9/30 - Buffalo roundup in Custer State Park

We got up at 4:30 am....an unheard-of thing for us to do.  Lovie and the cats were very confused. We were verging on confused ourselves. We didn't eat because there was a pancake and sausage breakfast available at the roundup, but we didn't think about the fact that it might be three or more hours before we got to the food. 

Cars in line behind us around 5:30 am. Just as long a line in front.

We thought getting there at 5:30 would be fine....and it was, actually....but we found out people were there much earlier than that. We luckily managed to find a good spot for our chairs right at the fence where we'd get a good view. Our neighbors had weaseled their way into a spot behind the road barricades last night and slept in their van. Since they were sitting next to us I don't think their extra effort gained them much ground.

                            

Sunrise from the roundup area.

                            

Sunrise glow to the west over the corrals.

After a while we left our chairs to go to the breakfast tent. There was a very long line but we had nothing else to do so we got in it.  We met some very nice travelers from Wisconsin with whom we compared notes over places to go and things to see with good advice from them about what to do in Springfield, Illinois. You never know what you're going to learn about from fellow travelers.

The pancake and sausage breakfast turned out to be two nearly cold pancakes with two very tasty (and nearly cold) sausages. By the time we got them back to our chairs they were definitely cold. Jim's coffee was not only cold but awful. It was good to know the exorbitant price ($16) was going to charity. If we ever go again we'll pack a portable breakfast.

The event was supposed to start at 9:30 but it seemed to take a lot longer to get going. We were freezing so we were well aware of the delay. The SD governor and his entourage always attend so they had to be there before anything could start. We heard the governor and selected VIPs get to ride in the herding pick-ups. Both pick-ups and horse-mounted riders are used to get the bison gathered up.

The pick-ups which rounded up the herd.

We could see a herd of bison off in the distance (behind where the last pick-up is in the picture) and it turned out to be the day's catch. Pick-ups and horses came over the hills to the right and all of a sudden the bison started running. They were rather funny....they'd run a few hundred yards, then stop and eat. No point standing there doing nothing when there's grass to be eaten. The trucks and horses would get closer and they'd run again. Then eat. Once they were chased into the area where they would be turned and headed for the corrals a whole bunch of them took off up the next hill.  

A small part of the herd

Packed together after being rounded up again

The horse-mounted herders

We couldn't tell how many horses and trucks there were but heard it was anywhere from 30 to 60 of each. Local car dealers provide the trucks so individuals aren't risking their own vehicles.  One year someone hit a rock and tore the oil pan out of the vehicle he was driving so it's a good thing it wasn't his. People who want to assist on horseback put in applications to participate. We're guessing that riding ability and round-up experience is required. Bison are dangerous and unpredictable so inexperienced riders would be a hindrance rather than a help.

We heard about what happened the last two years.  Two years ago the whole herd went exactly where it was supposed to go. Last year a group split off and had to be rounded up again. Then it did it again. It took a lot of extra time to get the escapees back to the herd. Our informant's opinion was that they had more trucks and horse-riders this year to make sure there were enough to keep the herd under control.

Custer State Park has a herd of around 1,300 bison. Naturally they were not rounding up all 1,300 today. They've been bringing them in for well over a week, processing around 100 per day. (Processing means ear-tagging, weighing, checking for pregnancy and various other things, and sorting.)  It's all very stressful for the animals, so they're kept in the pastures next to the corrals for a calm-down period after being rounded up. 

We stayed to watch some of the processing, waiting for a very long time because we had no idea when it would start. They'd run two or three bison into the chutes, poke and prod them, push one into a contraption that (we think) weighed them, ear-tag them, and run them out. The final part was sorting which is where they separated the animals which will be auctioned in November. They have to keep the herd at a level the park's grazing area can support, so any extra animals are sold.

After seeing enough of the processing (which didn't take long), we went to the corral with the animals waiting for their turns in the chutes.  They were milling around, doing a bit of pushing and shoving, but behaving themselves quite well.  Bison have a very definite pecking order in the herd which may have helped keep them in line.  There was one irritable cow who didn't like people up against the fence. She'd come over and glare and snort. One nitwit spectator reached her fingers into the fence to scratch the cow's nose and got an understandably negative reaction. It was a stupid thing to do because any one of the adult bison could have come through the fence in a heartbeat.

One of the very handsome roundup participants.

