June 1, 2016 (Wednesday)
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| Jewel Cave National Monument |
Jewel Cave National Monument is the third longest cave with 180 miles of passageways. Tickets for cave tours are available first-come, first-serve basis. We got there before it opened, since it was obvious from prior first-come, first-serve we needed to be there to get early tickets. My parents did not want to take a lot of stairs so we just went on the Discovery Talk Tour – which was free with the yearly National Park Pass, or $4/adult. The Discovery talk was about 20 minutes long and provided an overview of the natural and cultural histories in one cave room. It was an easy up and down in the elevator. The Scenic Tour (moderately strenuous) is the popular tour and is $12/adult and lasts an hour and 20 minutes. In the summer months, a Historic Lantern Tour is also available – it sounds awesome if you want a good adventure! The cave temperature is 49 degrees year-round.
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| Devil's Postpile National Monument |
Trekking into Wyoming, we stopped to check out Devils Tower National Monument. This was our westerly most destination for the trip. The visitor center did not have much to see. There is a nice hiking trail around the monument. We were lucky and able to see some climbers (they were only part way up the 867-foot-tall tower – it takes 4 to 6 hours to climb to the top). The site is really unique – it is very weird to be driving along in the Black Hills and then see the huge rock piles sticking out of the ground. The site is considered to be Sacred to the Lakota and many other tribes that have connection to the area. The rock columns found at this park are very similar to what we saw at Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California, the main difference is that the size at Devils Tower are much larger.
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| Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
We stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Painted Canyon. The site offers an excellent overlook of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Once we made it to Medora, we had dinner at the Little Missouri Saloon and Dinning. It was the most happening place in town – busy with great food!
After dinner, we took the 36-mile driving loop at the Theodore Roosevelt South Unit. The loop took us about 1.5 to 2 hours to drive. There was not a lot of traffic in the evening. We saw a lot of wildlife: horses, deer, prong, bison, and prairie dogs.
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| Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
We stayed at the Best Western Plus Heritage Hotel & Suites in Dickenson, ND. It by far had the worse breakfast of the trip. We would have stayed closer to the Theodore Roosevelt Park, but the reasonable priced hotels did not have very good reviews.
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