Day 10 - Essentially, we were starting our drive home at this point in the trip. We still had lots to, but we were now heading southeast towards home. Seemed like the fun was just starting! As much as we cram in to our days (miles and stops), the kids are amazing troopers and we all really enjoy the "adventure" of the trip.
Day 10's itinerary included driving from Billings, MT to Spearfish, SD.
Our first stop of the day was Pompeys Pillar in the town by the same name. Pompeys Pillar is a National Monument that was visited by William Clark (Lewis & Clark expedition) in July 1806. Clark named the rock tower "Pompys Tower" but it was later renamed Pompeys Pillar by Nicholas Biddle, who was the first editor of the Lewis & Clark journals. "Pomp" was the nickname given to Sacajawea's son, Jean Baptiste, by William Clark.
On July 25, 1806, William Clark carved his signature and date on the sandstone rock. Today, this is the only site on their trail that has visible evidence of their expedition.
Matt came across this stop last spring as we planned our 2020 summer trip. We were pretty excited to stop and visit this amazing piece of history. Unfortunately, they closed their visitor center due to Covid and they had to close down the boardwalk because of rock slides. We had to scratch the stop from our trip in 2020. As we planned our 2021 trip, we knew that this stop was a "must". Unfortunately, every time that I looked at their website, the boardwalk was still closed due to repairs being made from the rock slides. I kept looking and nothing was changing...until 2 days before we left for our trip!! I was so excited to see that they had opened the Visitor Center AND the boardwalk! I texted Matt as soon as I read this and said, "Pompeys Pillar is OPEN and we get to go!!!". What a huge blessing!
We got an early start on our day. The grounds were open early (including the boardwalk) but the Visitor Center opened at 9am. We arrived around 8 and walked the grounds and boardwalk for an hour.
From this point of view, we could see the box where William Clark's signature is encased. Unfortunately, it was really hard to see from the upper boardwalk (where Kaitee is standing in this picture). The park rangers told us that they don't have the lower boardwalk stabilized yet so they have to keep it closed. The lower boardwalk is the best view point for the signature.
The Yellowstone River borders the rock.
We greeted one of the park rangers as we came down the stairs. We looked back once we reached the bottom and found Matt & Kaitee standing with the ranger - they stopped to ask a few questions and ended up chatting for a good 20 minutes. Matt had lots to share when we met up again! One of the things they discussed was the sensors that were placed all over the rock formation. Throughout the day, the sensors send a "ping" to the visitor's center, even if no movement. However, any movement of the rocks and another ping is sent. The second picture below shows one of the sensors.
We then headed into the Visitor's Center to read and learn about more about the area and Lewis & Clark's expedition.
A replica of the signature on Pompeys Pillar
While walking around inside the center, the park ranger approached us to see if the kids wanted to do the Jr Ranger program. They all took a booklet, but Will was the only one who followed through and walked around, looking for answers. At times, it felt like we had a personal guide throughout the visitor's center. We could tell that this particular park ranger loved her job and really knew the history of Lewis & Clark's expedition. We joked that she was probably a retired teacher. She checked on Will a few times and helped him find the answers he was looking for. In the end, she was able to swear him in as a Jr Ranger and he received 2 pins as his reward (one pin was a Bureau of Land Mgmt pin, the other was a National Parks pin).
We got back to the van, got some snacks and water then hit the road for our next stop.
Our next stop - well, we weren't sure what that was going to be. Our initial agenda had us driving from Pompeys Pillar to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and then south to Spearfish, SD for the night. We discussed cutting the national park due to the long drive (it was 7 hours to our hotel - that didn't include a few hours within Roosevelt). It was a hard decision, we really didn't want to scrap it. However, we knew that it would be in our best interest to cut it from the agenda and re-route our day.
We discussed options of things to do, places to visit near Billings. We ultimately decided to head towards Spearfish and find some things to do around the Blackhills area. By changing our route, we saved 2.5 hours of drive time.
We stopped a few times, looking for letterboxes. Matt drove us through Sheridan, WY showing us things he found when he spent a week there for work. It was a neat town. We also stopped at the Sheridan Travel & Tourism Center, off of I-90. Matt looked for a letterbox, the kids played at the playground and I used up the last of our bread for pb&j sandwiches for lunch. It was a great stop to let off some energy and refuel before hitting the road for a few more hours.
As we drove towards Spearfish, I started to search for things to do around that area. We knew that we'd have a few hours to explore once we arrived.
We decided to drive Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. It was a great decision!
Our first stop was at Bridal Veil Falls -
As we were getting in the van from Bridal Veil Falls, we heard some thunder off in the distance and the sky was pretty dark to the southeast. We continued south, making a few stops along the way for some scenic views.
Turned around and heading back to Hwy 14, we couldn't believe the vast amount of trees laying on the side of the canyon walls!
Arriving in Deadwood, we found a few letterboxes and then headed out of town to make one last stop at Mt Roosevelt Friendship Tower. The hike up the hillside wasn't bad but the mosquitos were starting to bite and the sun was quickly setting. We arrived at the top and enjoyed the beautiful view!
As we came down the mountain, back to our van, I fully realized that it was dusk - feeding time for wildlife. I also realized that it would be a great area for bears to hang out. SO, I started to sing - LOUD! I started out with the Barney song, only to realize that there was a young couple heading up the trail ahead of us. Yeah, mortified the girls! We all got a good laugh out of it after the couple passed by. Truly, I wanted to tell them "You're Welcome - I'm saving you from bears". But, I bit my tongue - until I started singing again a few minutes later. Luckily, no bears (or any wildlife for that matter).
We did see some beautiful flowers...
We checked into our hotel and the kids contemplated swimming - an outdoor pool. They decided not to swim since they were all pretty tired and ready for bed.
Tomorrow would be another full day of driving and only a few stops (actually, make that the next 2 days!). We were all ready for bed.
Day 10 Favorites -
Becki - Scenic Byway Drive, Roosevelt Tower
Matt - Pompeys (Visiting during the quiet of the morning), Sunset
Kaitee - Sunset & Tower, Figuring out the "Pomp" in Pompeys Pillar!
Alex - Hiking to the tower, Driving around Blackhills area
Maddie - Scenic Byway Drive, Sunset, Dinner at Culvers
Will - Seeing all of the woodchucks & playing Ninja at Pompeys Pillar, Dinner at Culvers
No comments:
Post a Comment