Wind Caves + Wooly Mammoths

Fort Robinson, Nebraska: We didn't drive more than 130 miles today, but we visited one national park, a mammoth dig site and ended up in Nebraska at Fort Robinson. We had sun, wind, clouds, thunder and rain. Still lots of wildfire smoke. Mostly it was just over 90 degrees and humid.

Not far from our three-night campsite near Mt. Rushmore is Wind Cave National Park. It is mostly a drive-through park with bison herds, but under one-square mile of the park are thousands of miles of teeny caves, almost like thin veins. Only a very small amount of the cave system is navigable, and there are tours. Dave and I opted for the walk-around and were amazed at the 53-degree air blasting out of the cave entrances. We can thank Theodore Roosevelt for protecting the caves in 1903, and thank the New York Zoological Society (now the Bronx Zoo) for shipping 14 Bison to the park in 1912, when the park was also declared a game preserve. Later elk and Pronghorn were reintroduced. The local Lakota people believe the caves are where their people emerged into the earth.

After this brief visit, we continued on to the Mammoth Site in pretty Hot Springs, South Dakota. In 1974, a guy was grading land for a subdivision when the equipment dug-up mammoth tusks. All work was halted until scientists could be brought in and - long story short - it was decided to do a dig, but preserve everything in place. It was determined a lot of animals died in a sinkhole 140,000 years ago, mostly because they fell in and could not get out. So far, 61 Wooly or Columbian mammoths have been discovered - along with so many other critters - including massive Short-Faced bears - Arctodus Simus. The entire sinkhole has been covered in a gigantic building and work continues daily.

Napoleon Bone-A-Part is the oldest and most complete Columbian Mammoth found at this time on the site. He died at age 49 years.

It is amazing that someone decided to cover the entire sinkhole, and keep the bones displayed for visitors to see. We really enjoyed our visit. Admission was only $14 for seniors. They have a lot of educational displays and other bones to view, a shop, bathrooms and a little food cart. Plenty of free parking.

Then we just started driving south on Highway 71. It was straight. It was flat. It was mile after mile of grassland. Occasionally a gust of wind would wake My Driver, but it was basically the same view for miles and we went one hour without even seeing another car in either direction, and finally crossed into Nebraska.

As we approached Crawford, Nebraska, the skies opened and we had a little bit of rain. Did not cool anything off - just increased the humidity. Fort Robinson in Crawford was our hopeful stop for the night, we arrived at 4p, just when the visitor center was closing for the day. The fort looks like a very interesting place, though it seems its only purpose was to rid the wild west of natives. The biggest claim-to-fame is Crazy Horse met his demise at the fort. We will discover more tomorrow, when things open again.

The park is massive. Three campgrounds - one for horse campers, with stables and corrals - two for RV campers, stores, restaurants, and a water park. All of the old barracks have been turned into lodging. Can't wait to explore tomorrow.

A quiet evening. So tired after all our activity. A beef stew brewed in the slow cooker all day. Dinner was easy tonight.

Until my next update, I remain, your wooly correspondent.

Campground Information: Fort Robinson

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