The really wild show
Part three of our travel series is all about the Wild West, American history and sacred Native American landmarks in Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Colorado.
Five turkey vultures congregated on a precariously balanced rock, like something out of The Jungle Book, before riding the thermals in perfect formation with barely a need to flap their 6ft wide wings.
We were at America’s first national monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming, a stunning 1,000ft diameter butte that appears as if it has thrust its way 867ft up from the ground.
Considered sacred by Native Americans, legends suggest the tower’s strange column jointing is actually ‘claw marks’ of a giant bear that chased seven girls onto the rock, which surged into the sky, turning the girls into seven stars – The Pleiades – that appear over the rock in the midnight sky.
It is a spectacle to behold, and you can walk right around it so long as you are careful not to disturb Native American prayer bundles hanging in trees.
There are stories of epic climbs, laid out on information boards as you walk the mile trail around the solidified magma butte. We also did the 2.8-mile Red Beds Trail, spotting inquisitive white-tailed deer, a bashful woodpecker, comical prairie dogs and a cheeky chipmunk.
Back at the RV, we made well-earned drinks and snacks in the company of songbirds and red squirrels. We loved this whole experience.
Our seven-hour, 435-mile drive from Gardiner in Yellowstone had taken us through places called Big Timber and Livingston in ‘Big Sky Country’ Montana, where there were Dutch barns, snowcapped mountains and wide-open fields full of bison, cattle, antelope and elk.
We stayed at a truck stop overnight –
near to the Little Bighorn Battlefield, famous for Custer’s Last Stand – our 30ft Cruise America RV seeming small next to the huge Peterbilt and Mac lorries.
Devils Tower to Custer Park Wildlife Loop – 130 miles (2hrs 30mins)
It wasn’t long before we left Wyoming and entered South Dakota, a land of cantering horses, hunters’ saloon bars and cowboys riding the plains.
We called in at the Wild West town of Deadwood, home of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, who was shot dead while playing poker. This is a fun place to stop, especially if you’re feeling brave enough for a game of cards!
The 71,000-acre Custer Park is home to 1,300 free-roaming bison together with bighorn sheep, mule deer, bison, prairie dogs and vultures.
It doesn’t feel as wild as Yellowstone but it was nice to experience the wildlife in the glorious sunshine rather than the snow.
A word of warning here: choose your entrance wisely as there are dirt tracks into
Custer Park which are less than ideal for RVs and tunnels which are out of the question.
Seeking guidance, we safely headed out on the picturesque Needles Highway and up Playhouse Road.
Custer Park to Mount Rushmore – 30 miles (1hr)
The famous mountain carving of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked smaller than we’d expected, until we climbed a twisting staircase that took us right underneath the sculpture. It’s illuminated at night, and the ranger Dan joyfully told us stories of the epic project long after it had gone dark.
The entrance is impressive with an Avenue of Flags – one for every state and territory – together with plaques showing when they joined the union. Initially, the carving was to be a tourist attraction of Wild West legends but the government only agreed to help fund the project if it was made a national monument to American presidents.
Work began in 1927 by Gutzon Borglum, using dynamite to blow up chunks of the mountain, and was completed in 1941 by his son Lincoln.
There’s no entrance charge, we just paid $10 to park the RV. It gave the children a fascinating insight into American history.
We spent the night at a pretty picnic spot in the Black Hills. Every stop we made seemed to produce a gold mine of adventure. This one turned out to be a glade filled with rose and citrine quartz sparkling in the morning sunlight. We loved the freedom the RV gave us to stop and make drinks and food, change clothes and sleep wherever we chose.
Mount Rushmore to Crazy Horse Memorial – 18 miles (30mins)
This is an absolute must-see, perhaps even more so than Mount Rushmore. An evolving work-in-progress devised by Henry Standing Bear and sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, two men with an enormous vision to celebrate Native American culture while improving the lives of its people by creating the world’s largest mountain carving.
So far, there’s just the head of Native legend Crazy Horse, who led a band of Lakota warriors to victory at Little Bighorn.
The entire space is a centre for education and inspiration with a museum and university, entirely funded by donations and run
‘‘ We were fully committed to the idea of becoming full-time RVers
largely by Korczak’s family, the late sculptor and his wife Ruth knowing they would never complete the project in their lifetimes. It cost $30 for the four of us to enter. We found the whole experience compelling and humbling, and hope to one day return to see how the work has progressed.
Crazy Horse Memorial to Chimney Rock – 200 miles (3.5hrs)
We drove through the Wind Cave National Forest into Nebraska, where the rolling hills looked more like English countryside and the temperature suddenly rose to 25C. Sleeping near Chimney Rock, we were surprised by the abundance of rattlesnakes rattling in the fields
when we woke the next morning!
Chimney Rock to Denver – 220 miles (3.5hrs)
Colorado is known for tornadoes and, while happy not to have experienced a twister, we did face some winds of around 40mph, buffeting the RV on the wide-open roads. Our journey ended with a barbecue at St Vrain State Park in the mile-high city of Denver with the Rocky Mountains as our backdrop.
By this time, we were fully committed to the idea of becoming full-time RVers because it’s just so easy and fun.
So it was with heavy hearts we returned our much-loved home-onwheels to the lovely people at the Cruise America rental stop, which is conveniently close to Denver airport, making the transition home easy.
Conclusion
What started as a lockdown route-planning project for the kids turned into a two-week, 3,600-mile road trip across nine states, taking in deserts, mountains, canyons, beaches and an incredible amount of wildlife. It was awe-inspiring and something I would recommend for families.
Cruise America had thought of everything in terms of storage (huge space in the trunk for suitcases, barbecue, firewood and sun chairs plus loads of hooks and overhead cupboards) and all of the car seats were as comfy as sitting on sofas.
There’s a USB port on the dash for charging your phone and you can Bluetooth your playlist to the stereo. You can pick up and drop off your RV in different locations to save retracing your steps. We’re eagerly planning our next road trip adventure...