5 May 2013; Mammoths, Caves and Wild Animals --
We awakened, this fifth day of
the Great Prairie Safari from our stay at a Motel 6 – we unanimously agreed
that our nights sleeping on the ground were more comfortable! In retrospect,
Grumpy would seek more diligently for a campsite rather than choose a Motel 6.
Our first visit of the day was to
the “Mammoth Site”. This is a natural deposit of both Columbian and Wooly
Mammoths, as well as numerous other mammalian and reptilian skeletons. The
reason for this rich find is that these animals were lured by the presence of
warm water to drink. The Limestone edges of this pool of water were undercut by
the dissolving action of the hot water, however, and did not support the weight
of the huge animals. Carnivores were attracted to the opportunity of a “free
lunch”, and were similarly entrapped in the pool with impossible-to-climb-out
shores.
Also in Hot Springs is “Evan’s
Plunge”, an historic resort site, appealing to the hoi poloi in the “olden days”, but affordable to the “rabble” now. Grumpy wanted the boys to enjoy the luxury of
a swim in this large, naturally-refilled 16 times a day pool – the mere fact
that they hadn’t had a shower or bath since we left Fort Bale had absolutely
nothing to do with Grumpy’s eagerness.
Many years ago, on a winter recruiting
trip, Grumpy purchased a disposable paper swim trunks so he could take
advantage of an indoor swimming pool at a motel where he was staying. When he
tried to convince the Swede of this possibility, she was inexplicably incredulous! [Too much "Wood Alcohol"?] Nevertheless, Grumpy inquired of the Evans Plunge manager if they had
“disposable” swim suits; they did not. Hence Grumpy’s disappointment that the
opportunity for a swim was not afforded the Queen of the Prairie Safari.
After a one-hour playtime in
Evan’s Plunge, the adventurous quartet continued with the finale of this day’s busy agenda: A guided
tour in Wind Cave. We would be the last tour group to enter the cave this day. A major feature of Wind Cave is its extensive "boxwork" formations. These are formed when Calcite mineral is deposited in minute cracks in the limestone that is the main rock in "cave country". During later cycles carbonated water dissolves the limestone, leaving the Calcite membranes.
Grumpy had already determined that this night we would camp in “The Haystack”. However, he did not anticipate the multitude of wild animals they would encounter on the road to the Haystack. We were able to capture these up-close photos because of the cooperation of these animals -- no human beings were endangered during the taking of these photos.
We came upon a large herd of Buffalo, grazing in a nearby valley. The Queen was sufficiently impressed to get out of the car and, stretching her height-challenged stature to look over the fence, took this photo.
You'll have to ask the Swede for the f-Stop, timing and range she used to capture the photo on the left. Grumpy was driving and couldn't watch what she was doing.
The animal in this last photo seemed to be Her Majesty's favorite, as she bubbled and emoted all over the place each time she saw a bunch of these little varmints, the nemeses of the prairie cowboy. Grumpy will never reveal to her that he used to use them for target practice -- might endanger his Lemon Meringue Pie resource.
Keep watching -- more to come tomorrow!
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