CuRVWander

 All summer long I had been hearing about the Indian in the rock but was frustrated with never being able to spot it myself.  Several times the location was described to me by other rangers but I still could not locate it.  They even showed me pictures of it so I would know what I was looking for, but to no avail. Finally, one of the seasonal rangers graciously offered to hike with me to the spot, thanks Carole.  It took weeks before our schedules meshed in such a way that we could take that hike but it did finally happen.  Cyndee and I were just days away from finishing up at the monument.  I was getting this done just under the wire. Our hike took us to the exact spot that I had come to before as described to me.  So at least my orienteering skills were sufficient, but my observational skills were lacking.  I was in the right spot but I couldn't see the face.  That is until Carole stood me the middle of the trail and pointed straight ahead ...

  On a clear day, in Wyoming, during summer it's heaven on earth.  Fortunately we have had many of these days but there have been some not so heavenly days too.  This whole region of Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota are well known for hail storms, sometimes really violent hail storms.  One of our neighbors in employee housing was here last year and his 5th wheel took a beating.  The insurance company ended up shelling out over $26,000 to repair the damage and he was without a place to live for months while repairs were being done. One can tell just how much hail influences the local economy.  Whether in Gillette or Rapid City, when you drive down the light industry sections of the towns there is practically a hail dent repair facility every three doors.  We've spent the entire summer watching every dark cloud that came near, hoping and praying it would not be the "one".  There were a couple of pea-sized hail storms in mid-summer and we ...

  Our job at Devils Tower is in the remote north-east corner of Wyoming.  Not much here except the tower.  If we want to do something not tower, then it's a drive, mostly to South Dakota.  On this day we popped over to just south of Rapid City and took in the Needles Highway that is mostly located inside Custer State Park. A big attraction to this "highway" is that it rambles through the geological structure that gave the highway its name, the Needles. These rock formations gives the highway its name.  They are scattered all along the road. But the road itself is an attraction.  There are several, seven I think, tunnels that are carved out of the rocks.  They are narrow, barely one car wide and not very tall.  One car at a time can pass through and it is up to the drivers to figure out when it is safe to take their turn to pass through. The last time we were here all we had was our F-550 dual rear wheel truck.  It was too big to fit through t...

 I mentioned in my last post that Sturgis Bike Week was coming upon us.  And it has.  We are in all-hands-on-deck mode with daily 7:00 am briefings and the day's work assignments.  Cyndee and I drew Visitor Center duty for the entire day, leaving the professional rangers to crowd control and in-park contact.  One thing we learned during the morning briefings that somewhat shocked us was that the expected crowd was going to be a bit smaller and tamer this year.  It was explained that the biking crowd was "aging out".  Their advancing age has made them less mobile and more chill. I guess their analysis was spot on.  The number of trikes was amazing and it was shocking to see the number of canes and walkers strapped to the bikes.  There were a bunch of these bikers that could barely walk across the parking lot to the Visitor Center! In our briefings we were warned not to agree to taking pictures with biker visitors because of past problems with ...

 After a long winter in Death Valley National Park, California we have arrived at our summer gig, Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming.  What a contrast.  Being at almost 200 feet below sea level and temps above the century mark to over 4,000 feet above sea level and night time temps just barely above freezing.  All in a matter of days.  It's the first week of May and once again we are the 'newbies' and on a steep learning curve to get up to speed on everything Devils Tower and Northeast Wyoming. Most of our training is on-the-job.  We are shadowing our Interpretive Ranger Supervisor for a week and most of that time is in the Visitor Center.  Head-count coming through the door is ranging from two to three hundred per day.  As we hit peak visitor season, July, we'll be counting 1,100+ during our four hour information desk time.  Plus, we'll be "swearing in" about 10 Junior Rangers an hour.  The other half of our day is spent outside, m...