I took a trip to South Dakota during the Labor Day long weekend in 2014. I flew into Rapid City on Sat reaching there at 12:30pm. Soon as I landed, I walked over to the Enterprise car rental which was 1 minute from the gate(Rapid City is a very small airport). The car was not ready, so I grabbed a quick bite at the solitary cafe in the airport. Once I got the car, I went straight to the motel and dumped my backpack, taking with me the essentials. My first stop was at the Wind Cave National Park and I was 5 minutes late for the Fairgrounds cave tour, so I took the Natural Entrance tour instead. The tour was quite interesting, I got to see the famous boxwork cave formations. The tour guide was knowledgable and explained how the cave was discovered, explored and formed geologically.
After the cave tour I drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial, where I saw a short video of how and why the project was started. The video also showed the progress of construction and how each person contributed to the project. Then I drove to Mount Rushmore right on time for the lighting ceremony. The talk was very interesting to me as I do not know much about American history. The presenter explained why each President was important and what was their significant contribution to the development of America. The ceremony ended with the American national anthem. This was my last stop for the day and I headed back to the hotel.
On day two, I went to the Jewel Cave National Monument to take the Scenic Tour. The first 3 tours were sold out and I had to wait 30 mins for the next available tour. This was the best part of the trip. I was very excited to see stalactites, calcite crystals, draperies and flow tubes in real life. I had always fascinated about them while reading in books. Once again, the tour guide was excellent and answered all the questions patiently. The highlight of the tour was "the bacon drapery". The photo below will explain why it was named hence.
My next stop was at Spearfish which was about 1.5 hours north, which is when dark clouds started to form. It was a tense drive to Spearfish Canyon with rain hailing hard, that I could not see clearly even with high beam and full speed wipers. Luckily the rain was only for a short duration, but it made my journey longer. At Spearfish Canyon, I enjoyed the lush greenery and the gushing water of Roughlocke Falls and Spearfish Falls.
I drove along the Needles Scenic byway during my journey back to the motel. The next day, I checked out and headed to the Badlands national park. This was unique in terms of the terrain and the type of rocks found there. I would not call them rocks as they were too soft and could easily be broken down with a hammer or axe. But the entire park was filled with mounds of clay-like material which had color variations, possibly due to minerals.
After doing a couple of short hikes, the most fun among them being Notch trail, I started driving towards the airport, along the Badlands Loop Road. On the loop road, I stopped at multiple lookout points to get amazing views and photographs. The above photo was taken at the Yellow Mounds view point. And last but not the least, South Dakota, specifically Sturgis is famous for motorcycles. I saw a whole bunch of motorists on huge-ass Harley Davidsons riding along the freeway.
I took my flight back to San Jose and landed here at night 9pm. It was a perfect duration to cover the important places without having to rush through any of them. Overall, it was a well spent weekend.
A few more random pictures to relate to the culture of South Dakota...
After the cave tour I drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial, where I saw a short video of how and why the project was started. The video also showed the progress of construction and how each person contributed to the project. Then I drove to Mount Rushmore right on time for the lighting ceremony. The talk was very interesting to me as I do not know much about American history. The presenter explained why each President was important and what was their significant contribution to the development of America. The ceremony ended with the American national anthem. This was my last stop for the day and I headed back to the hotel.
On day two, I went to the Jewel Cave National Monument to take the Scenic Tour. The first 3 tours were sold out and I had to wait 30 mins for the next available tour. This was the best part of the trip. I was very excited to see stalactites, calcite crystals, draperies and flow tubes in real life. I had always fascinated about them while reading in books. Once again, the tour guide was excellent and answered all the questions patiently. The highlight of the tour was "the bacon drapery". The photo below will explain why it was named hence.
My next stop was at Spearfish which was about 1.5 hours north, which is when dark clouds started to form. It was a tense drive to Spearfish Canyon with rain hailing hard, that I could not see clearly even with high beam and full speed wipers. Luckily the rain was only for a short duration, but it made my journey longer. At Spearfish Canyon, I enjoyed the lush greenery and the gushing water of Roughlocke Falls and Spearfish Falls.
I drove along the Needles Scenic byway during my journey back to the motel. The next day, I checked out and headed to the Badlands national park. This was unique in terms of the terrain and the type of rocks found there. I would not call them rocks as they were too soft and could easily be broken down with a hammer or axe. But the entire park was filled with mounds of clay-like material which had color variations, possibly due to minerals.
After doing a couple of short hikes, the most fun among them being Notch trail, I started driving towards the airport, along the Badlands Loop Road. On the loop road, I stopped at multiple lookout points to get amazing views and photographs. The above photo was taken at the Yellow Mounds view point. And last but not the least, South Dakota, specifically Sturgis is famous for motorcycles. I saw a whole bunch of motorists on huge-ass Harley Davidsons riding along the freeway.
I took my flight back to San Jose and landed here at night 9pm. It was a perfect duration to cover the important places without having to rush through any of them. Overall, it was a well spent weekend.
A few more random pictures to relate to the culture of South Dakota...
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