Day 5 (Saturday May 16) Devil's Tower

Since we actually had a home base for a few days, and since it was quite cold out with a heavy frost, we slept in. There was a nice trail that ran right behind our cabin: the George S Mikelson Trail.  We took a 1.5 mile beagle walk, where there were lots of horses and other animals for Max to sniff.  The lady in the office said that it is not unusual to catch a glimpse of mountain lions if you're out at first light.  Then breakfast, followed by my taking a run down the other way for around 3 miles.  It was great weather, scenery, everything.  A huge motorcycle convoy went by on US385; it had to consist of a couple hundred motorcycles.  It just kept going and going.  

Max lounging by the cabin. Rough life, right?

After lounging around our campsite some, we took a day trip through Deadwood and Sundance over into Wyoming to Devil's Tower National Monument. The tower itself was pretty cool. We hiked the 1.3 mile Tower Trail that encircles the base. Technically dogs are not allowed on the trails but we barged and no one said anything (other than some kids who wanted to pet him). We had very good views of the rock climbers and could hear them talking.



Prairie Dogs! On the way in and out of the park, we passed the Prairie Dog Town. I stopped at a couple of spots for Max to check them out. They were fun to watch, very animated.  I can't even imagine how long it would take to get him back in the Jeep if he had gotten out. It would have been like a real-life Beagle version of whack-a-mole as they dove down a hole and popped up another one. It was almost tempting, but they don't mess around with the fines for harassing wildlife in the National Parks.

Then a scenic drive back through Sturgis and, after only a brief wrong turn, back to camp. There is NO data capability for mobile phones out here and hardly any phone signal either, so we were going off our Atlas to get around. Fortunately I had gotten an up to date one before we left.

Saw lots of wildlife today, from the Prairie Dogs to elk, lots of deer and even some mountain goats. On the way back to camp deer crossed the road in front of us in a couple of spots, forcing us to slow down.