Wisconsin North Woods

Left Sturgis, SD and arrived 500 mi. later in Worthington, MN.  This is a half way point to Wausau, WI where my bro is so I took a rest from driving and stayed on Lake Okabena at a park.  Decided to walk around the lake but it's cold and windy.  Found out they did the 2008 National windsurfing  championship here.  I hope it was warmer then.  Woke up early and it was 37 F.  Too windy for Kayaking so that blows that....so to speak.  Oh well, 5 mi. walk is enough for one day. Back on the road tomorrow.

Finally made it to Wausau and got settled in. D&J & I got re-acquainted and on monday hiked up their local ski mountain then watched the Seahawks and the Packers and what a weird ending.  That will forever be a sour apple for the NFL. I parked the motorhome at Marathon City Park and my morning view out the front window is this:

 Don & I went up to their lake property to  put it to bed for the winter and decided to go for a quick Kayak trip across the lake only to discover three mature eagles resting up in the white pine directly above us by the north shore.  Of course neither of us carried a camera.

   The fall colors are magnificent already and I'm just getting started. The lake is very secluded and pristine and the weather is clear and warm daytime so the trip was awesome.    There are a 'few' other lakes in the area (Land O Lakes, get it?) with back-roads running between them so I took a day to tour the area with the bike (and brought the camera) so you could get an idea.  you could take a picture of any one of dozens of these lakes and it would look like this...

                                       This however is the Wisconsin River

Maple Syrup anyone?

Harney Peak

Felt like getting some exercise so I rode to Harney Peak.  It is slightly to the west of Mt. Rushmore and is the highest peak of South Dakota and claims being the highest point in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mts.

So I should hike it!

Choppers from Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City

  Just inside the park is the trail head and Sylvan Lake.  A very Photogenic area and great day for it. Sylvan is dammed at the left of this picture and there is a tunnel that gives you access to the back side of the Dam.

 The trail/hike is about 7 mi. round trip and partially shared by folks on horseback.

 

 Ok, here is my opportunity to show and tell.  The Northwest forests from Washington to South Dakota have severe infestations of Bark Beetles.  The dude is an immigrant from Europe and probably came in on logs many years back.  Being from elsewhere there are no natural predators here so they go un- checked.  They bore into the bark and lay eggs.  The eggs hatch into larvae (worms) and the larvae feed on the cambium of the tree.  The cambium carries the water up from the roots and the photosynthetic food down from the needles. With me?
                                             
The cambium is only 1/16th in. thick or less so when the larvae feed, they cut off the translocation of food and water in that area.  It doesn't take long, or many larvae to surround the trunk (girdle) and stop all flow, killing the tree.  Interestingly the beetle species can be identified by the pattern of the feeding lines of the larvae.  Some are radial, some are linear, these look....helter-skelter!

Death from BUG

 Woodpeckers feed on the larvae so there are predators but insufficient to slow the progress of destruction.  When you see 'pecker holes' you know you have beetles.  Also food for thought about the importance of woodpecker habitat. That is ecosystem management.

Brown forest spoches from beetle infestation

 We have a serious problem and attempts to combat it are less than needed.

                                              nuf said, but

                                             What a view

 At the top of Harney peak is a lookout tower that was used for spotting forest fires.  Quite a structure built by the Conservation Corp. in the 30's. 

                                                                 What a CLIMB!!

                                                              What a VIEW!!

Souvenir

Met a couple at the start of the hike that have the same idea as I.  They have a motorhome and pull a motorcycle on a trailer behind it and are traveling and enjoying retirement.  We had a great hike together and I really enjoyed their company. 

BadLands National Park

 Took a trip to the Badlands today.  The air is getting a bit brrrrrisk but look at the sky.  What a beautiful place and day for pictures.

 My girls visited WALL DRUGS when they ventured this direction so I opted to skip that torture and instead....

 Took a hike into the snake infested land where bad guys would hold up so as not to be found

 by Wyatt.                    

 ok, howd that frilly lil thang get thar.

 The road was just re-surfaced, the weather was magnificent, so all I really did was take a hike and take pictures.....and this is just a sample.

 These will eventually dry and attach to your pant leg so you can enjoy them year round where ever you live.

 an absolute picture perfect day, but the 100 miles back to camp was c-c-c-c-c-ooooooo-l-d and I almost passed out while riding!  The problem with the wild west is that everything is just too far apart.  and in between there are miles upon miles of

NOTHING!

Black Hills

There are two passes that go thru the Big Horn Mountains and I didn't trust the motorhome going on either because they both looked like they had some steep grades to them,  I just wanted to play conservative with heating up the transmission as I had read about people having 'issues' so I went around Probably some of the finest scenery of the trip.   Maybe another time.  Probably a good idea I didn't go thru the Big Horn Mts. because quite a fire was raging near one of the passes I would have used and I probably would have encountered smoke.

Yellow is Cody and route followed, Orange circle is fire area

Got to Sturgis, South Dakota and the guy that runs the park gave me tons of local knowledge to work with.

The first and most important was where to get the best food around

and no, he wasn't talking about the kind you drink.......although....

 

The park ,by the way is literally next door to the Black Hills National Cemetery. 

 I didn't realize we had so many National Cemeteries.  In this case, two, Ft Meade and Black Hills are within walking distance of each other.

Sturgis at top, Custer Park and Rushmore at center

 

I finally got out on the motorcycle for a tour and headed for Custer State Park.

On the way is Keystone, full of cool ambiance in the down town (re-created) area.

 

I didn't get to Mt. Rushmore only from a distance, but had been before and none of the faces have changed.....don't look a day older!

 There are many opportunities to frame the Monument......

                         

 The most famous is thru the tunnel openings, but my try didn't do so well

 This part of the trip is focused on the left circle, the right circle is the Bad Lands coming next.

From the last time I was here I didn't remember the scenery and the great roads taking you thru spectacular rock and forest.

And definitely did not remember the 'Eye of the Needle'.

I was just in time for a really great shot.

 This is how you get to the Needle.

 So now I'm headed for the BAD LANDS!