Man, Motorcycle, Mountains Day 3

Man, Motorcycle, Mountains

Day 3 -- Black Hills, Sturgis

Had some storms last night, came just at sunset.  More wind than rain.  I layed there in the tent and listened to the wind and rain for a short time before I fell asleep.  I must have changed my wristwatch back to Central time zone at some point during the night--I got up at what I thought was 4am, but ended up being 3am.  I was literally the first person to get to every place I went today!

Headed south into the Black Hills National Forest.  Stopped and saw this giant hole in the ground, the Homestake Gold Mine.  Apparently there was a lot of mining in this area way back when.

This is the Pactola dam and resevoir.  It's pretty big, and the cool breeze blowing in from the lake reminded me of the ocean breezes but with the addition of the sound of the wind blowing through all the trees.  I sure enjoyed today's landscape of pines much better than yesterday's Badlands.

This is Mount Rushmore.  Personally , I think the mountains looked better the way they were before man intervened.  Quite a crowd magnet, I didn't linger long.

Rode through an older, twisty section of roads that featured a few narrow tunnels more than a few years old.  The curves slowed my average speed down quite a bit.

These are buffalo, two of the big males were having a go at each other.  They are so big and make a deep grunt that is a little spooky.  This happened in Custer State Park where, in addition to the buffalo, I also saw deer, elk, mules, and prairie dogs.

I stopped here, in Neeles State Park for a lunch of water, nuts, & jerky.  I was just plumb worn out.  Had done a lot riding thanks to getting up so early, plus all the curves and hills kept me busy working the clutch and leaning the bike right and left.  Rode just over 200 miles, but took as much time as 400

They call the park Needles due to the abundance of rock formations similar to this one.  One of the best parks I've ever seen.  Don't miss it if you come this way.

Coming back to Sturgis, I took the Spearfish Canyon route.  I like riding through canyons, where the road follows a meandering mountain stream at a gentle grade with easier curves, acutally quite relaxing.

Now, I'm just waiting for it to cool off so I can shower, do laundry, and crawl back into the tent again.  Camping isn't bad except for the heat and sweating.  My next camping will be in Montana where it is supposed to be mid-40s at night, do you think I'll miss the heat?