We were surprised to see this big bull in the pen. None of the big boys (as they are affectionately called by everyone) are included in the roundup. They are all well known and don't need to be poked and prodded. They are also very unpredictable and can destroy a corral in a flash.  This one may have gotten caught up in the melee when his group was rounded up. Whatever happened, he was behaving very well.

We heard another interesting story of a big bull who took offence at a tour bus. The bus was sitting still in the road, couldn't do anything else, and the bull charged it full on. Put a real bash in the bus and killed the bull. Most unfortunate for all concerned.

Calves are orange until they're around two months old, so this one is quite a baby, born rather late in the season.  It was very confused and forlorn.  We were told its mother had already gone through processing. It even went up to the big bull looking for comfort. It was being ignored and pushed around by everyone.  We hope it didn't have to wait much longer to find its mother.They're called "gingers" due to their color.

A patiently waiting trio.

We got back to the RV around 4:00.  It was a long day, exhausting only because of the hour we got up and lack of food. (Dropping blood sugar doesn't do much for one's energy.)

The roundup was great.....I'd love to do it again. Not so sure about Jim but he was a very good sport about it.

After we got back to the RV we had a double rainbow without any rain.

Sunset in Hermosa....#1

And #2.

Now all the fun stuff is over and we start for home tomorrow.

9/29 - Custer State Park, SD

This morning I at last finalized our route home (avoiding Iowa's floods) and got all our reservations made. That is a relief after struggling with it for several days.


This afternoon we went over to Custer State Park, the site of tomorrow's buffalo roundup. We checked out the area we'll be going to tomorrow morning to be sure we allow enough time to get there by 6:00 am. The normal attendance is around 10,000 people but last year's 50th anniversary of the roundup drew 22,000 people. The park has tight two-lane roads and having that many vehicles on them is challenging. This is not a special anniversary year so we're really hoping attendance will not be as large.


We spent some time talking to a park volunteer, finding out about the roundup and where to go and what to expect. It turned out he and his wife are from Knoxville and are regular summer volunteers at the park. They spend each summer in their motorhome in the park and will head back to Knoxville on Sunday after the roundup is over. He hasn't been able to see the roundup because of his duties elsewhere in the park so hopes to return as a tourist one year.


After checking out the roundup area we went over to the Buffalo Roundup Art Show, an outdoor show just like the ones we used to do (except we never did outdoor shows). There was the usual glut of jewelry plus a lot of very nice wildlife art, both paintings and photos.  The show wasn't crowded and it was nice to be able to browse without being jostled.  


There's not much to show for today in the way of pictures. These two are representative of the way the park looked in the late afternoon sun. There's quite a lot of color here but it's generally rusty-red and dark yellow. It can't hold a candle to Colorado's aspens. Nothing can.

Tomorrow will be a long day (starting at 4:30 am, not our favorite time to get up) but it's one I have looked forward to since June. Jim is generously going along with it and I do hope he will enjoy it. Perhaps the pancake and sausage breakfast and the bison BBQ lunch served at the roundup will be enticing.

9/28 - Gering to Hermosa, SD

A nice day driving on good secondary roads across northwestern Nebraska and southwestern South Dakota.  


It seems like there's air pollution everywhere, but we're not so sure the air pollution in this area isn't actually mostly dust and dirt.

This view of Chimney Rock shows just how hazy it is. As we drove north through the farmlands towards South Dakota we kept seeing farm vehicles driving down dirt roads and raising huge clouds of dust which might be contributing to the problem.  On the rare occasions when there's no wind the dust can't move out.

Another interesting thing from this picture is the huge irrigation boom across the foreground. I have often seen circular fields in Google satellite pictures but didn't realize until we traveled through the agricultural west that they are caused by the irrigators. They're anchored in the center with the booms going around the field like fan blades.

These cornfields are more typical of Nebraska but there are still hills popping up. (Excuse the reflection from the window.)  The state gets much flatter going east.

Another massive load of hay on the move. This load probably weighs about 48,000 lbs.

Mini-badlands getting closer to South Dakota

Going through Chadron State Park a few miles south of the SD border.

We got to our campground before 2:00 so it was an easy day. This is an okay place for the three nights we need to be here but it's not the kind of place to stay and relax like the last one.  It's unattractive land.....dirt, gravel, grass so dry it crunches underfoot. 

