Custer County is WOW-worthy!

 This was my view from "bed" this morning. Pre-sunrise colors flooded into the car as birds sang and cows moo'd outside. I had slept like the dead and woke feeling refreshed and full of joy. Gosh it was peaceful!!! But making it last was not in the cards. I had places to be... I was a lady on mission this morning.

Here's the situation with Wind Cave National Park. It's free to enter! BUT it's not free to see the cave itself and it's also Ranger guided only, which means you need to get a ticket and they are limited, understandably. Tickets can be purchased online - in theory. In practice, at this time of year the supply online was long since gone and I was left with Option #2: buy a ticket in person the day of. (About half of the ticket sales are reserved for same day purchase, but it's a first come, first served thing.)

Yesterday, rocking up to the Visitor Center and inquiring, I was told that all tickets for that day were gone but if I came back at opening time (8 AM) tomorrow, I could line up to buy any available tour ticket.  As I left that building, I noticed "line starts here" signs poked into the ground leading 100 yards away from the entrance... Hmm... all signs pointed to me being not alone in my quest!

So, after a quick coffee stop in Hot Springs at 6:30 AM, I headed straight into Wind Cave NP. Arriving at 6:46 AM, I expected to wait in my car until closer to 8 AM then line up. WRONG! The line was already started and I was patron #15 after high-tailing it from my vehicle, coffee and wallet in hand!

For the next hour I chatted with 3 delightful young ladies about life and travel. Inspirational and motivational. Time well spent. Here I also learned that while 50% of the tickets are sold online and 50% in person, its not 50% of each tour per se; it could be that all the morning tours sold on line and I had to wait til 3:30 PM today to see the cave... time would tell. Oh... and each person in line could be buying tickets for a group of people, meaning that just being #15 in line didn't guarantee that 150 tickets hadn't already been sold before I got to the ticket counter!

Success - well for me anyway. I was a single person hoping for the earliest possible Fairgrounds tour. And that's what I was lucky enough to score for the very reasonable price of $16.

Our Ranger/Guide was Casey. She graduated with a degree in history just 3 weeks ago, started her job with the Park Service 2 days later and last week, added Cave Guide to her list of accomplishments!

We (20 of us) loved Casey. She was funny and informative, great with the kids and prioritized conservation of the cave as well as our safety. Good job, well done!!!

Wind Cave is an extensive network for tunnels and caverns running in every direction and it is still being mapped. I believe something like 120 miles are so far discovered but it's ongoing. Nobody has conclusively ruled out this cave at some point intersecting with Jewel Cave, also in the area. 

(Jewel Cave post from 2012)

It is dimly lit and we walked on mostly concreted path and copious quantities of stairs in our particular tour which went as deep as the public is allowed to go. Entry and exit was actually by elevator! There are other tours, less strenuous and a bit shorter, to choose from too.

Essentially one sets a path to Wind Cave in order to see 3 types of cave formation:

Box Work: Flat sheets/lines of calcite that once filled the cracks in limestone rock, then the limestone eroded and left just the calcite box work.

Popcorn: Little nubbies of calcite that form from condensation in the cave. The cave is 97% humidity and 57 degrees cool. It is considered a "dry cave" though, as no water seeps in or runs through or pools in it.

Frost Work: Looks like crystal formation. It literally sparkles like frost. Also calcite... it's always calcite!

I drove the Needles Highway through Custer State Park this morning. It abuts the north side of Wind Cave NP and before you know it you've driven from one into the other. Custer SP is lush and gorgeous and shared by many! It's one of my fav's and I'd consider coming back here to explore it more in the off-season. Kudos to South Dakota.

Leaving the Black Hills of South Dakota, now one of my favorite places, the place is alive with birds and flowers and there are a thousand people on vacation pulling large RV's with even larger families, it appears.

Listening to Enya's The Return to Innocence, which seems just perfect for the energy in this area and the history of Native Americans, the legends and the vibes. It's always good to reconnect with what really floats my boat and remember how little I need in the way of gadgets and accessories, to be happy. My car is coated in bugs and dust and there is no less dust between my toes and under my fingernails. My hair needs a wash and I think that's a cactus thorn inside the tip of one of my most used fingers! But feral me feels liberated by this little roadtrip. 

