The Cold is Sinking In

We've left Buffalo, WY and are heading into the Bighorn National Forest this morning as I type this. The mountains are getting bigger and the rock is apparently getting older. There are signs here on the roadside dating the exposed formations and mountains ranging from 500 million to 2.3 billion (no, wait...that one said 3 billion) years old. It makes me feel small...very small. To think about the briefness of our lifespan in the grand scheme of eternity is humbling. As we are climbing into the higher elevations, the temperature keeps dropping. We've been in cold for a few days now, but it keeps getting colder - currently it's 37 degrees and falling, and there is fresh snow on the ground. The pine trees are coated in a thick frosting unlike any June scene I'm familiar with... It is a breathtaking sight.

Yesterday was cold and a bit dreary at times, but we still managed to visit two national monuments on our route from Custer, SD to Buffalo, WY - Jewel Cave and Devils Tower. Jewel Cave was fascinating - mostly because it is currently the second largest cave in the world, second only to Mammoth Cave. But they suspect that it might be much larger than it is currently known to be. It may even be connected to Wind Cave which we visited a few days ago. After seeing a few cave explorers headed down into the depths of the cave, Isaac decided that he would like to taking up caving when he gets older (the ranger told him that he had to be at least 16).

When we arrived at Devils Tower, it was getting pretty dreary and things were socked in with clouds and fog drifitng across the tower. For any Close Encounters of the Third Kind fans, the Tower was featured in that film... However, the site is another one of the sacred sites of the Lakota - and many tribes still visit the site today to perform rituals sacred to their culture. In fact, the tower is closed to climbers in June out of respect to the many tribes who are there for such purposes. As we were hiking along the trail around the base of the tower, we saw lots of prayer cloths and beads hanging in the trees. By the time the kids finished up their Junior Ranger programs, the fog had cleared just enough for us to grab a couple of pictures before moving on to our final stop for the evening.

By the way...it's snowing here.
 

Tracy