The Badlands

The name is perfect. It was 101 degrees the day we toured this strange looking land. Needless to say, we spent most of our time in the car, but we did  venture out to take some pictures.

Mount Rushmore

How did this sculpture come about? 

In 1923 Doane Robinson, superintendent of the South Dakota Historical Society had a vision of a massive mountain memorial carved from stone so large that it would put SD on the map. He dreamed of Western figures such as Chief Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody, Lewis and Clark and Sioux warriors along the SD skyline. He asked US Senator Peter Norbeck to help with the project. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum accepted his offer to take on the project. 

Upon his arrival in Sept. 1924, Borglum informed Robinson that his life's work would not be spent immortalizing regional heroes. He insisted the project be national in nature and timeless in it's relevance to history. The four presidents chosen were to create a reminder of the birth, growth, preservation and development and pursuit of individual liberty. Borglum found Harney Peak (7,242) Aug 13, 1925. 

Supporters of the project scrambled for funding. 

In 1927, President Coolidge went to SD for a fishing vacation. He and his family stayed at the State Game Lodge in Custer State Park. Little did Coolidge know that the creek where he was fishing was being stocked each night from a local fish hatchery and the fish were contained in the area by chicken wire that had been stretched across the creek both upstream and downstream. This extended his vacation for 3 months which gave Borglum and Norbeck time to convince him to nparticipate in the formal dedication of Mt Rushmore. On Aug 10, 1927 Coolidge dedicated a cornerstone and declared Mt Rushmore a "national shrine" and pledged federal funding.

How long did the project take? 

Work began in 1927 and was on and off until 1941. Borglum employed 400 local workers and men highly skilled in using dynamite. They could blast within four inches of the finished surface and grade contours of the lips, nose, cheeks, necks and brow. 90%of the 450,000 tons of granite removed from the mountain was taken out with dynamite.

Borglum made a model on a 1-12 inch scale. (1 inch equals 1 foot). To transfer measurements from the model, the head placement was determined on the mountain, then the corresponding point was found on the model. A protractor was mounted horizontally on top of the model's head. A similar, 12 times larger, apparatus was placed on the mountain. By substituting feet for inches, workers could determine how much rock to remove. Drills and special bits were used to leave a finished surface as smooth as a sidewalk.

A driller was paid $1.25 per hour. The crew was often laid off due to lack of funds and harsh winter weather. After Borglum's death, his son, Lincoln, spent another 7 months refining the monument, but as America prepared for war, funds were diverted elsewhere. On Oct 31, 1941, Congress declared the monument complete

Years ago we took our kids to this landmark. Needless to say, it's changed. More commercial, more structures, more stores, more souvenirs, but the heads haven't changed and neither has the patriotic program. We chose to go at night. Our first encounter was the massive walkway to the mountain, the goats who came down to have dinner, a movie highlighting each of the presidents, the lighting of the heads and then they called all the past and present military personnel on to the stage. Each one gave his/her name and branch of service and then we all sang our national anthem. Very moving.

 

Devils Tower

Because of Close Encounter of the Third Kind, a favorite movie in our house, we just had to stop at Devils tower to see it for ourselves. Very impressive!

Scenes from Yellowstone

Enjoy

West Thumb Basin and Elk

We met with a ranger who gave a talk while walking around the basin.

Years ago, people used to fish in the lake and fling what they caught into the center of this geyser to cook it. There's an opening in the middle of the geyser that used to spew hot steam. That practice was stopped in the early 1900's.

Reflections of us on the boardwalk as we admire the colors.

How beautiful is this?

The deep Aqua color the the Geyser Basin. Temps in the darker blue are 165 and hotter.

We had visitors that day. We assume they stay away from the hot ground, although the range told us they do find animals every so often that fall into the hot springs and die. They found a coyote with a duck in it's mouth in one of the springs. He must have caught the duck on the run and couldn't stop in time. Oops!

These elk were along side of the road.

What's this one eating?

And in the parking lot.

Bison of Yellowstone

Congress passed legislation in 1872, making Yellowstone the world's first national park. It consists of 2.2 million acres; 80% forests, 15% grassland, and 5% water.  96% of the park is in Wyoming, but Montana claims 3% and Idaho 1%. The lowest elevation is 5,282 feet at Reese Creek and the highest 11,358 at Eagle Peak summit.

It is true that Bison are everywhere. Whether the herd is crossing the road, walking in the middle or the side of the road, you know by the slow pace that this is their park and we definitely are visitors!

Geysers of Yellowstone

What an unbelievable place. The land is steaming everywhere you look.  The colors from the bacteria are vey vibrant and the smell can be pungent.

This one is called Dragon's mouth because it used to spew water high in the air and the movement of the water in the cavern sounds like a roar.

Mud pots that used to cover tourists with a mud bath.

An example of the colors from bacteria. Geyser at Mammoth Hot Springs.

This looks like snow, but it's not. Obviously there was a fire here.

We found a favorite swimming (?) place just north of Mammoth Hot Springs where the river is both hot and cold. The water from the geysers run into the river, so one second the water's cold, the next second it's very warm. Here's Barbara experiencing the temp. changes and my new friend, Rebecca from New Jersey, who showed me how to navigate the river while crawling on my stomach. The current was so strong that floating on your back brought you back down river immediately. Great fun!

Our next stop was Steamboat Geyer. It still erupts, but very infrequently.

Lunch by the river.

Here's an interesting one.

This one's called  Artists Paintpot. Aptly named.

Below are pictures from the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is the largest hot spring in the park. The world's most impressive collection of thermal features. Unfortunately, the day we were there the wind was blowing very hard covering up most of the it.