#27 We left Hazen, ND & drove to Shadehill Reservoir SRA. This is a very nice campground with electric hookups. Near here in 1824 Hugh Glass, a fur trapper, was mauled by a grizzley bear & a few days later was left by the 2 men who were supposed to stay with him until he died & bury him. Glass came out of his coma & began to crawl the 200 miles to Fort Kiowa. He crawled most to the way because his leg was broken by the bear. There is a monument on a hill overlooking the reservoir.
From Shadehill we went to Hart Ranch RV Resort near Rapid City, SD. This resort is part of the RPI system & a great resort. We spent a week here. During the week we went into town to one of our favorite restaurants, the Golden Corral. Also, we went to the Geology Museum at the University of South Dakota.
On Oct 14, we left Hart Ranch & went to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. We spent 2 nights at the campground & took the hike around the tower. We were really impressed by this geologic wonder, it is quite spectacular. As we were going back to our car after our hike we saw some rock climbers leaving the parking lot. When we got back to our coach in the campground we were able to watch the climbers scale the side of the tower to the top. By the time they reached the top it was nearly dark so we suppose they stayed on top of the tower for the night. That night there were high winds & some rain so the climbers couldn't have been very comfortable on the top.
The next day we continued to Casper to spend the night in an rv park near the freeway & railroad. Not to pleasant. We then went to Lander, WY. The road from Casper to Lander follows the Oregon Trail. We stopped at several spots marking landmarks on the Trail. Interesting to see places we have read about since we were children to say nothing of recognizing places from playing "Oregon Trail" on the computer in the past. After we left Lander, we went through South Pass & could really see the advantage when compared with the rugged Wind River Range visible to the north.
This brought us to Fort Bridger. Another place I wanted to see after reading about it for many years. The rv park was next door to the restored military fort and in the back was the restored fort that Jim Bridger & his partner built & ran as a supply station along the Oregon Trail.
