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Published: August 12th 2006
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Mount Rushmore
The famous Mount Rushmore. The faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt carved into the South Dakota Hills The second leg of the train journey took us from Fraser-Winter Park to Salt Lake City. Starting in the Rocky Mountains the scenery was instantly stunning; the track weaved its way through canyons and between mountains throughout what has to be the most attractive State, Colorado. After hours of glorious rugged snow-capped mountains we started to descend and once again follow the path of the river. This eventually led us through to Glenwood Canyon, an amazingly beautiful canyon that soared high above us on both sides. The wonderful golden colours in the rock contrasted well against the lush green tree line beneath it. In the river were rafters, canoeists and fishermen.
Glenwood Springs station, shortly after the canyon, looked idyllic and both Ben and I wished we had the time and money to explore this region.
For me the most prominent feature in this part of the journey was the colours. Never had I seen such a contrast nor such a variety of magnificent natural colours.
As the sunlight faded the ground became flatter and less impressive, city dwellings started to appear. We finally arrived at Salt Lake City at around 11pm. Situated in a rough end of
Glenwood Canyon
On the second leg of the California Zypher we travelled through Glenwood Canyon and Colorado Springs. the city we hiked about an hour up hill with full packs to our hostel.
Arriving at midnight we had to phone to get the check-in guy out of bed. Perhaps one of the largest Americans we had encountered up to that point, it took him some 15 minutes to presumable dress himself and make an appearance. Despite his cursing of Amtrak and our late arrival he was still able to accommodate us in a private room complete with a TV, which whether accidentally or deliberately done, to prevent us becoming sinful and corrupt, was only tuned to pick up the weather channel.
The following day we called car rental companies looking for a cheap quote. Opting on Thrifty we reserved the $500 price and with full rucksacks hiked down to the rental location. Upon arrival they decided that they had made an error and were going to charge $730 instead. After two hours of negotiating we had no option but to get shafted with the extra cost.
We left Salt Lake City and started the 700-mile journey to Deadwood in South Dakota; this meant crossing the entire state of Wyoming. This was the start of our
Wyoming
1500 miles of this! nine-day road trip!
The first day we made great progress, we stopped briefly at Devils Gate, basically a gap in a rock formation, which in order to get to we had to walk through a small Mormon community. A later stop in a town called Casper was impromptu and triggered by a classic car rally that was going on outside a 50’s style dinner.
Our first night was spent in a truck stop along the side of the interstate; fortunately the car was long enough for us both to lie down in unheeded.
The following day we visited the devils tower the rock that was used in the Steven Spielberg film ‘close encounters of the third kind’.
Back on the highway and about 5 miles from the South Dakota boarder, a state trooper stopped Ben for speeding; 87mph in a 75 he got whacked with a $110 fine. You can imagine his mood over the proceeding two days.
Driving towards Mount Rushmore we passed a number of old Wild West towns. These have been, in most cases, rebuilt with modern materials and make to look old, but still give a flavour of the area in
Devils Gate
Devils gate - Wyoming. the past.
Mount Rushmore is hidden in the Black Hills and is an impressive site. More detailed than I expected the four faces have been well crafted. We drive by a number of times to take pictures but refused to pay money to park so only stopped briefly to take a picture.
Our arrival in Deadwood was met with a severe downpour; nevertheless we walked the historic street and explored the boutiques and bars. That evening we spent another night in the car parked near to Deadwood. The rain persisted most of the night and was later accompanied by thunder and lightening.
The next morning we went in search of Presidents Park, an outdoor exhibit with sculptures of all 42 American Presidents (Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president, so is counted twice.) The place was unfortunately closed and was in a state of disrepair. We returned to deadwood to take some pictures (without rain) then started the 400-mile journey to Yellowstone National Park.
The journey to Yellowstone took us once again across Wyoming and through cowboy country. The scenery throughout was mostly flat dry and very unpopulated, however the drive did take us through
Mormon Settlement
A Mormon Settlement next to Devils Gate - A little strange that a people that are so religious would associate so closely with the Devil. Big Horn Mountains and provided us with some very beautiful scenes, these however were merely the gateway of what was to come in Yellowstone National Park.
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