I've been on a high for the past three days. Since we had a three-day weekend (Columbus Day is still a Federal holiday), I decided to drive Carri to the Black Hills area. I think this is about my seventh trip here, yet most of the roads I've taken, and most of the places I've been, have been new to me. I knew I was in the West, when I saw antelope herds and magpies flying across the road, flashing black and white, with their unbelievably long tails. There is so much to see and do in this part of South Dakota. South Dakota has five scenic byways, four of which are in the Black Hills area. I've driven three of the ones in the Black Hills area so far. I'm not sure I can take my RV on Iron Mountain Road, because of the narrow tunnels. But, really, every road you take in the Black Hills is a scenic drive. Especially this time of year, when the oranges, reds, and golds, are everywhere. The Spearfish Chamber of Commerce told me that the colors would peak last weekend. I decided to wait a week, to take advantage of the three-day weekend, gambling that waiting five days off peak wouldn't make much difference. Usually that would be true, but not always. Not this year. Last weekend was warm and sunny and beautiful. Early in the week the temp in Pierre was 91 degrees - unusually warm for this time of year. Then a cold front came through, with really high winds. I can see that maybe 80% of the aspen leaves are gone. :-( There is still a lot of beautiful color, but I can tell that there would have been significantly more last weekend. My first day here the weather was cold, windy, overcast, rainy. The second day there was no wind, less rain, it was cool rather than cold, but it was still overcast. Not great for taking pictures of fall colors.
My first day here, the first thing I did was visit the Chapel in the Hills in Rapid City. My Norwegian cousin Jartru's daughter was confirmed there when they were living in Rapid City years ago, and I've wanted to see it ever since (I was living in Texas at the time and missed the confirmation). The building is a replica of a stavkirke - an old Norwegian church. I've seen an old stavkirke when I was in Norway. There are very few of them in the US. (I know of one other - in Moorhead, Minnesota, in the Hjemkomst complex.) They are beautiful churches, made of wood, so old that they have Viking and pagan influences in the design.
Then I drove to Wind Cave National Park, but got there just ten minutes after the last cave tour. It was my own fault; if I hadn't stopped so many times to take pictures along the way, I wouldn't have made it in plenty of time. :-) I decided I would have to come back the next day for the tour. Then I drove the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park for the first time. I have seen more wildlife up close on this trip than any other trip here before: buffalo, deer, prairie dogs, antelope.
Three bighorn sheep were walking down the road toward me, then ran up on a nearby hill and stopped and looked back and posed for some pictures. 
I spent a good chunk of the morning wandering around Custer State Park, enjoying the solitude of the morning lakes. It was cool enough that the mist was rising off the surface of the lakes. One of the advantages of being here post-peak, and off-season, is that I pretty much had the lakes to myself. Just me and the ducks enjoying the beautiful morning. Such peacefulness and serenity.
I almost didn't drive back to Wind Cave NP for the tour on my second day, but I'm sure glad I did. I've been to a number of cave tours in my life, but this was one of the best. Part of that was because our tour guide was excellent. The first thing she showed us was the natural opening, about 14 inches in diameter. She put a ribbon in front of the hole, and you could see there was quite a bit of wind blowing out of the hole. She told us that the cave "breathes" in and out, because of the changes in barometric pressure, with the cave constantly trying to equalize the pressure with the outside. Although the hole was "breathing" out at a brisk pace when we were watching, she said that it was "breathing" in at about the same velocity during the morning tour!! The cave's "breath" has been clocked at 70 mph! The Lakota people consider this a sacred site; their creation stories talk about everything coming from the hole that breathes. So we were in a sacred place. I felt like I'd already gotten my money's worth, and then some, only ten minutes in, before we'd even gone into the cave!! Wind Cave is ranked as the fifth longest cave in the world, at over 130 miles. It appears to be kind of like a "honeycomb" - all those miles of cave are below about a one-square-mile of land surface!! The experts estimate, however, from the amount of wind that blows in and out of the hole, that Wind Cave may be the largest cave in the world. They estimate that only about 5% of the cave has been explored. Every year another 2-3 miles is explored and added to its known length.
Wind Cave has no stalactites or stalagmites, but lots and lots of boxwork; in fact, 95% of all the boxwork in the world is in Wind Cave. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to see this unique cave. I didn't count the times I said "Wow" on this tour. I'm so glad I drove back for it.
On my drive to Spearfish, I saw something I'd never seen before: a pile of old bikes. :-) And I'd just been thinking I needed to trash my old rusty pink bike that is in such bad shape and that I never use anymore and won't ever use again....so I added it to the pile! :-) Serendipitous! :-)
I stopped for a leisurely old-tyme breakfast in Cheyenne Crossing before I took the short hike to Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon. The path allowed me to indulge my love affair with birch trees some more. One of the best things about the hike was getting a good look at an American Dipper. They're a small bird, smaller than a robin. It's amazing to watch them bob their head up and down, and then just hop over to the creek and disappear under water! This was only my third sighting of a dipper; the second time I saw one, was also at Roughlock Falls.
It was a lovely weekend - lots of beauty and solitude. Lots of beautiful fall colors. Up close and personal experiences with nature of all kinds. Just the kind of break I needed.
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