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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:05 am
by pagamony
If you want to drive to Alaska, you go through a lot of country on the way. I-90 leads you through Minnesota, largely forgettable, and into South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.



Rural South Dakota artwork:





Maggots eating the flesh off a Buffalo hide at Mt. Rushmore. Once the leather is treated, it will sell for several thousand.





Rock sculpture of the military and spiritual leader Crazy Horse, a work in progress that none of us will live to see finished. This is a really interesting story so go google it.





Camp in the right spot and you wake up to this view. If you are old enough, you will recognize this as the rock formation from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which is most notable for launching the career of Drew Barrymore. Hooray for that.





Good day hiking trails. I recommend it.





Not surprisingly, the locals consider this a holy site so they decorate with prayer flags and blankets.





If there is a rock, someone will climb it.





You must have a flower shot!





We found this guy defending the roadsides of Wyoming - the scariest thing I saw on the whole trip.





I-90 will then lead you through reservations in eastern Montana to Little Big Horn. Its hot dry ground with little economic potential. Gold had been found in the Black Hills and so the Indians must be removed from their latest frontier reservation. For three days, union troops tried to dislodge the Lakota from this site until there were no more union troops left. On this hill, Custer and his officers finally killed their own horses to use for shields before finally dieing.





The visitor center has not been reformed, so there is little note of the struggle of the plains Indians over the 30 year war. Recently, a small site has been built by the tribes to tell their story.





From there, its a noteless drive to Glacier National Park.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:15 am
by hardware
interesting trip

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:17 am
by daddygrace
Muy....

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:40 am
by jbc28








Classic example of a magma intrusion of the existing rock layers. Note the hexagonal columns formed during cooling and contraction. All formed underground and uncovered by erosion.





Nice pics.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:48 am
by teledave
^ Mr. Smartypants



Good stuff, pag.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:17 am
by dreamnofpow
@jbc28 181750 wrote:







Classic example of a magma intrusion of the existing rock layers. Note the hexagonal columns formed during cooling and contraction. All formed underground and uncovered by erosion.





Nice pics.



You've got it all wrong, Devils tower was created by a giant grizzly bear trying to get at some Indian boys for dinner.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:31 am
by Zone Driven
Nice TR

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:36 pm
by davidski
Great stuff Pagamony



--my little sister climbed Devils tower and put her name in the book they have at the top, myself I'd just like to see it



On the Rez by Ian Frazier would have been good reading for that leg of the trip

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:08 pm
by 2slikstix
Flower shot was for Porter wasnt it?

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:30 pm
by pagamony
^^ book sounds interesting. just recently finished Desert Solitaire, and left the half-read Bury my Heart.... in Alaska, so that would fit in nice.



^ yeah, flower shot for porter, got to respect the legend.