... and grateful to be coming home to Colorado too... despite the return to thunderstormy skies!

Road Trip! Badlands National Park is calling me

 If there was a shorter, straighter way through Nebraska to South Dakota, I never found it. What I experienced was a dog-legged journey through cut fields just beginnng to sprout, views of silos and the fleeting back-ends of pronghorn. 

Roadside gas stations were overflowing with people paying CASH for bits and bobs... slowly.  I was being transported back in time to when life was simpler. The universe reminded me that this was literally what I had been asking for!

Along the way, I came upon 'Car-Henge' quite randomly and surprisingly. I stopped of course. It's weird, wonderful and definitely falls under the category of art installation. My final thought was not "why?" as my initial thought had been; It was "why not?!"

There is still the occasional (giant by any standards) Trump 2024 sign around. I do wonder if there had been more and if the recent political climate has changed things for some in middle Nebraska. 

As I drive, Neil Young and his harmonica is belting out ".. because I'm still in love with you I want to see you on dance again. Because Im still in love with you on this harvest moon". I kind of wish there was a harvest moon now. Nonetheless, I am singing along with great joy and enthusiasm in my atrocious voice. Life is good. I crossed into South Dakota just before 4 PM. There were beautiful cumulous clouds, the ground was now green and rolling, trees sprout here unlike most of the Nebraska leg - which was also beautiful in its own way. However, I have to believe that someone in SD was in charge of where to draw the state line and Nebraska paid the price!

Through White Clay I drove. Turns out there was a Pow Wow going on there this weekend! Super fun energy abounds and it appeared to be an amazing gathering place, making me a little sad to pass through so quickly. BIA 27 (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Rd 27) took me closer and closer.

Through Buffalo Gap National Grasslands where the earth was bursting with wildflowers and bison. 

Reaching Badlands National Park just around 7pm. Timed perfect for late afternoon color at Yellow Mounds and a sunset picnic dinner at Pinnacles Overlook.

Tonight I found my spot boon-docking just outside the entrance of the Park with a couple of dozen other vehicles. We are perched on a dirt road, looking over the Badlands. Cows and with newborn calves graze idly nearby.  I have all of 6 hours before the alarm will wake me! Night, night!

Finding my Bliss in the San Luis Valley

 Remember that time I ran away to Nebraska for a little Sandhill Crane viewing and photography? That was a year ago which means the cranes are on their way migratory way back north again right now.

I did consider going back to Nebraska... but as much as I loved Nebraska, it's people and especially the rolling hills and Platte River Valley geography, there were compelling reasons to stick to Colorado this trip. (The political climate seems like one of them but trust me when I say the area of CO I planned to visit is not so different, politically. It was one of those few occasions where I had to just suck it up, Buttercup!)

The lesson being you need to be very specific about what you wish for!

It had already been a long work day and spectacular night of high end Italian food at Osteria Marco, followed by great seats at the Colorado Ballet's performance of Alice in Wonderland, when I slipped out of my dress and heels under the cover of darkness in the DCPA's parking lot and into driving/sleeping/bird watching clothes at 10pm. (I never claimed to be refined.) 

Then I started the 4 hour drive to Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley. 

In all fairness, I never actually intended to drive 4 hours in the dark. I'm a morning person and I knew that within a couple of hours, I'd be too tired to drive safely. There was an inflatable camp mattress and sleeping bag already set up in the back of the 4runner and just after midnight I pulled into the most lovely designated rest area near Colorado City, installed my insulated window covers and called it a night. My alarm was set for 4:50am - and the plan was to be at the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge for sunrise at 7:15am.

At 6am I was cresting La Veta Pass. Light snow was flying through the air and swirling on the road. In the darkness, the full moon passed beams through the glitter and I was overjoyed with my good fortune to be there. It was going to be a good weekend!

