numero sink-o

Aaaahhhh…power! Naomi’s second attempt to send me a power cord worked…with no small amount of hassle on both our parts. But I’m back in the saddle again…now where was I?
Oh yeah, in Billings, heading to Wind Cave in South Dakota. I was unaware of one small detail: STURGIS. For those not in the 2-wheeler mindset, Harley Davidson ‘hosts’ a gigantic annual week-long rally in Sturgis, South Dakota – directly on my route. And it was starting the day I was headed through.
Now, I’d been seeing lots of bikers for a few days, but I’d just assumed that it was normal summer traffic. But as I got within about 50 miles of Sturgis I could see a haze that I first thought was a fire. But it was actually smog. (I don’t know if there are emission controls on motorcycles?) Then the traffic started to get heavy – and I’m not exaggerating to say it seemed there were 10 bikes for every car. I’ll be curious to see how many bikes were in the area – I’d have to guess at least 15,000, and they were covering about an 80 mile radius, because Wind Cave had a lot of biker traffic and it’s about 70 miles south of Sturgis. A couple of the towns actually had Main Street shut down to cars – “motorcycles only”.
Anyway, the 360 mile drive from Billings was pretty difficult, because although 98% of the bikers are good drivers, there are about 2% that don’t want to follow the rules. Lane changes, unsafe passes, U-turns in the middle of the highway, running stop signs, not taking turns, etc. Fortunately I didn’t take anyone out and didn’t get any of the Hell’s Angels mad at me {:>
I thought Wind Cave was a relatively new National Park because I’d never heard of it, but in fact it’s over 100 years old. It’s very small, only 44 square miles, with about 30 miles of hiking trails (most of which I did), a small heard of bison (no, that’s not a typo – a couple were arguing noisily all night) and of course, the cave. It’s billed as the 4th-longest cave in the world at 124 miles, all of which is stacked on top of each other below a one-square-mile section of the surface. I took a long tour and it was pretty impressive, like most caves – lots of intricate shapes left by the limestone erosion process.
The signs tell you not to interact with the bison because they’re unpredictable, and they weigh 2000 pounds and run 35 mph. Armed with this information, I went hiking in what I hoped was a bison-free zone. However, a lone bison decided to wander over and use the “people trail”. (Evidence indicates this as a fairly normal occurrence.) I followed him for a while, staying about 100 feet behind him (and he knew I was there) when he decided to lie down and roll around on his back, feet in the air – hilarious. When he didn’t get up after a while, I had to go cross-country through a prairie dog town – cute little critters, but noisy - to get back to the trailhead.
Bad pun time: I encountered a bison carcass on their portion of South Dakota’s Centennial Trail. So naturally, I had to go back and tell the rangers they needed to rename the trail the ‘Bison-tennial’ trail…
Since I was so close to Nebraska, naturally I had to drive down to check it out (and claim another state). Drove down to Chadron (anybody remember Don Beebe? he went to school there…) and then back up through the Badlands to the town of Wall, SD. About 25 years ago in business school, we did a case study on Wall Drug, a family-owned business that survived the Depression by serving free ice water to travelers. They still have free ice water and 5-cent coffee but I was unimpressed with the rest of the operation – everything else was too expensive and hard to find, and they didn’t have the basics I was looking for – paper plates and a couple of Paydays. Guess they’ve gone corporate.
My detour through Nebraska cost me some time, so in order to make progress eastward, I headed up towards the state capital of Pierre, SD (official motto: “le milieu de nulle part”), violating my no-driving-at-night policy for the last 40 miles. (Don’t think I missed much.) I stopped at a state park with the rather clinical name “Oahe Downstream” – it’s just underneath the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River. For a mere $17 I got a campsite under the cottonwoods and a free shower – such a deal. After hiking around the marina and cottonwood forest, I returned to break camp – at which point a large 50-foot cottonwood tree nearby decided to collapse. No wind, no external impetus - the interior wood was rotten and it just gave up. Glad no one was camped under it.
Next day I zig-zagged from Pierre up through eastern North Dakota, stopping at a wildlife preserve for some hiking before crossing the state line at Fargo, ND, into Minnesota. It was getting dark so I camped just over the state line at Buffalo River State Park. It, too, had a free shower with the $23 fee but was a bit grody - I may have been cleaner before I stepped into it.
Due to circumstances involving my power cord, I needed to be at the FedEx site in Hibbing, MN by 5pm so I had to forego a morning hike and start driving. I must have driven past at least half of the ten thousand lakes on my way up there. (As they say, it rains every day in Minnesota, so I can see why there’s so much collected water.) I got to Hibbing a couple of hours early so I did some urban hiking and recycling-collection. Hibbing is now 67 cans/bottles cleaner – but I got some very strange looks; apparently there is not much recycling done up there. After picking up my power cord I continued up towards Voyageurs National Park, in the boundary waters between the US and Canada. All of the campsites are boat-access, but I stayed at a state park nearby and was able to do some more hiking along the Ash River before calling it a night.
This morning I hiked in the Voyageurs park (scaring up a white-tail deer) and then headed up to International Falls, the self-proclaimed ‘coldest spot in the lower 48’. I somehow managed to get myself into line to cross over to Canada before I got to see the falls, so I’ll have to go back some day. The Canadian customs folks were mighty suspicious of me – could have been my scruffy beard, the dirty clothes, the smell, whatever – and they tore my car apart and held me for an hour before letting me pass. I grabbed lunch and decided to take on the 230-mile drive to Thunder Bay, Ontario, and then another 150 down to Duluth, MN. (The US customs guy was much nicer to me!). Lake Superior looks just like an ocean – can’t see the other side. All day I saw lots of beautiful north-woods scenery which I hope I captured on camera.
I needed a relaxing night in a motel and a Laundromat, but found Duluth fully booked for their annual blues festival. I’ve found a rather downscale motel (I’m being nice here!) on the Wisconsin side of the river where I sit as I write this blog. Assuming my car hasn’t been stolen or broken into, tomorrow I’ll find some WiFi and post the blog and then head over to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore nearby for some hiking. Have a great day!