The Great Prairie Safari -- Day Nine

9 May 2013; Devil's Tower, Big Horns and Thermopolis --

Getting out of bed was always the hardest part of each day during the Great Prairie Safari. Grumpy was always the first one up, usually had his first cup of coffee -- and was able to capture photos such these as evidence of his earlier arising.

The threat of diminished frequency of Lemon Meringue Pies tended to discourage the display of all of the available evidence, however.

As we were eating breakfast, rain fell on our camp. This was not good as it meant that our tents would be packed wet and unless dried out fairly soon, would become “mildew-y”.  It did make for a rather hasty breakfast and subsequent departure however!  Much more effective than Grumpy’s Grumbling about “… C’mon! We’re burnin’ daylight!!”

Our first objective was the Devil’s Tower in Northeast Wyoming. Grumpy consulted Greta Garmin for directions as to which off-freeway road to take. We drove through some very scenic Ponderosa Pine forested hills and ridges – all in the Belle Fourche River drainage – finally arriving at Devil’s Tower National Monument. As we drove toward the entrance, the Swede commented that she thought she saw some smoke up near the Tower. Sure enough, when we got to the Entrance gate, the Ranger announced that the Park was closed due to a fire. Grumpy asked another Ranger if the fire was a “planned burn”; the answer was that it had started out as a planned burn, but the dry conditions were such that it “got away from them” and became a minor disaster.

Back to the freeway (I90) we went toward Gillette WY, and where Grumpy remembered seeing a huge open pit coal mine when travelling with Great Grandma. We were all pleased to see a large (half-mile long?) coal pit, highlighted by an active conveyor belt system and coal extraction machine, taking the coal from the pit and moving it to a silo-like building for eventual loading onto the hundred-plus coal trains we had seen in Northwest Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming.

After a picnic lunch in the Gillette city park, we drove over the 9,666 foot “Powder River Pass” in the Big Horns. There was plenty of snow up here in these beautiful mountains, but none that interfered with our driving. It actually snowed on us a little bit as we stopped to take our photos!

Arthur tests the water -- Too hot to stay in!

Visiting the natural hot springs of Thermopolis ended our day. However, the Queen and Grumpy decided to stay two nights in our spot in Eagle Campground so the boys –and maybe even the Queen herself! – could enjoy a long swim and/or soak in these legendary “healing waters”. 

Wait until tomorrow!!