Not sure how, since I had the vaguest of plans to "find a good place at the refuge", but I pulled into an almost empty parking lot labeled 'Field View' and found myself staring at thousands of squawking cranes. (Just lucky, I guess!) A mass arrival was taking place under the pinkish sky and in the cold morning air, I crouched with my camera and took it all in... for 2 hours! 

Cranes choose the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge over the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge because the MVNWF is near farming and they feed off the agricultural fields from sunrise to mid-morning. In fact, the grain fields on the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge get mowed in the spring to provide food for the birds when it becomes more limited on private land.

By the time I looked up the parking lot was full. Photographers, tourists, locals; some dressed for the long haul, like me. Others prepared for 10 minutes with a cell phone, kept the car running.

These cranes didn't appear as easily spooked by people and cars as the ones I encountered in Nebraska, however every so often something spooked them! In the blink of an eye most of them would take to the sky. Rising like a curtain from the ground, blocking the light, bird calls in stereo, wing vibration all around you to the point it was almost frightening.

I learned during my time here that if you wait long enough (less than half an hour) they would most likely return en masse too. It was almost like they were forcing me to take a break to warm up and eat/drink a little in my car, periodically. The universe provides... and so did I.

I spent all morning sitting and observing cranes in community. These birds mate for life and spend considerable time "renewing their vows" with courtship displays, playfulness and what I'd call going out for dinner. Partners land and take off together, take walks together and relax together. They never get alone time or any meaningful personal space (understatement!!!) and yet they make it work. Go figure!?

Now, when I say no personal space is an understatement, what I mean is that they're ok with thousands of other cranes AND almost as many Canada geese and mallard ducks in their business too. 

Check it out; Cranes landing is like watching a glider come in to port. Landing gear down. Graceful controlled descent and with a hop and bounce, spindly little toothpick legs absorb the shock of landing. I never get tired of watching this.

In comparison, geese and ducks flutter to the ground, flapping madly to lose lift intentionally and brace for impact at the same time. It's like watching a wet blanket fall from the sky and yet, they find a space to fill in the madness and no-one seems to be any the worse for wear!

I spent the rest of the day taking in different parts of the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge, which included a 2.5 mile driving loop through the middle where the ponds are. There are crane roosting areas on this loop road. Cranes choose shallow open water for roosting overnight.

Loafing is the term that describes the birds between about 10am and 4pm. They can be found in wet meadows and other uplands, where they loaf and occasionally feed on roots, tubers and invertebrates.

Bald Eagle

American Kestrel

Meadowlark

I returned to this loop for the pre-sunrise lift-off on Sunday. It was, shall we say, nippy leaving the hotel this morning!

Side note: When I was shopping for a 4runner last month, a sunroof was not of my list of must-have options. Some original owners had splurged for them, some had not. I didn't care.... UNTIL TODAY. This morning I popped up through the sunroof of my Moose, telephoto lens in hand as I balanced on the center console. Superb Toyota heat blew and kept me comfortable while the air above was just 12F. I had the height I needed to see over the cattails and other photographers, and I rested my heavy lens on the roof to shoot as the cranes navigated the slippery ice and took off in low light.

Just a few more hours, then I had to hit the road.

Cooper's Hawk

A bit about cranes before I go...

23,000-27,000 cranes migrate through the San Luis Valley each spring and fall. 

There are two subspecies: The greater and the lesser Sandhill Crane. In the Rocky Mountains, the population of Greater Sandhill Cranes is estimated around 18,000-23,000 birds.  95% of these will appear in the MVNWR in spring and fall on their way to breeding or wintering grounds.

There are about 3,000-5,000 of the slightly smaller Lesser Sandhill Cranes that migrate through here. 

Cranes live an impressive 20-30 years. 

They bond for life and breed at 2-5 years old. 

Pairs build large ground nests in wetlands and take turns incubating eggs.

While two eggs are often laid, only one juvenile will leave the breeding ground with parents.

Juveniles stay with parents through summer, fall and winter and when the parents begin to rekindle their pair bonds... the junvenile leaves or is forced out of the family group.

Driving home was no hardship either. Does it get more beautiful? No. No it doesn't. And that's perhaps one of the more compelling reasons for me staying in Colorado and not trekking to Nebraska this weekend.