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Post by featherduster on Oct 1, 2019 5:00:32 GMT -5
Hot Springs is just outside the back door of Custer State Park, this place is super interesting. www.mammothsite.org/This place is a great activity on a rainy day because it's an active dig and it's all indoors under a roof.
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Post by 36fan on Oct 1, 2019 12:01:33 GMT -5
Sounds like an awesome trip! I never been the north route across the country, but I've been the central and southern routes. If you had a little more time I would say add Yellowstone/Grand Teton and Glacier NPs to your agenda, but you don't have enough time.
A college in Salt Lake City has been trying to recruit my daughter. If things work out, we may go Utah for a few days over Fall Break to check the place out.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 2, 2019 7:07:47 GMT -5
Sounds like an awesome trip! I never been the north route across the country, but I've been the central and southern routes. If you had a little more time I would say add Yellowstone/Grand Teton and Glacier NPs to your agenda, but you don't have enough time. A college in Salt Lake City has been trying to recruit my daughter. If things work out, we may go Utah for a few days over Fall Break to check the place out. We will get to those places eventually! With the kids still being fairly young, I thought this would be a good starter trip west, as it's about 18 hours from home as opposed to 25-30 for Yellowstone and Glacier. I've never been to Utah, looks beautiful though! I know there are several national parks there as well.
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Post by jman46151 on Oct 2, 2019 9:39:28 GMT -5
I'm sure some scouting will be built in there somewhere?
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 2, 2019 11:11:53 GMT -5
I'm sure some scouting will be built in there somewhere? Oh, I'm always doing some sort of scouting! Haha I do have some points built up for SD West River deer, Black Hills deer, prairie pronghorn, and Custer bison.
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Post by 36fan on Oct 2, 2019 11:59:31 GMT -5
Sounds like an awesome trip! I never been the north route across the country, but I've been the central and southern routes. If you had a little more time I would say add Yellowstone/Grand Teton and Glacier NPs to your agenda, but you don't have enough time. A college in Salt Lake City has been trying to recruit my daughter. If things work out, we may go Utah for a few days over Fall Break to check the place out. We will get to those places eventually! With the kids still being fairly young, I thought this would be a good starter trip west, as it's about 18 hours from home as opposed to 25-30 for Yellowstone and Glacier. I've never been to Utah, looks beautiful though! I know there are several national parks there as well. It is definitely a long haul. We looked at going at there several years ago, but we ended up buying a house instead. (Damn adulting responsibilities!) Utah may be my favorite state. I've been to Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Zion NPs. Canyonlands wasn't a NP, yet, when I was in the area. Great Basin NP is only ~5 miles inside the NV border (haven't made it there). There are also a few well known National Monuments - Grand Staircase Escalante NM with "The Wave" rock formation, and also Dinosaur NM. The winter Olympic training facility is in Parke City, and there is also the Bonneville Salt Flats (unfortunately it had rained and I couldn't take the rental car out on the flats). Then there is a the town of Beaver, UT. I'm looking at I "heart" Beaver bumper sticker right now. While we were in Beaver, we had to stop at the local mexican restaurant and have a Beaver taco I'm a geologist, so every time I'm out there I'm find myself wondering what I'm still doing in Indiana. My last trip was about 6 years ago, and we had to come home on the opening day of UT's deer season I highly recommend getting out to Utah if you ever get a chance. Momma isn't to happy about our daughter considering going to college in Salt Lake City, but I'm a little more receptive for the life opportunity for her. Momma really wasn't happy when I told her if our daughter goes to school out there, she is never coming back to Indiana.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 12, 2019 20:59:01 GMT -5
Drove 6 hours last night and about 9 today. Went to the Cabela's in Mitchell, now we're lodged up in Murdo for the night. Swam in the indoor pool and cooked elk burgers on the electric grill.
Tomorrow we'll do the Badlands then head on to our little cabin in Custer S.P.