There's a great pizza place in Hermosa so we decided to treat ourselves to pizza for dinner. While we were waiting for our pizza we talked with a local rancher who was the father of the owner of the restaurant.  He said he wasn't a farmer but decided last year to put in 25 acres of corn. They had so much rain it grew 11 feet high. He tried it again this year but it's been so dry the corn never even germinated. Guess we shouldn't be surprised the vegetation looks dead. It probably is.  He also told us the pizza restaurant serves between 700 and 1200 people a day which is astounding in a town of 400 people. He said people come from quite a distance to eat there. 

9/26 & 9/27 - Gering, Nebraska, and Chimney Rock

There was nothing worth posting about yesterday. Stayed home, fixed stuff and Jim washed the RV. He also worked on a problem with the water lines during which he got doused with Clorox (diluted, fortunately) and had to peel off his clothes so they could be rinsed out. (No damage done.)  I've spent hours trying to figure out what route we're going to take to get home but it's been complicated by the floods in Iowa which are in our path on our favored route. We can avoid central Iowa by going through Kansas City and St. Louis but those are places we would really like to stay away from.  We have to get it worked out by Saturday because Sunday the route splits, either east through Iowa or south through Missouri.


After lunch today we drove 20 miles east to the Chimney Rock National Historic Site at Bayard (a town of about 1,100 people).   

Chimney Rock looking east

This rock formation was the first landmark to be seen by the pioneers after traveling west 500 miles across the prairies from Independence, Missouri, and it made a tremendous impression on them.  They had never seen anything like it.  It was one of the most famous and recognizable landmarks on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails which all ran together until Wyoming and Idaho.

The picture above shows how the formation is actually the remains of the ridge to the right.  Everything in between has been eroded away. Chimney Rock is about 325 feet high but is constantly getting smaller. The erosion is quite noticeable from the "then and now" pictures in the visitor center.

Chimney Rock looking west

The closest view looking west is from the visitor center. There's no path to the formation, probably to keep people from doing more damage to it. In the 1800's scores of people carved their names in it. Lightning has knocked pieces off the top and, at one time, soldiers even used it for target practice.  Another reason for not having a trail is that the area apparently has a healthy population of rattlesnakes.  There are warnings about them everywhere.

This is our last night in Gering and, once again, we didn't have a sunset. There were no clouds today, nor was there any wind.  We couldn't believe it.  This is the best evening picture I could come up with.


Tomorrow we go 190 miles north to Hermosa, South Dakota, which is very close to Custer State Park where the Buffalo Round-Up is happening on Friday. 

9/25 - Scott's Bluff National Monument, Nebraska

More than half the day was taken up by chores.  We got the laundry done this morning in one of the nicest laundromats we've ever been in.  If they were all like this one we wouldn't dread doing laundry on the road.  


Jim has been in a war with the bathroom plumbing for the past few days. The faucet didn't want to stop leaking, no matter what he did to it. He lost the battle with it last night but today's battle went better and it looks like he's won. We're hoping it will last.


This afternoon we went to the Scott's Bluff National Monument which is just two miles from our campground. We have a good view of the south side of it from our site.  The visitor center is small but has good displays and information.  It also has a 15-minute video about the monument and the Oregon Trail going through here. It starts off by saying, "Nebraska....hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and the wind always blows." Guess we're here at the right time of year because the temperature is very pleasant, but the wind is certainly blowing. I thought it was going to calm down today but it nearly knocked Jim over at the visitor center. 


Scott's Bluff was named for Hiram Scott, a Missouri mountain man who worked for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. He died on the banks of the North Platte River below the bluff which then became known as Scott's Bluff. There are several stories about how he died, but nothing is certain other than that is where he met his demise.

The road runs through Mitchell Pass following the route of the Oregon Trail.

The North Platte River runs right next to these badlands. The emigrants followed the river for 200 miles from where it split into the North and South Platte at what is now North Platte, Nebraska. Crossing rivers was a dangerous business so they did it as little as possible. When they reached Scott's Bluff there were badlands extending right up to the riverbank so they had to find another way to continue without crossing the river. Mitchell Pass got them around the obstruction.

The westward view from the top of the formation. On a clear day Laramie Peak can be seen 90 miles to the west. It was the next big landmark for the emigrants, but few took the time and energy to climb to the top of the bluff to see it.

View of Gering to the east from the top.

