Wyoming rocks

Following our night in the Wind River Canyon, we resumed our eastward journey by climbing out of the canyon passing seemingly endless buttresses and cliffs of rock (mostly sandstone and limestone). It was impressive. We continued onto Thermopoles, where I tried to convince Graham to visit the Dinosaur centre. Being barely awake he declined and so we continued on our way again. Thermopoles claims to be home to the largest mineral hot springs in the world.

According to the Billboards along the highway, Wyoming is cattle country (although we didn't see many cattle) and a proud maker of Pepsi. There were also a few references to a crazy woman - Crazy Woman Creek, Crazy Woman Canyon and Crazy Woman campground. Don't know who she was or what she did, but we avoided all three places. One thing we were dissapointed not to see was the old style cowboy on horseback. We did see a few of the new style behind the wheels of pickups. There were lots of signs for rodeos, so I guess that tradition lives on. We also saw quite a lot of horses, and even what I think were a herd (right collective?) of wild horses with a few young colts.

I was very impressed with roadside signs that pointed out the name of the rock formations we were passing their age and era. Apart from the obvious geological interest, there are other observations to be made. For example, some people have thought that 3 weeks really isn't long enoiugh for a trip of this distance, and I would agree, but it does allow us to hit the highlights. On the other hand, according to the geological signs, driving about 20 kilometres through Wyoming yesterday we passed 375 million years worth of earth history recorded in the hills and mountains. How's that for time travel?

We rocked along I90 to the tune of Led Zeppelin - not a bad way to travel, and rolled into Deadwood along with a few hundred Harley riding motorcyclists in town for a rally. We had a quick look around the main street and hightailed it outta there. I'm sure it's going to be a happening place over the next few days. Deadwood is crazy, over the top with the gambling - casinos and slot machines are every where. Graham couldn't get over it. They should all be in a few places he said, why do you need slot machines in a cafe or a steakhouse? While we were walking along the street coffee and ice cream in hand, a couple of shots rang out. Apparently they re-enact the shooting of Wild Bill Hickock each day at 4.

We drove on from Deadwood south towards Mount Rushmore, passing lots more bandana clad harley riders looking ready to party. After pitching the tent in a Black Hills forest campsite we went to see the President's heads.

I had seen Mount Rushmore about 17 years ago, and while the sculpture has remained the same, the viewing are seems much more elaborate than I remember. For those unfamiliar with Mount Rushmore, it is a massive sculpture of the heads of four past president's (anyone remember which four?) carved into the granite cliff face of the Black Hills it really is an impressive feat, no less impressive on second viewing.

After the trip to Mount Rushmore it was back to camp, out for a quick 10km run, a late dinner and off to bed. But wait, the story wouldn't be complete without a rain shower in the middle of the night! Isn't camping fun?

Trip Facts:
Driven last two days: 1,200 km
Driven in total: 9506 km
Run last two days: 10 km
Run in Total: 128.6 km
Number of TH Stops: 16 :(
Number of Speeding tickets: 1
Number of nights camping: 5
No. of nights raining while camping: 4
Ipod progress: 785 Songs: Last Leonard Cohen "Take this longing"
Song of the Day Monday: "Forever Young" Joan Baez
Tuesday: "Over the hils and far away" Led Zeppelin