May 28, 2024 Tuesday
Left Deadwood, SD, 8:45AM MT arrived Sheridan, WY 3:00 PM MT. 252 miles traveled. 33mpg gas $3.38 and $3.24 per gallon. Total Miles 1593, 30.8 MPG
Fourth day. Temps averaging mid 70’s, sun is very intense. After a nice breakfast, included with hotel stay, we drive through historic downtown Deadwood. They have preserved a few of the old building and added new ones. It’s a street of small specialty shops, every building has some kind of gambling, some just with slots. The elementary school is across from a major casino. Many of the houses have vertical cliffs out their backdoors. We take an alternative route out of town into hillsides of thick black Ponderosa Pine. We descend into a valley and get back on I 90 moving west. We progress over the Wyoming border and while the thick black pines still exist the landscape becomes more arid with no real crop growing on thin top soil. Although the spring rains have brought thick green prairie grasses, all animals are eating it as fast as they can because it will not last. Wyoming is a geologist and archeologist’s paradise. If you could take an industrial shovel and scrape down the side of a hill you would see a variety of layers of different sediment. We are moving ever to higher elevation. Every since the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers we have slowly but surely been gaining elevation and more obvious as we near the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains. We take a detour to Devil’s Tower, the first named National Monument by Teddy Rosevelt. The distant views never cease to amaze. We cross over the Belle Fourche River, a prehistoric river that helped form the local area. Nowadays we would call it a creek. The river has eroded beautiful carvings into bright red rock, it is stunning. We park at the Visitor’s Center. There are people from all over the US and international visitors. We take the tower trail, 1.6 +miles of trail around the circumference of the tower base. Pat with thick dark glasses, wide brim visor and sharp pointy walking sticks, everyone gives way on the trail. LOL There are small bundles of colored cloth tied to tree branches; these are prayer bundles put there by native tribal members as DT is a sacred site. DT is an awesome sight of a solid ovoid vertical rock formation that has hexagonal shapes formed by cooling magma from an ancient volcano. In the parking lot we are at 4600 feet above sea level and the tower is 867 feet above us. There are climbers on the totally vertical face on all sides; very dangerous. On our way out we pass through a huge prairie dog town. There are many babies running from den to den.
Wyoming is known for chemicals, mining, fossil fuels, tourism, archeological finds and beef cattle on huge ranches. Including South Dakota we are in rattle snake country so stay on the paths. The soil is so poor it takes thousands of acres for cattle to graze and are supplemented with baled hay from spring grass for the winter. Recently, WY had been losing population with Alaska surpassing them formerly as the state with the least. We can see the snow covered Elkhorn Mountain range in the distance, highest peak around 13+k. Much of the water collecting in streams, lakes and reservoirs is coming from the snow melt. This water is draining east to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico eventually. There are snow fences to reduce road drift and snow gates that shut down highways in a blizzard. We are experiencing calm WY but the winters must be brutal. And there is wind.
We stop at Sheridan, Wy for the night at a Best Western. It is located in the historic downtown. The room is clean and adequate but no elevator for the second floor room and shlepping our gear. We have dinner at a franchise steakhouse that is okay. Walk over to the historic Sheridan Inn and think we should have stayed here. Buffalo Bill stayed here. They have retained the historic atmosphere and created rooms with ensuite bathrooms instead of the old style one bathroom for all. We have a drink at the bar to absorb the atmosphere and chat with bartender. On the large wrap around porch we talk with a couple from Lafayette, Indiana who give us the scoop on the hotel.
It is very hot in Sheridan at 80 plus degrees and intense sun, at least there is a continuous breeze. Maybe the thinner atmosphere allows the sun to bear down more. Talked with Brenna today. Dean’s birthday party plans are mostly settled and we get to be there. Baseball has started and Quinn is playground groupie. Seth and Carrie on their way to the west coast for wedding and travel.
Very tired, likely an early night. Crossing into Montana tomorrow.