The black pipe sticking up marks the highest point of the formation.....4,659 feet. What's most interesting about it is that the rock was level with the top of the pipe when it was planted in 1933. The rock is eroding very quickly.

There's a road to the top so people who can't hike up the 1.6 mile trail can still see the views. (The hiking trail has been cut in half by a rock slide so no one can hike up anyway.) Building the road required cutting three tunnels through the formation which we couldn't see from below. The road wasn't built for wide vehicles so it's a good thing there weren't many cars going up and down today. If we'd met one in a tunnel we might not have come out in one piece.

This is the most photographed view of Scott's Bluff.

Beautiful formations just south of the monument.

One of the formations with a collapsing side.

No sunset today except this....the last of the light on the monument from our campsite.

Tomorrow will be a surprise. No idea what we're doing other than that it will be in the Gering area.

9/24 - Loveland to Gering, Nebraska

Good drive today.  It was only 170 miles, going through the north-central area of Colorado from Loveland to the Wyoming border, then the southern corners of Wyoming and Nebraska where they join, and on up 45 miles through southwestern Nebraska.  

Colorado's scenery is very different from one section to the next.  There's not much of a foothills area between the plains and the Rockies.....it just goes abruptly from flat to mountains.  The Front Range of the Rockies ends just west of Fort Collins so they disappeared from view as we went further north.  

From mountains to plains in a very short distance

One of two rock formations next to I-25 that broke up the monotony of the plains

The southeastern corner of Wyoming is high plains like Colorado. The only picture I took there was of an oil refinery which isn't worth showing.

20 miles east into Nebraska we left I-80 and went up a very nice pig-path. It was better than the interstate in most places. This picture (just north of Kimball) is representative of how the area looks....sparsely populated farmland and grassland.

After about 25 miles of farmland the terrain became more rolling with rocky hills in the distance. 

Getting into the area with really interesting rock formations

Going through the Wildcat Hills 

The western end of Nebraska is full of very interesting geological formations. There's also the "Fossil Freeway" which extends north from Gering (where we're staying) to Hot Springs, SD.  We'll be driving along this route on Wednesday when we return to South Dakota but we won't be able to do much sight-seeing along the way.  Guess that means we'll have to come back!

Our campground is owned by the town of Gering. It has paved roads, lots of green grass, and NO DUST!!!  We are SO happy to get away from the dirt and clouds of dust at our last campground!  The wind has been fierce all day but should calm down by tomorrow, and the forecast is great for the next week. 

There are a number of things to see around here, but Scotts Bluff National Monument is the most important. Most likely that's where we'll go tomorrow.

9/23 - Boulder, Colorado

Having not made any plans for today, I came up with the bright idea of taking a scenic drive down to Boulder to see the Flatiron Mountains, visit NCAR and have lunch.  Wrong. The 40-mile drive (one-way) consisted of heavy traffic and constant road construction. The place we'd chosen for lunch turned out to be in the middle of the busy University of Colorado district as well as being in yet another construction area which complicated getting to the restaurant. 

In addition, the drive was anything but scenic. The Boulder area has severe air pollution problems, even worse than Asheville's were before NC forced the TVA to clean up its act. We haven't noticed much air pollution in the Loveland/Fort Collins area but it's a bit further from the mountains which makes pollution less noticeable. The Boulder area is probably very beautiful when there's no smog.

Boulder's mountains were almost completely obscured by air pollution.

After lunch we headed up into the hills above Boulder to the National Center for Atmospheric Research which has very interesting displays of everything to do with weather, especially weather in the Boulder area.  We watched a video on the September 2013 flash floods (which involved a lot more than Big Thompson Canyon) and saw some of what's been done to mitigate flood damage in Boulder in the future.

NCAR  - designed by world-renowned architect I.M. Pei

Very hazy view of Boulder from NCAR's uphill site

Finally got a good view of the Flatirons on the road up to NCAR

Another hazy view of the mountains from the hills above Boulder

The air pollution lay like a very thick and dirty blanket across the whole area.  It reminded us of a similar dirty blanket covering everything within sight from Mount Mitchell when we were up there nearly 20 years ago.

A cold front is coming through here right now with the wind whipping up sheets of dust (this is a very dusty campground).  The views tomorrow may be clearer which will be appreciated on our drive 170 miles north to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. We went to Omaha and up the eastern border of Nebraska last year but have never been to the western side.