Threading the Needle: Twin Creeks RV Park, Buffalo, Wyoming 10/18/09

(Ned again.) We woke up to another sunny day in Custer State Park. Much to our amusement, everyone else in the campground seemed to be bundled up in their big down coats, along with wool caps and gloves. Meanwhile we were walking around in shirtsleeves, remarking about how nice the weather was. Even though our thermometer registered 49 degrees, apparently our experience of waking up to a frosty 23 degrees the morning before made us really appreciate today’s temperature. We also really liked the number of big horn sheep grazing inside the campground, along with lots of bison grazing just outside the gates. Our first destination was a campground further south, called Blue Belle. As we circled this handsome campground we met a nice woman with 2 friendly golden retrievers, camping in a Eurovan almost identical to ours. We spent at least 30 minutes comparing notes about our vans, and swapping stories about our favorite destinations. She’s from Colorado, and gave us a list of several “locals only” camping spots. From there we left to investigate the Needle Highway. After climbing multiple switchback turns and negotiating a short sweet tunnel, we got to the summit, which is called Needles Eye. Here we saw remarkable spiked formations of granite, and an impressive hundred foot long tunnel. (See today’s pick of Winnie emerging from the end.) At every turn along this road the view of the surrounding Black Hills was spectacular. Our next stop was a drive-by of the Crazy Horse Monument. This is a Native American version of Mount Rushmore, portraying the famous Indian Chief, although still a long way from completion. After having just witnessed the splendor of Needles Eye, and enduring all the hype the day before regarding Rushmore, I decided that I prefer stone mountain tops in their naturally occurring form, rather than dynamite-blasted to resemble humans. Heading north we made our way to Deadwood, which we assumed would be a historic mining town with lots of charm. Although this could probably be true, we were amazed to discover that, in its current form, it appears to be a small Reno, Nevada, disguising itself as a historic mining town. We were ready for lunch, and despite repeated efforts to find a place to eat, we were continually confronted instead with establishments filled with blinking and clinking slot machines. We finally found a place to eat, once we had waded past their phalanx of one-armed bandits. We decided that Deadwood must be one of the strangest towns that we had ever visited. Heading west, we entered Wyoming, where we enjoyed the huge, rolling landscape, with its magnificent cloud-filled big sky. As we approached the town of Buffalo, we marveled at the beauty of the snow-covered peaks of the Big Horn Mountains in the distance. We plan to cross the summit of those mountains tomorrow morning, and we’re hopeful that our good weather will continue.