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Post by greyhair on Oct 12, 2019 23:58:33 GMT -5
LawrenceCounty, you're a geologist? If you don't mind my asking, where did you go to school? I went to ISU, and the Indiana University Field School in Montana (about a hundred years ago)
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Post by welder on Oct 13, 2019 5:28:00 GMT -5
Drove 6 hours last night and about 9 today. Went to the Cabela's in Mitchell, now we're lodged up in Murdo for the night. Swam in the indoor pool and cooked elk burgers on the electric grill. Tomorrow we'll do the Badlands then head on to our little cabin in Custer S.P. Enjoy! We stayed in Murdo Best Western last year on the way to the Badlands and Yellowstone.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 13, 2019 21:09:00 GMT -5
LawrenceCounty, you're a geologist? If you don't mind my asking, where did you go to school? I went to ISU, and the Indiana University Field School in Montana (about a hundred years ago) Nope, not me, that's 36fan. I went for environmental stuff at IU, did that for a while, currently in industrial hygiene at Crane.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 13, 2019 21:15:22 GMT -5
Did the Badlands today, driving tour, visitor center, and several short hikes.
Went to Wall Drug for a short while, then headed to Custer S.P. Got settled into the cabin, went for a walk, drove around a bit, ate deer steaks for supper.
Critters spotted today include bighorn sheep, bison, elk, mule deer, and whitetail deer. Saw several WT bucks, one really nice 10 pt and another 10 pt with a drop tine.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 21, 2019 7:37:10 GMT -5
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 21, 2019 7:49:05 GMT -5
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Post by greghopper on Oct 21, 2019 7:54:17 GMT -5
Good stuff.... thanks for the pics.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2019 7:55:42 GMT -5
Love all the smiles. Just the smiles tells the story!!!
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 21, 2019 7:56:16 GMT -5
These "wild" burros were a hoot. They'd come right up your car to be petted and fed. The girls loved it. They seem to have a particular fondness for Pringles.
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Post by HighCotton on Oct 21, 2019 8:09:42 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing the pics and stories. Some great memories made there!
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Post by Woody Williams on Oct 21, 2019 8:22:22 GMT -5
A family trip to remember!
Lots of memories made there..
Thanks for sharing it with us.
What was the most enjoyable if all and what would you not do again?
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 21, 2019 9:22:20 GMT -5
A family trip to remember! Lots of memories made there.. Thanks for sharing it with us. What was the most enjoyable if all and what would you not do again? Everything nature-related was good, tourist-trap stuff could have been skipped. The gold mining deal was misleading, I thought the kids would come away with some pyrite and neat rocks and such. Nope, $48 and after about an hour I think we found 2-3 specks of gold between the 4 of us. It is real gold, but that's not fun for a kid. Mt Rushmore had their observation area and hiking trail closed for renovations. Bad part was that they don't let you know that until you've already paid admission. We could see the monument just as well from the highway. Deadwood was just about entirely gambling facilities. There are some historic places there, but not a lot around for families. Crazy Horse was a bit more expensive, around $40 for admission, but it was worth it. They have a museum complex with lots of native American history and art exhibits. The kids' favorite part of the trip was the trail ride. I'm not real fond of horses, but they operators made it as easy and relaxing as possible. My favorite part was Custer S.P. and the hiking and wildlife viewing. There is a "wildlife loop" road that winds through a mostly undeveloped area of the park, and that is where most of the animal photos posted above were taken from. The timing worked out perfect. It was chilly a day or 2, but all other days were sunny and 70-75*. A lot of services were shut down for the season, which was fine with me because there were very few other people around. We did end up spending more time in the car zig-zagging here and there than I had anticipated. Everybody did great though in the car. My wife really liked the "Needles Highway" drive.
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Post by genesis273 on Oct 21, 2019 20:20:36 GMT -5
Those pictures are amazing! Family looks so happy too! Thanks for sharing and I'm glad you had a good and safe trip.
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