Almost a week into #TerryTreksUSA, and I’ve been busy non-stop. The first couple days I had to drive a lot to get from Indiana to South Dakota. Then I explored Badlands National Park for a couple days. I really liked it there. The badlands themselves were of course amazing, but I also got to wander in the grasslands wilderness area.
Next I drove to the Black Hills National Forest. It’s a really big area, so I had to drive hours between sites. I saw Mount Rushmore and the incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial. I visited Wild Bill’s grave in Deadwood. But the highlight was Wind Cave National Park. It’s not a famous cave, and it’s even less famous for hiking. But I backpacked into the wilderness and spent the night in a beautiful valley.
I’ve seen so much wildlife: Bison, elk, longhorn sheep, and prairie dogs. I could hear the coyotes from camp in the Badlands.
Yesterday I drove to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, famous from the film Close Encounters of the third kind. Today I made the long drive to Red Lodge Wyoming, from which I will leave via the scenic Beartooth Highway to Yellowstone tomorrow.
I’m alone, so I have to do all the driving myself. When I arrive I have to figure out where the sites are, rush around to see them, set up camp, prepare to hike, either with my daypack or my big backpack, and do the hiking. There are also chores like shopping for food and doing laundry. And every night I write in my journal.
This leave no time for blogging. But when I get back I can turn my journals into polished blog entries, complete with photographs. Or I could post the journals as I go, and add the photos when I’m home. I’m leaning towards the former, because I want it to be right the first time.
Something that’s not right is the look of my blog. I reverted the theme to the ugly built in one. This fixes the problem with images the other theme had. Doing this simple thing took an hour other the campground’s slow wifi. It will be impossible to make it look the way I want while I’m on the road.
I don’t have time to process photos from my SLR camera yet, but follow me on Twitter or Instagram @TerryTreks. I am making a lot of instagrams as I go.
