Katie and Sean

Road Trip - Devils Tower and Mt Rushmore

Katie -

Devils Tower

After a pancake breakfast (a KOA Camp specialty), Sean and I drove 5 mins down the road to the Devils Tower National Monument entrance.

Sean and I recognised the tower from the back of RV's 4 Rent and the movie Close Encounters, other than that, we didn't really know much about it. We decided to make the 2 hour detour, as we probably weren't going to be this close again any time soon.

Devils Tower is Americas first National Monument. It is a popular spot for tourists and we even spotted some people climbing!

Although geologist have no solid explanation as to how Devils Tower formed, they agree that it is made of igneous material.

"The simplest explanation is that Devils Tower is a stock—a small intrusive body formed by magma which cooled underground and was later exposed by erosion."

The hexagonal pillars that make up the tower are like giant versions of those we saw in Yellowstone!  

We walked the 2km trail around the base of the tower, totally in awe of how this thing had possibly come to be. Below us, the Belle Fourche River was eroding the land to expose layers of the red, iron rich Spearfish Formation rock walls which date back to the Triassic period, 225 to 195 million years ago.

After exploring the monument we headed back to our campsite to make use of their WiFi, so that I could guarantee connection to do a phone job interview.

The Geographic Center of the Nation Monument

We drove past a sign directing us to 'The Geographic Center of the Nation Monument' and decided to make the detour.  It was a small a visitors centre, manicured garden and the main attraction in the town of Belle Fourche. Very random.

Afterwards we sat on the Volvo's tailgate, ate a sandwich, and watched the sleepy town go by. After two months on the road, a sandwich in the carpark for lunch had become pretty standard!

Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

This was a beautiful drive (and a welcome change from hours and hours of straight highway through agricultural farm land), and felt a lot like driving in New Zealand. The road was only 1 lane in each direction and meandered its way up a 30km long gorge. On either side of the road were 300m high, brown/pink/grey limestone palisades. These photos give you a glimpse of the scenery which was incredibly hard to capture on such a windy road.

There were lots of places to turn off along the way. We only made a couple of stops, however you could easily spend a full day here exploring the trails and waterfalls in the gorge.

Our next stop was at a grocery store for ice for the chilly bin. and to Starbucks for Sean to do some work. A very small inconvenience for the freedom we have!

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is an incredible engineering feat! Not only the 20m high faces carved into the granite, but also the infrastructure that surrounds it. The road turns off into a grand 4 lane entrance, where you pay your entrance fees and are provided with an information booklet and audio tour. Through the ticketing booth, the road leads into levels and levels of car-parking. The car-park exit is the entrance to the National Memorial (of course, between a gift shop and food court).

Sean and I followed an interpretive board walk around the park to the base of the sculptures ('sculpture' doesn't seem like a BIG enough word!). We also explored the visitors centre/museum and learnt about how the monument was designed and built. It was also interesting to learn about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, why they were chosen and what they each represented.  I'm sure this is the kind of thing that all American children learn in elementary school!

  • Washington - American Independence
  • Jefferson - Democracy
  • Lincoln - Equal rights
  • Roosevelt - Economic development

In the spirit of tourism, Sean and I shared a Thomas Jefferson original recipe ice cream while waiting for the evening ceremony to begin. It was delicious, especially in comparison to the highly processed, sugary ice creams we had learned to avoid.

The ceremony itself was the most extreme example of American patriotism I have seen. After hearing from a Park Ranger and watching a short movie about the monuments construction, Veterans were invited to stage and applauded, before the American flag was lowered and folded.

Sean's take:

I felt that the ceremony had an undertone of dissapproval at the state of veteran's affairs in the USA. From what we've read and seen traveling through big US cities, veterans are pretty much forgotten when they leave the army. They struggle to find jobs, get proper healthcare, and often end up homeless or struggling in other ways. This ceremony felt like a way to recognise them in a way that the country (or at least, the larger government) doesn't seem to do well. This is kinda in line with how I feel the National Park Service's attitude is towards the government's messaging on climate change and environmental issues. The executive branch denies climate change, and doesn't seem to be doing anything to preserve the incredible natural beauty of the country, and yet the Park Service (and the US Forest Service) take every chance they can to educate anyone who will listen on the real world effects of climate change, resource extraction, and I guess consumerism in general.