Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse...

Hi, Darren here.

I'll pick up right where Jane left off in Rapid City (and why we drove through Wyoming 3 times). We got up the following morning, and even though we were unsure whether Devil's Tower would be clear of snow enough to drive up there... the thought of leaving america without seeing this place was unthinkable. (especially after being just two hours away!).

I've wanted to see Devil's Tower since 1970-something when I first saw the Steven Spielberg movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. At the time (and for many years after) I thought this tower was a thing that was 'built' just for the movie... it didn't look real. Once I'd learnt it was a real place though, I knew that one day I would have to go see it. I didn't think it would take me until I was 36, but I knew at some point I WOULD go there.

Once we'd figured out what we were doing for our honeymoon, one of the first places I knew I wanted to see was Devil's Tower. So after two years of planning, and anticipation to finally see it with my own eyes... to find out that we couldn't go there because of bad weather? Aaarghhh!!

Anyway... this is why we ended up driving out there from the campsite that morning. It was about a two and a half hour drive, but amazingly within the first hour of leaving the site the ground turned from being wet from rain, to being white from snow. I guess the difference in altitude changed how the weather was behaving. At first we were unsure how bad the weather would get, or even if the roads would be clear. The worst would be that we would get stuck out here in the middle of nowhere!

Luckily the roads stayed clear, and although we did get snowed on and the visibility got much worse as we drove into the clouds we managed to get there. As we got closer to where it was, we kept on saying "where is it? shouldn't we be able to see it by now?" ...but we thought it was hidden around a corner or behind a hill or something. Eventually we got to the entrance gate to the Devil's Tower National Monument, and to the gift shops and campsite that was there.... but still no Devil's Tower.

Eventually we realised that it was in front of us all along, but hidden with pure white (and thick) cloud! And it was VERY close. We simply couldn't see it. Because i'd travelled so far, and waited so long to see this... there was no way I was going to turn around without seeing it. I wanted to wait around in case the clouds cleared. But it was cold. Very cold. So standing there with my hand holding the video camera in what felt like (and might have been) subzero temperatures for about an hour, left me almost unable to move my fingers... and shivering... a LOT. Jane was cold too, but she had been walking around taking photos of the local deer that were wandering around the place.

Every now and then we'd see a thinning in the cloud and you'd see this huge dark silhouette of the Tower, and the first time I saw this the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. This was VERY exciting for me. (and I had the Soundtrack to the Close Encounters film playing on the RV's stereo for added atmosphere.. yes, I'm a geek. But it worked!)

Anyway... after almost an hour, just as I was about to give up and let us leave (we still had Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse to visit) the clouds thinned out a few times and we got some (almost) clear views of it. Woohoo! We got some photos, and I got some video recorded... so I was happy. (also... I know I'll be back, although next time it will be in summertime!)

By the time we headed back, we realised there wouldn't be enough time to see the other two places... and also the weather was really coming in, so even if we went we wouldn't be able to see much anyway! So we went back to the campsite, and booked in for another night. The next morning we realised that we'd made the right decision as although it had been snowing overnight... the sky was clearing!

We went to see Mount Rushmore, and the Native American equivalent Crazy Horse monument. To get to these places we drove through the Black Hills, which was some absolutely STUNNING scenery to be driving through. Especially with the clear skies and snow-covered forests. We couldn't have asked for it to be any prettier. We got to Mount Rushmore just in time to see the (very cool) monument. It's very weird looking at 4 huge faces carved into the side of a mountain. And after we'd been there a short while and taken our photos and video... the clouds came in again, and it vanished.

On our way to Crazy Horse (again through some beautiful mountain forests covered in snow) we thought we wouldn't see a thing. Indeed, when we got there, we couldnt see it at all... and this one is BIGGER than Mount Rushmore. But we paid our fee and went in anyway, hoping for the heavy clouds and fog to clear.

...and indeed it did. Our patience paid off. This thing is amazing! We'd watched a very informative and interesting film about how Crazy Horse was started, who was doing it and just how long it had been worked on. All REALLY interesting. I really hope we get to see this finished... it's an unbelievable thing to see, and the fact that it was worked on by one man and his family for his whole life (literally his life's work) makes it even more amazing.

Seriously, go to the official website and read all about this. It's staggering.

Anyway, after here we left and headed South, driving through Wyoming again (for the second time) in the reverse direction (and it was a long and hard enough drive to do just once) and by the time we reached the South of the State and started to head West the night came in, and the snow and wind started to pick up. A lot.

I was tired after the amount of driving, and fighting against the wind and low visibility meant we called into the next campsite (Laramie) instead of trying to push further into the night. It was the right decision to make. And the next morning we headed off across the South of Wyoming (third time) in much better weather into Utah, and towards Salt Lake City (and onwards to Monument Valley). But we'll cover this in the next segment! It's after 1:30am now and we're up early to head up the california coast to try to get to Yosemite National Park, so I need to get at least a few hours sleep!

Speak to you next time!

Darren