The Black Hills National Parks - Spring Break 2025, Part II

The Black Hills are a fascinating mountain range in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. The area was called Black Hills by the native Lakota because the tree-covered mountains looked black from a distance. They formed during the same orogeny that formed the Rocky Mountains, around 70 million years ago. It is basically a giant dome that uplifted a core of ancient (some 2.5 billion years old!) Precambrian rock, including layers of limestone, sandstone, and shale. Many of these layers have been eroded and weathered into cliffs, canyons, and caves, leaving a gorgeous environment to explore.

Mountain Bluebird in Custer State Park

WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK

Wind Cave National Park is two parks in one – one below ground, and one above. Above, a mixed-grass prairie supports bison, elk, and prairie dogs.

But the more exciting part of the park is underground. Wind Cave was the first cave to become a National Park, established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1903. It’s called Wind Cave because of the strong wind that blows in and out of the entrance, caused by the changes in air pressure outside and the cave trying to equalize.

Boxworks in Wind Cave

It is known for the unique formation called boxwork, a honeycomb pattern of calcite fins that intersect at different angles, forming little compartments. It’s a mystery how they are formed, but one theory is that the walls have fractures caused by the stress of drying and rehydrating of gypsum, and calcite forms in these fractures.

Wind Cave is sacred to the Lakota people – it is where humans first came up to Earth. Before when the Earth was cold and dark, the Lakota were told by the Creator to stay underground in a warm, safe world while he was preparing the surface. A group of people were tricked by Wolf to come to the surface, where they soon found out they were unprepared for the harsh winters and couldn’t survive. The Creator was angry that these people disobeyed his order, so he turned them into bison. When the Earth was finally ready, the rest of the Lakota came to the surface, and the Creator told them to use the bison who would provide them with everything they needed to survive. The hole they came from was shrunk down into the entrance of Wind Cave.

JEWEL CAVE NATIONAL MONUMENT

The gorgeous formations in Jewel Cave

Near Wind Cave is Jewel Cave National Monument, which shimmers with the world’s highest concentration of dogtooth spar. Even though Jewel cave’s 220 miles of mapped passageway currently makes it the fifth longest cave in the world, some scientists estimate that only 5% of it has been mapped! (They know this because of the estimated total air volume, which they calculate by measuring the amount of air ‘exhaled’ when the air pressure drops.)

Mmmmm... bacon...!

Jewel Cave’s underlying limestone is thicker and less fractured than Wind Cave, so their speleothems are quite different. On our Scenic Tour, we were able to see the huge swaths of glittery dogtooth spar as well as draperies, soda straws, and even delicious looking cave bacon.

I'm a Jewel Cave Junior Ranger!

CUSTER STATE PARK

I’ve heard people say that Custer State Park rivals the wonder of many National Parks, and it was easy to see why. We spent part of three days driving around this area of the Black Hills, and were amazed by the wildlife, geology, and stunning views. Custer is a large park with several distinct area, including a famous herd of over 1,300 bison, plus bighorn sheep, pronghorn, prairie dogs, mule deer, and even wild burros.

The eye of the needle

The Needle's Eye Tunnel

We drove along some of the more scenic drives of the park including Iron Mountain Road, which features fun curvy ‘pigtail’ bridges that curve over themselves and allow drivers to gain altitude quickly. It is also famous for the northbound tunnels that open up to a view of the distant Mount Rushmore. We also loved the Needles Highway, with its granite spires that pierce the sky (and fun narrow passes through the needle formations). The single-lane Needle's Eye Tunnel was so much fun we drove through it three times!

Such cool geology along the way!

On our second day in the park, we hiked the Cathedral Spires trail - an easy out-and-back walk through the towering needle-like formations. Julia showed me the flaky mica chipping off the granite in such thin layers that they were see-through!

The aptly named Cathedral Spires

The "crown jewel" of Custer is Sylvan Lake, a man-made reservoir created in 1881 across Sunday Gulch Creek. It was especially interesting because of the huge boulders around - and in - the water.

On our last day, we drove the Wildlife Loop Road through the rolling hills and grasslands. The best surprise was when we came upon a newly-born bison with its mother – the visitor center guide told us it was most likely just an hour or so old! Did you know? Baby bison calves, known as "red dogs" because of the color of their coat, can stand within minutes and run within hours. This baby was still wobbly on his feet, and we watched him staggering around and nurse from mom. Astonishing!

 

We also saw the friendly wild burros, descendants from the pack animals used by miners from the 1870s.

MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL

This is perhaps one of the more controversial parks in the NPS, and we definitely felt unease about it during our visit to Mount Rushmore. 

Six Grandfathers, before construction. Photo: NPS

Originally, South Dakota historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea of a carving somewhere in the Black Hills a monument to the American West, wanting heroes such as Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, Buffalo Bill, Red Cloud, or Crazy Horse as the featured figures. It was meant to be a way to boost tourism in South Dakota, even though the mountain and the land was sacred to the Sioux and illegally taken from the Sioux Nation. In fact, the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the Sioux exclusive use of all of the Black Hills in perpetuity.

Instead of the original American West Heroes, sculptor Gutzon Borglum decided on the US Presidents. Between 1927 and 1941, Borglum carved the 60-foot faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt into the granite of the mountain known as Six Grandfathers and named it the Shrine of Democracy. They were not meant to be a memorial to the individual people, but rather the ideals that they fought for: the nation’s founding, expansion, development, and preservation. Mount Rushmore is meant to celebrate American history and democracy. It now symbolizes not only our national identity, but it is a reflection of the ironies and injustices that brought us here.

Regardless of my personal opinions about the monument, it is undeniably impressive. A short hike on the Presidential Trail takes you down to the base of the sculpture, where we learned about each president as well as the process of creating such an enormous sculpture. On the way, we were lucky enough to see one of the shaggy white Rocky Mountain goats that live in the area. These introduced animals were originally a gift of 6 goats from Canada who escaped their pen in Custer State Park.

Since we were staying near the area, we decided to go back to the park to view Mount Rushmore lit up at night. Upon entering the park, we walked down the Avenue of Flags where all 50 states, DC, 3 territories, and 2 commonwealths of the US are represented by their flags. At the end is a viewing platform with a majestic view of the mountain. There were way fewer people than during the day, and it was definitely impressive seeing the presidents' faces illuminated by the floodlights.

DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT

When people think of Devils Tower, they usually think of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And looking at this mystifying protrusion in the middle of the prairie, it’s easy to see why people associate it with aliens. Devil’s Tower is a fascinating geologic feature whose formation is still up for debate – what is known is that it is an igneous protrusion, meaning it was an underground pool of magma that formed large columns as it cooled over 50 million years ago. Through time, the surrounding layers of sedimentary rock have eroded away, leaving just the tower.

Contemplating the boulder field

We did two hikes around the tower, once near the base along the Tower Trail, and again along the larger circumference Red Beds Trail in order to get different perspectives of Devils Tower. Along the Tower Trail we could see up close the large boulder field made up of giant pieces of rock (some the size of a school bus!) that weathered and eroded off the tower. It was also fun to see the climbers halfway up the rock face, which gave perspective on how massive the tower truly is.

The Red Beds are aptly named!

After a quick picnic lunch, we hiked the Red Beds Trail that circled the tower and gave us a view of the Spearfish Formation, the red and maroon cliffs that make up the sedimentary layer created around 200 million years ago. These red beds are part of the “race track” around the tower from Lakota and Kiowa traditions. In the story, a great race occurred between two-leggeds (humans) and four-leggeds (animals) to decide who would be in power. While the larger four-leggeds dominated the race, at the last moment the clever magpie darted ahead and won, giving the two-leggeds the victory and insuring the power of humans to hunt animals.

It's just so picturesque!

We drove back towards Cedar Rapids that night and heard Ranger Ed was in town for a paleontology conference, so we met up with him for a final dinner. 

Thanks, Bearded Ranger Ed!

Overall, it was an amazing trip - early April was the perfect time to go, with fantastic weather and very few crowds. And the best part of the trip was talking to the rangers at all the National Parks - they are inspirational, passionate people who have such a wealth of knowledge. Chatting with Rangers gives such a deeper understanding of the people, places, and history of each park. I can't recommend it enough!!

The Great Plains National Parks - Spring Break 2025, Part I

For this year’s Spring Break, I really wanted to tour in and around the parks of the Great Plains & Black Hills, in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Seeing this area of the world had been on my wish-list for a long time and was so excited when my friend Julia decided to join me on this National Park road trip. We flew into Rapid City and picked up our rental car late on Friday, and off we went!

