Larry A. Smail's Blog

The Devil’s Tower

The Devil’s Tower is a great natural wonder to view. However, the smoke of distant forest fires had hazed over the area. This smoke caused a bluish hue over the tower. Regardless, we still had an opportunity to finally see this unique formation of nature.   

Devil’s Tower became America’s first national monument in 1906.  In recent times, the tower was used in the movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” In the movie, the United states government had built a place to meet with UFO landings on the top of the tower.

The Native Americans of the region treated the tower as a sacred object.                                                             

Later, we stopped at the U-Cross Ranch for a meal and horseback-riding. The ranch was a horse ranch, but, also, conducted organized hunting on the property. A ladies’ hunt for pronghorn antelope was in their future.

The people who were owning and working the ranch proved to be down-to-earth individuals. They were not political correct and that is always a positive in my way of thoughts.

Happy trails to you!

Laurie and others elected to go horse-back riding. I chose to walk about the ranch area and take photos. I enjoyed some quality time with an old-timer. (He was older than I am.)

I heard and saw the Eurasia Dove. This species of dove is larger than our native Mourning Dove. they, also have a distinct variance with their cooing. I witnessed a magpie perched on a wire too.  I am always seeking wildlife species to observe.

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Inside the lodge

Our eastward expansion crossed into the border of South Dakota. At the town of Spearfish we began heading southerly and there they were the magnificent Black Hills. The route to our lodge was squeezed between high steep rocky hills. These jutted from the ground level and mostly went straight towards the sky! The lodge we would be staying is the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. (Some scenes from the movie “Dances With Wolves” were shot a few miles from this lodge.)  

Spearfish Canyon Lodge

I stared in amazement at those grandiose rocky hills. Many glowed orange-yellow from the rays of the early evening sun. No wonder the Indians held the Black Hills with such reverence!

The glow!

   A few native American tribes known to have inhabited this area of South Dakota were the Cheyenne; Kiowa; Pawnee; Crow and in the 18th century the Sioux. (Lakota) The latter arrived here from their earlier Minnesota range. The westward movements and the discovering of gold would eventually lead to war. The defeat of Custer in 1876 was  the result of this war. Wounded Knee is another well-known event because of this war. many Sioux women; elderly and children were massacred because of the American government’s need of these lands.                                

From this lodging site we would be visiting such places as the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Morse Memorials and Devil’s Tower. (More of these adventures in a separate entry.)                                                    

Early in the following morning I would be exiting the lodge for a few hours of hiking. I left at 5:35A.M. This hike was in hopes of seeing the sun rising and illuminating the western rocks. I, also hoped to see wildlife. The hike was very photogenic, but all I saw was a Great Blue Heron and two kingfishers this morning. The thrill of wondering what was to be found around the next bend was exciting to me.

Later while traveling to see some of the earlier sites we were able to see superb landscapes. I mentioned to Laurie how I could envision painted Sioux warriors quietly moving their ponies through the pine forests and grassy knolls. I could see these great men as if they were actually there!  Weird huh!           

Little Spearfish Falls

The following morning allowed a shorter time for a hike. I emerged early again and headed up the Little Spearfish Creek. I wanted to see the Roughlock falls. I edged the watercourse seeing  great blue herons and a little gray bird known as the Dipper. this amazing bird feeds while walking underwater in fast-moving streams.

I discovered the falls and after some photographs I headed downstream again hating to need to cut this hike short. I approached a sizable pool of clear water and I could see many Cutthroat trout swimming about. If I only had a rod and reel!(The Cutthroat trout gets its name due to red colors on the gill cover.)        

Roughlock Falls

Over the last copy of days I was noticing a number of white-tailed deer. I would see a lot of these deer over the next several days! We saw the broad-tailed Hummingbird too.                                          

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    We stayed two nights within easy walking distance to Yellowstone lake. This allowed two mornings to capture sunrises over the lake’s eastern sky. The haze due to distant forest fires and another east of the lake allowed the sun to explode with reddish hues.

Distant smoke

Yellowstone River

Yellowstone Lake is the largest natural high-elevation lake in the North America. The waters consist of 132 square miles of surface area and 141 miles of shoreline. This is not a small body of water. The depths are around  400 feet.

   Yellowstone is famous for its geysers and hot springs. There is evidence of underwater geysers and hot springs too. Despite the hot springs the lake is frozen over half of the  year.

The Yellowstone River is a part of the lake obviously. This water exits the lake  forming the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. (A few photos of the canyon were in the #6 entry.) This river is the longest undammed river in the lower 48 states as well.                        

Smoke from closest fire

Laurie and I were up early the first morning to hike to the lake. Unfortunately, she froze out since the temperatures had reached the upper thirty degree mark overnight.  She elected to head back to the lodge when she saw a small fox-like mammal in her terms. This was a pine marten. (We would see one at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone the next day.)

  I explored the shores and nearby forests anxious to what was around the next bend. Mergansers and gulls and even pelicans were viewed around these waters. Much to soon, I had to exit this exploration to visit other unique sites.           

The lake is having an issue to deal with. The native specie of trout is called the Cutthroat Trout. It is in decline due to the introduction of the Lake Trout.  The deeper  water Lake Trout feeds on the young Cutthroat Trout of the shallower water. The Cutthroat doesn’t return the favor and the results are obvious. The park service has been hiring commercial fishermen with special nets to remove as many lake trout as they can catch.                                                                     

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