Photo Blog with Waterfalls, Hiking, Outdoors, and other Adventures
Started the morning attempting to drive across the Needles Highway from east to west but it was closed off at the intersection with America Center Road. I didn’t expect that so no backup plan, and decided to head into the city of Custer to come up with a new plan. While cruising down the main … Read more
Camped at Custer State Park – Game Lodge Campground last night. The sites are a little wonky but overall it’s a nice spot with some of the only foliage changes I have seen in the area. Bonus they have hot showers even this late in the season. I stayed at site 52E which was the … Read more
The Scenic Tour of Jewel Cave National Monument explores deeper into the cave than the short Discovery Tour which I also joined this morning by mistake. Prepare yourself to traverse up & down over 730 stairs through a 1/2 mile loop that descends several hundred feet. After starting again at the Target Room we immediately … Read more
Due to my scheduling blunders I had a break for lunch and to strategize on how to use my time for the remaining daylight hours. There are a some hiking trails in the monument that look pretty interesting, but as I sat in the shady forest eating my sandwich the ominous clouds rolled in across … Read more
I was late arriving to the Rapid City area last night but found open sites at the Sheridan Lake South Shore Campground. Temperatures were pretty warm for the season and I only had one neighbor nearby who were quiet which made for some peaceful sleep. Unfortunately I couldn’t see anything when I got there and … Read more
Stopped for fuel and snacks in Wall, South Dakota. Doing my best to avoid tourist traps but this place is inevitable. First stop unintentionally was the Wall Drug 80ft tall dinosaur that is right behind the Sinclair gas station (their logo/mascot is a big dinosaur so that makes some sense). Decided it was time for … Read more
After spending entirely too much time getting supplies and eating dinner in Sioux Falls, I had to scramble a bit to find accommodations for the evening. Based on where I was heading next, and due to some other parks having started closing campgrounds for the season now, I found a site at Lake Vermillion State … Read more
Today seems like “do everything interesting in Garretson, South Dakota” day but it wasn’t really by plan. As it often happens, I was freestyle cruising Google Maps and came across a couple parks not far away from camp. So I headed just a couple miles down the road and first stopped at Split Rock Park. … Read more
One of the quirks of road-tripping is encountering all the fun little oddities along the way. State welcome signs fall into that category for me. Just north on IA-60 (which turns to MN-60) from Hawkeye Point at the intersection of 100th Street in the town of Bigelow you’ll find one of the “Minnesota Welcomes You” … Read more
Heading west across southern Minnesota on I-90 there isn’t much to see or do other than enjoying the peaceful rolling hills and seemingly endless farm fields. To break up the monotony, I took a small detour south back across the Iowa border and headed to a small town named Sibley to visit Hawkeye Point, the … Read more