Our 50^th Anniversary Trip

Chapter 3

Next destination was the Badlands National Park.  We planned to stay in the park but it closed the day before we arrived.  The nearest town with facilities was Wall.  We had been to Wall, one time many, many years ago, and all we could remember was how commercialized it was then.  Wall Drug is the main attraction in Wall S.D. and well worth the trip to visit just to view the paintings and wall decorations as well as all the shops connected to Wall Drug.  Also they have free ice and coffee for 5cents, the same as when they opened in the 30s.

We visited the Badlands, saw the jagged formations, the rounded rocks with all the colors and lots of prairie dogs, some coyotes, a few pronghorns and one large male bighorn sheep. In that same area there are huge fields of sunflowers, all with large heads and full of seeds.

Prairie next to Badlands.

Looking south from prairie towards Badlands.

Pronghorn antelope about 10 feet away.

Big horn sheep, he wouldn't turn around.

More badlands.

Fields & fields of sunflowers. 

We left the Badlands area and headed for Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. The road from Belle Fouche S. D. to Devils Tower is one of the most scenic we have been on.  The contours of the land, the red cliffs, and the sun shining through the gold/yellow cottonwood leaves made for an enjoyable trip.  At Devils Tower we walked the mile plus around it and watched some rock climbers scale the side.  It is spectacular and we were glad we stopped to see it.

Devils Tower National Monument.

Volcano cone with soil eroded from the sides.

We’re thinking it’s time to be heading south, and we still want to see parts of Utah, so it’s on the road again.  We head for Centennial Rock, but since there are no camping in the area we stop at Alcova, Wy.  There’s a dam on the N. Platte there and a hot spring too and it’s noted as one of the finest trout fishing areas in the country.  We stayed a few days and explored the area, including Centennial Rock.  The settlers on their way to Oregon or other west areas would stop at this rounded rock for the night.  Many carved their names and dates on the rock. One group stopped on July 4^th 1876, and after that it was named Centennial Rock.  We explored all the area around Alcova, which included a road on the Oregon Trail.  We were 20 miles on a dirt road from the highway and only saw 3 ranches.  Another time south of town, we turned into a county park with lots of cliffs and colored hills of green, red and grey.  Near the top of one hill, a field trip of 5^th graders from Casper found a nearly complete dinosaur skeleton.  How exciting that would be for a field trip.  Overall we saw many, many antelopes and quite a few mule deer. 

Tourists in Wyoming.

Centennial Rock.

Signatures and dates carved all over rock.

Part of original Oregon Trail.

Snow fence along highway in Wyoming.

We left Alcova, stopped at Green River and drove down through the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area.  I had purposely chosen a road in Wyoming that didn’t have a very high pass across the great divide but little did I know that there are roads that go up the side of a mountain and down the other side and are not considered a mountain pass.  We seemed to find all of these roads on the way to Price, Utah.  At one place it was 5 miles of 8 & 9 % downgrade with 10 hairpin curves and here we are being pushed by a 10,000  pound trailer.  The scenery was breathtaking with the cliffs, rocks and all. 

View from road along Flaming Gorge.

Flaming Gorge - The water is very low.

We stayed at Price, Utah for 3 nights and day tripped around the area.  We took a trip up nine mile canyon to search for petroglyphs.  About 15 miles up the highway, we found a sign that says 1^st sighting and sure enough there they were.  There were no other signs but we found probably a hundred more on the rocks in the next 30 miles.  Toward the end of the road, was a sign that said “The Big Hunt Panel” and “The Big Buffalo”.  There was a parking lot at the Big Hunt Panel but to find the Big Buffalo we had to follow a narrow trail through the brush over to another huge rock.  There we found it behind a rock and bush.  The land that forms the canyons are just amazing and beautiful.  I am always just in awe at the sights that make up this wonderful land, the USA.

Coal chute in mountains near Price, Utah.

Top of ridge overlooking the valley near Price, Utah.

First petroglyphs up nine mile canyon in Utah.

More petroglyphs.

Balancing rock in nine mile canyon by road.

Petroglyphs just fascinate me.

Great hunt panel.

Someone searching for the great buffalo.

Eureka, we found it, the Great Buffalo.

Minions on the road, the two eyed one is on the other side of the hay bale.

Hope this finds everyone safe, warm and healthy.  There is some snow on the mountain peaks but still not freezing temps here in northern N.M.  However the wind is blowing at 35 mph with gusts predicted up to 50-60mph.

                            Cheers,  Steve

I had to add this photo taken on the way back from Alaska in Theodore Roosevelt Nat Park.
One day a badger and a coyote went for a walk ................

Signs are one of my weaknesses. 

Sometimes it doesn't get it to just make a subtle hint.  A restaurant in Belle Fouche, S.D.