A Paddle at Guernsey and a Stop in South Dakota

We actually got a sunny or mostly sunny day. Of course it was our last full day at Guernsey State Park. The original capacity of the resrvoir was 73,810 acre feet but has been greatly reduced due to silt deposits down to 46,000 acre feet. It is still a large and very beautiful reservoir. We had a nice paddle with tall rock formations and lovely yellow flowering trees. There were some dark looking clouds and so we didn't have a real long paddle. It ended up raining just as we got back from a walk later in the day.

We saw several deer walking through out campsite.

A couple more pictures below from one of our drive's including the Castle, which is an interesting rock building that has a fireplace and is a nice place for a picnic.

We absolutely loved this place and are hoping to come back here in a few years if our plans work out.
Our next stop was Rapid City in South Dakota. We stayed only two nights at a commercial campground just outside of town. We needed to renew our licenses. As our previous time getting our licenses for the first time 5 years ago, we had a short and sweet experience. We walked in without an appointment, filled out the form, then immediately were helped by a very nice gentleman. He entered info on the computer, took our receipt for our night's stay at the campground, had us do a vision test and get our picture taken. He then printed out our new plastic licenses and we were out the door. So simple. We then stopped at Walmart and then went to visit our financial advisor at Amerprise. They are a small family office that includes Thietje Hunt and his wife Donna, their daughter, Tiffany and Jody who they call their adopted daughter as it is a family business. They are great people. They had coffee and donuts when we got there and brought in sandwiches when our meeting was done.  It was nice to see them again. We got a little other business done that day and the next day we made our way to Billings, Montana where we stayed at a Cabela's Sporting Goods Store where they have free sites just for overnight rvers and truckers. We did do a little shopping there. I had to buy some new sunglasses as I forgot to put a leash on my other ones and they fell overboard when we were out kayaking at Guernsey. Luckily they were cheap sunglasses from Walmart and I had them for several years. Joe got a new rain jacket and we got back to our RV when it started raining. I think we will use our new rain jackets(I got one at REI in Denver recently). quite often on this trip. We are now at Dick's RV Park at Great Falls for a night. We did laundry and a trip to Walmart. Tomorrow we head over the border at Sweet Grass, Montana and on to our first stop in Canada at a place called Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park in Aden, Alberta. It looks like an interesting place. We won't have internet unless we find a place with WiFi but will post when we get a chance. Stay tuned.

Guernsey State Park in Wyoming

I was looking at the map to find a good place between Denver and South Dakota. Guernsey State Park, which I had never hear of looked interesting and so that is where we headed. What a great find. It is on a large reservoir and the North Platte River. We knew that they have a number of first come first serve spots and as we were going to be there for the long Memorial Day weekend, thought this would be a good place. We got there on Thursday afternoon and came in the south entrance. We were told all the reservable spots were taken but we could find some spots at the north end. We could have gone back out and made our way to the north end entrance but decided to go through the park which was windy and narrow. Luckily no one else was on the road and we just went slow. The scenery is beautiful. The south end has the largest campground area. However, as you drive through the Park, you will see spots here and there on the side of the road on the banks of the lake. There are small areas that may only have one, two or three sites. We got to Long Canyon East that had a number of sites but were all reserved. We drove up the road to Long Canyon West. There were again spots along the river, with usually two or three sites. Some were tent only with parking for your car on the other side of the road. We found a great single spot. It was level and was the only one we saw in the area with a concrete pad. It looked like a handicap site but was not marked that way. We pulled in forward so as to have views of the water from there as well as both side windows. Holiday weekend and we have no neighbors. After the weekend we got one neighbor but with all the foliage could barely see any of their camper.

We have lots of trees around us but still got a good satellite signal to watch the Hockey games. We have had mostly cold, cloudy and rainy days but the views are great and that always makes a difference. We did go out a few times to check out the area. This Park is also an historic area. One day as we checked out the rest of the park, we stopped at a CCC Museum right in the Park.

As a historic district the park was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997 for its Civilian Conservation Corps buildings and structures. It contains 60 contributing resources: 14 buildings, 3 sites, and 43 structures, as well as 46 non-contributing resources   per Wikipedia

We also checked out the Oregon Ruts.on another drizzly day.
Oregon Trail Ruts is a preserved site of wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail on the North Platte River, about .5 miles south of Guernsey, Wyoming. The Oregon Trail here was winding up towards South Pass. Wagon wheels, draft animals, and people wore down the trail about two to six feet into a sandstone ridge here, during its heavy usage from 1841-1869.^[3] The half-mile stretch is "unsurpassed" and is the best-preserved set of Oregon Trail ruts anywhere along its former length.
Wikipedia

We also went to Register Cliffs which is a large 100 foot high sandstone cliff. Pioneers stopped here to camp and left their names engraved on the rock. The first engraving was in 1829. You also see sections that have more current engravings from the 20th century done before the site became a historic site.
We spent another cloudy day at Fort Laramie National Historic Site which is less than a half hour drive from the Park. It is located at the confluence of Laramie River and the North Platte River. It was a 19th century trading post as well as a military base.

 A lot of the buildings are original while some have been restored. 

The sign below was at the entrance to the Visitor Center. Later on the drive home Joe got a tornado warning on his phone but it was for a different area. That was kind of weird. It was interesting though most of the building were closed. 

We had a few nights of rain. However, we do get some sunshine. Next blog will include a paddle on the lake. Stay tuned.

Close Encounter of a Third Kind

After a busy week at the rally and so much driving around in Yellowstone and Canada, we took a few days just relaxing. Loved sitting outside under a big tree reading a book and watching boats and jet skis crossing the water. We had some windy days and some nice warm days. Savannah was happy to be outside as well.
Sunday we decided to visit Devil's Tower, which is only about 19 miles from the campground. If you don't know about it, it is the big formation which is featured in the movie in the blog title. It is the first declared national monument in the US. Devils Tower is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck.

           This is a very popular place for climbers and there were a number of them while we were there.

        Devil's Tower is also called Bear Lodge by the Indians and I like the legend of how the tower came to be.      One of the versions has seven indian sisters playing and being chased by a giant bear.
To escape the bear, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bear, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides, which had become too steep to climb. (Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower.) When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the star constellation the Pleiades.

                                                           
Below are a few other pictures including one from another area that looks like a shark fin.

                                                                   
Back at the campground, we took a picture of Savannah on a mini Devils Tower in the playground area.

Mighty Mountain Dog

                                                                      
      And a nice sunset.

                                                                                                                                                                                  

Keyhole State Park

After the closing meeting at the rally, we decided to head for Keyhole State  Park, which is on a reservoir. They have first come first serve spots and we want to make sure we get one for the long weekend. It is only about an hour or so drive heading east. Well, it took a little longer than we thought as we got lost. The Gps said to get off at a certain exit but we saw the sign for the Park one exit sooner and decided to follow it. Their signage was not good to say the least and we ended by heading into a residental area with no where to turn around. We finallly unhooked the Jeep and got the MH turned around. As I followed in the Jeep, a man was standing by the side of the road with a park map. I stopped to get it and told him we got lost. He said we weren't the first. He must have a bunch of maps to help out when he sees someone trying to get turned around. I didn't get his name but what a nice person to help out like that We finally found the entrance to the park and our "adventure" was worth it as this Park is just great. It has about 5 or 6 different campground areas and most sites have good views of the lake which is large. We got a pull thru site with our passenger side windows facing the water. We actually could see some of the lake out the other side windows as we are on a point.

I think we are going to like it here.