I did get to see the famous spot on US-163 from “Forrest Gump”. My visit to Mesa Verde didn’t include any of the tours since I had my dog Sadie, but the cliff dwellings were easily visible from the Park road. There were also other interesting dwellings close to the road that I could briefly pop out of the car and see. One of the nice things about visiting Mesa Verde is there is a dispersed campground just across the highway. Also, since the park doesn’t allow trailers or towed vehicles beyond a certain point on the Park road, they provide parking if you need to make use of that.

A few friends and I headed to Lake Ashurst, Arizona, to visit another friend who had taken a job as a camp host there. We boondocked down the road from the lake by a pretty meadow where some seasonal water had accumulated. We were able to watch kestrels nesting nearby (and a visiting juvenile bald eagle), enjoyed some wildflowers, and I took advantage of moonless skies to practice my Milky Way photography.
Also included are a few shots from the road as I next headed to Colorado. Last is a video of Sadie. It looks staged but it wasn’t. I did add the music. : )

Sleepy time for Sadie