MINUTEMAN MISSILE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

During the Cold War, the US and USSR battled for global dominance through conflicting culture, politics, and economics. Each nation began building up their nuclear arsenals as a deterrent – each believed that having these missiles that could potentially devastate the world would prevent an attack because the aggressor nation would fear retaliation. It was basically a global game of chicken, played right in our backyard, with no winner - the end result if anyone fired was mutually assured destruction. Luckily, we never went to war (and it really was sheer luck – we came uncomfortably close).

We got to tour the Delta 01 facility, the control center for the 10 Minuteman Missiles that surround it. The Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was a solid-fueled missile designed in the mid 1960’s to carry a single nuclear warhead over 6,000 miles within minutes. It was actually much nicer inside that I anticipated – looking very much like a normal ranch house, with a shared recreational space decked out straight from a 1980’s living room. A kitchen, bedrooms, and guest rooms allowed the 8-person crew to live there for their 3-day shifts. 

The 8 ton blast door

But 31 feet below them, in a tightly secure control room located behind an 8-ton blast door, two missileers were locked in for 24-hour shifts to monitor and potentially launch the 10 minuteman missiles located in silos scattered around the surrounding prairie.

Just like in War Games...!

All around South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming, 100 Launch Control Centers controlled 1000 Minuteman Missiles from 1963 until the 1990s. They were hidden here in the seemingly bland prairie because... hey! Who'd woulda thunk something so terrifying would be here in the bland prairie??

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Julia and I met up with our friend Anne Lewis, another Nat Geo GTF and Explorer, who hung out with us in the Badlands. She introduced us to The Bearded Ranger, the social-media-famous Ranger Ed, who spent the next two days hanging out and showing us around the park. We started off seeing the Paleontology Lab (which had yet to open for the season, but Ed gave us a private tour), where we learned about the preservation of fossils found around the park. And there are a LOT of fossils.

Badlands is a vast mixed-grass prairie that features one of the world’s richest fossil beds from the Oligocene (23-25 million years ago). Years of wind and water have eroded the underlying layers of sedimentary rock into colorfully sculpted pinnacles, hills, and canyons. 

Getting a paleontology lesson from Ranger Ed

Up, up, up the Notch Trail!

Ranger Ed took us to the Notch trail to look for fossils, and very soon we saw that they were everywhere!!! There were fossilized turtles, as well as teeth, jaws, and bones from oreodonts (camel-pig like mammals), horses, and nimravids (saber-toothed cat-bear carnivores). At first I didn't notice anything, then Ed kept pointing out exploded-round features all over the landscape - ancient turtles!

Baby brontothere skull

It was especially mind-blowing when Ed took us off-trail to see the fossil of a baby rhino-like brontothere!! The skull was imbedded in a large hard-to-move rock, so it was just left in the field.

Fossil tortoise

Clastic dike

This area is a feast of geologic features. The Badlands are known for its distinctive landscape, and many of the formations of ridges and peaks are kept from eroding because of the clastic dikes that provide a stable foundation underneath. A clastic dike is a layer of different, usually erosion-resistant material that cuts through the other rock layers. We could see these dikes crossing through the landscape.

The most fun was when Ed showed us a peculiar characteristic of fossils that help us identify them. Unlike rock, if you lick a fossil it will stick to your tongue. Because fossils have that porous structure of the original bone, it draws moisture from your tongue into the pores through capillary action. Julia made a tiktok of Ed explaining this phenomena, and it has nearly 20,000 likes!

We stayed in Wall, South Dakota, which is known for the ginormous Wall Drug. This cowboy-themed drug store is the epitome of American roadside attractions – established in 1931 as a depression-era pharmacy, it lures in customers with miles and miles of hand-painted billboards, free ice water, and 5¢ coffee. The diner inside is like a museum of cowboy art. It’s also now famous for its donuts (and boy howdy did I partake!!)

Fossils are everywhere!

The next day, Ed took us back to the Door and Window area and went off-trail to fossil hunt. Again, it was astounding seeing fossils everywhere and made me realize that I don’t take the time to slow down and observe the world around me. I definitely got better at spotting them as we went along, but it was still thrilling to see perfectly preserved jaws and teeth still imbedded in the layers of soil!

Another thing I loved while in the grasslands was seeing prairie dogs. These social rodents (not dogs!) live in complex tunnel systems known as towns, and their burrows are also home to snakes, black-footed ferrets, and owls. Julia found a lovably catchy Bruce Hornsby song, Prairie Dog Town, that became our soundtrack for the trip!

