Big Day....Devil's Tower, Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, Needles Highway AND Mount Rushmore! Damn!!

Guess what's in the area...Sturgis Bike Rally - 10 Days and Nights of Riding, Food and Music. Yup, over 500,000 riders hanging out where I want to hang out. It's KAH RAZY!!

Luckily, last night I was planning out my day and saw warnings that this was going on so tried to plan accordingly. I've gotta stay ahead of them or behind them...that's the plan.

So, up at the crack of dawn to drive about an hour to Devil's Tower, the first declared National Monument, located in northeast Wyoming. The sun was just up when I got there (what a gorgeous drive!) and caught a glimpse of the tower in the distance. Whoa!

When driving up to the parking area, there wasn't a motorcycle in site. Woot!

I drove by Wyoming prairie land on both sides leading up to the tower and noticed that they were filled with prairie dogs. Hundreds of them that I could see! They were chatting, barking and scurrying around.

Made my way to the parking area and walked the 1.3 mile trail around the tower. I am SO glad I included this in my places to stop. The tower rises 867 feet from summit to base and there were people geared up to climb it. Yikes!

The path leading up to the tower is strewn with fallen columns of the tower. Some are as big as a bus!

Doesn't it look like playdoh spaghetti you used to make with your kids? Also, doesn't it look like the tower in Close Encounters? It must be!

Really impressive! What a great way to start the day. 

Back on the road for a 90 minute drive through the Black Hills to Jewel Cave. The drive through Wyoming into South Dakota was gorgeous. What beautiful open land!

So lovely isn't it?

Made it to Jewel Cave in time for a 11:00 Scenic Tour that takes about 90 minutes and goes through all of these cool passages and tunnels within the 3rd largest cave system in the world. There's an elevator but the tour also includes 723 stairs going both up and down. It's a constant 49º in the cave, which was a nice break from all of the heat I've been dealing with.

Caves are really hard to photograph but this one was particularly difficult. It was quite dark and the passageways are narrow and vertical so it's hard to capture. It's a limestone cave with the bumpy surface that is composed of crystals, which are hard to capture because they have this coating on them from water minerals and being touched. 

Here's a vein of crystal shooting through the surface of the rock.

Don't these look like primordial underwater creatures? All of this is made of rock - stalactites.

That long piece, that looks like a string in the photo is actually rock that is hollow like a straw. It was so delicate and about 2-3 feet in length.

And this stone drapery just looks like a slice of bacon. Again, it's made of rock!

Back in the car, gotta stay in front of those bikers, and headed to Custer for some lunch before heading to see Crazy Horse Monument. The main street was lined with parked bikes on both sides and they even blocked off the center lanes for extra parking. The place was hopping!

I have to say, Crazy Horse the monument I'm most excited about seeing. As I drove closer, I got a shot of it in the distance. Woohoo!!!

The place was packed with motorcycles but I got a parking space right out front (thank you parking goddess). I don't know if you know the history of this monument but you have to read about it. I've been following this since I was a kid! It is the largest mountain carving in the world and was started in 1948. Yup, 70 years ago!!! They completed the face 20 years ago and that has helped boost both the money they are able to raise and the number of visitors that come throughout the year. They get no national parks funding. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, was asked by a tribal leader to build a monument to celebrate the American Indian. He died years ago and his wife and children continued the work. Eight of his children still live in the area and many of them are still working on this project. One daughter is the head sculptor and engineer for the monument. Can you tell how much I love this!? 

I got to take a bus ride to the base of the structure. It's possible to actually go up but it costs $125 and I'll save that for the future when they get even more of it completed.

You can see the cranes and workers on top. They work throughout the year! They are working on the arm and hand right now that will point to the Black Hills. 

Man, this is so INCREDIBLE!!!

The monument grounds also have a Native American Museum and other wonderful areas to keep you engaged for the day. Okay, just because I'm a geek and I was so thrilled to be here, here are some interesting facts about this monument. It's so big you could fit all of Mt. Rushmore inside it more than once. The face of Crazy Horse is bigger than the face of the Sphinx in Egypt and 27 feet taller than any of the faces on Rushmore.  It's taller than Washington Monument. I could go on....but I won't. 

One other thing...there is a big bin of rocks they collect from the excavation and you can actually take one home! Are you kidding me? I took two and left a donation. 

Headed toward Needles Highway, this incredible scenic byway! Paid $20 to travel this crazy, curvy, narrow tunneled, hairpin turning road. While driving this insane road, I kept thinking, whose bright idea was it to build a road here?!

Crazy!!!

It's called "Needles" Highway. I'm thinking more "Phallic" Highway.

5 mph...this is some serious driving!

In total it took about an hour to drive the Needles and I rarely went over 20 mph. If you are ever in this area, you have to take this drive!

At this point I had been on the road for almost 12 hours and it was dinner time. Maybe I can squeeze in Mount Rushmore? It's on the way to my Airbnb in Rapid City anyway. And...I'm hoping the thousands of bikers are having dinner somewhere so I'll avoid the crowds.

Although it wasn't the best lighting with the sun heading behind the monument, I was so glad to fit this in today. No crowds and a quick 25 minute visit. My day is done!