May 23, 2016 to May 24, 2016
Driving back home: Monday and Tuesday, May 23rd-24th 2016
I had a good night's sleep at the clean and quiet hotel in Hot Springs. The hotel had a bit of breakfast (cereal, bagels, fruit) which I enjoyed. Then I decided that I wanted to see Deadwood, which is the northern terminus of the Mickelson Trail) and that I would save the Presidents at Mount Rushmore for another trip, not tainted by the experience at the KOA and free from the itching that was getting worse by the hour.
I drove via Rapid City, and stopped to pick up a tooth brush, since I hadn't retrieved mine from my bedbug infested bags wrapped up in plastic and sequestered in my car, some hydrocortisone cream for the itching, and some diphenhydramine also for the itching. I didn't see much of Rapid City, and drove on to Deadwood, and found the Trail Head.
It is in a big park, with a much larger sign than the terminus at Edgemont. In fact, when I had been packing my car in Edgemont, there was a guy looking for the trail head. He was surprised to see it in front of him, and commented that the sign in Deadwood had been much larger. He was waiting for his wife and her friends, who had ridden from Deadwood (the more downhill than up direction, like reasonable people) over the weekend.
I got it in my head that I wanted a Mickelson Trail tee shirt, and asked at the Chamber of Commerce where to find one. They sent me to the Mickelson Trail Office, which in in the Forestry office on the road up to a ski area. I didn't recognize the building and drove past it, but then stopped at another building and went into a kitchen. No one answered whn I called out, so I went back to my car, back down the hill, and found the office I was looking for. I bought a tee shirt, and went on my way.
I wanted to see Devil's Tower on the way home, so went west and found it.
I walked the one mile trail around the monument, and was impressed. It sounds like there is some uncertainty as to the exact geology that formed this massive tower, but that it is related to the upflow of magma, and erosion of the soil around it. Regardless of the geology, there is some spirituality to the site. Even with a mob of people around it, including a bus full of Chinese tourists while I was there, the walk around the tower felt quite peaceful.
After visiting the tower, I got into my car for a long drive. I stopped overnight in Douglas, WY, in a not-so-wonderful-but-bedbug-free hotel, and then made it home the following day.
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