🎵Poppin' up, poppin' down, 🎶 Burrowing making their funny little sounds🎵

I loved hearing the chirps, barks, and squeaks of the prairie dogs communicating with each other, and was sad to learn of their population decline due to habitat loss and disease. Hundreds of millions of prairie dogs once blanketed the midwest, influencing the environment by upturning and aerating the soil, promoting plant growth, and creating a more diverse and and productive habitat. 

AGATE FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

A few hours south of Badlands just across the border in Nebraska is a slightly younger but equally intriguing paleontological site, Agate Fossil Beds. This site in the Niobara River valley features Miocene (19-20 million year old) mammals such as beardogs, 3 ft tall rhinos, bison-sized pig-like dinohyus, and small horses.

Daemonelix (corkscrew Paleocastor burrows)

The most interesting remnants at Agate Fossil Beds are the mysterious spiral corkscrews found in the cliffs. Named ‘Daemonelix’ or Devil’s Corkscrews by their discoverer Erwin Barbour, they were originally thought to be fossils of large taproots. But in 1904, scientists found small rodent skeletons in the corkscrew and it was determined that an ancient beaver known as Paleocastor dug these 8 ft tall spiral entries to its burrow. The corkscrew shape kept flood waters out of the bottom chamber, and helped keep consistent temperature and humidity. There are a few really well preserved examples along the trail, and it was interesting trying to spot them in the cliffs.

The grand views at Agate Fossil Beds

A surprising collection at the Agate Fossil Beds Visitor Center is the James Cook Collection of Lakota artifacts. Rancher Cook lived in the area in the 1870s and befriended Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud. Cook traded with the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne, and became close friends with Red Cloud. He received many gifts such as buckskin suits, pipe bags, hide paintings, and items of clothing, which are now all on display.

SCOTTS BLUFF NATIONAL MONUMENT

In the afternoon, we crossed into Nebraska to Scotts Bluff National Monument. Scotts Bluff is an 800 ft high sandstone and clay bluff that rises above the North Platte River. It was an important landmark for emigrants traveling west by covered wagon in the 19th century, who used it as a navigational guide to mark the end of the flat, monotonous plains and the start of the mountainous Rockies. 

The hike up Saddle Rock Trail to the summit

We made it in time to hike up to the top of the summit, on a path that climbs up and through a foot tunnel, opening onto a gorgeous scenic overlook.

Hiking down Summit Drive

The sun was starting to set, so we hurried back down the Summit Drive (that was thankfully closed to cars that late in the day). We decided to return the next day to explore the Visitor’s Center.

Mitchell Pass at sunset

Hiram Scott was a fur trapper who died under mysterious circumstances while traveling east in 1828. Some stories say he fell ill and was abandoned somewhere around Mitchell Pass by his traveling companions, who returned the next year only to find his bones. Others say he insisted on being left behind, while still others include Indian attacks. Regardless, the bluffs near where he died soon became known as Scott’s Bluffs.

It was just a tad windy atop Scotts Bluff!

Inside the Visitor Center, Ranger Jason showed us the many paintings by William Henry Jackson, the artist that photographed Yellowstone and who helped create the first National Park. His watercolors of life in the American West capture what it was like in the frontier, and Scotts Bluff has the world’s largest collection of his works. Ranger Jason also took the time to tell us stories about Scotts Bluff, and we found out it was his birthday so of course we had to give him some Wall Drug donuts!!

FORT LARAMIE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

An hour’s drive west took us into Wyoming, where we visited Fort Laramie National Historic Site. The very knowledgable Ranger Casey took the time to give us an in-depth explanation of the history of the fort. What started as a private fur trading post was first called Fort William in 1834, then named Fort John, and eventually Fort Laramie -  the most important military outpost in the Northern Plains during westward expansion. As pioneers crossed the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, they stopped to resupply at Fort Laramie. 

Thanks for the history lesson, Ranger Casey!

As more and more settlers came through the Great Plains, Fort Laramie became an important military post to protect the emigrants. It was also the site of several treaties and negotiations with the Native Americans, but the end result was that the US stole their homeland and the Native Americans were displaced onto reservations. With the building of the transcontinental railroad, fewer emigrants came by wagon and the fort was decommissioned in 1890.

View of the former barracks

Many of the buildings still exist and tell the story of how the fort turned into a small town as the fort grew. We visited the various barracks for soldiers and officers, the commissary, surgeon's quarters, bakery, and even a jail. They were all situated around a large rectangular parade ground. Many of the buildings are reconstructed and it was interesting to walk through and see what life was like in the 1800s.

Cavalry barracks