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Devils Tower

On my trip to the South Dakota I made a side trip into Wyoming to see the Devils Tower. It was about a 1 hour drive west of Deadwood, SD. You head down the interstate to Sundance, WY (home of the Sundance Kid) and then turn north up a fairly scenic highway that leads to the Devils Tower.

Once you see the Tower you are completely hooked. It is a magnificent structure!

It cost $12/vehicle to enter the park area, which was worth it. You can drive right up to a parking area where several different trail-heads are found. Looking up at the tower is wonderful, and when I was there several eagles soared up and down the sides of the tower.

I also drove down a road behind the tower and took a few spectacular photos.

On the way back to South Dakota, I took an alternate route that took me past the small town of Aladdin, Wyoming. Check out the photo below.

All and all, the side trip to Devils Tower was great!

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Mount Rushmore

A winter visit to Mount Rushmore is pretty dramatic. There were no crowds and the weather was very accommodating as it was around zero Celsius, with no wind but no sunshine.

The monument itself may be briefly seen from the highway, but to get the best look you need to park and walk up to the viewing area. You have to pay to park, which is how the National Park’s Service get’s it’s money.

In fact, the highway is constructed so that there is no real place to pull over. You can see a profile view of George Washington from a pull-off on the highway just to the west of the Mount Rushmore site, but that is just a tease of the magnificence of the entire site.