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Black Hills!

petehowell

Well Known Member
I dropped the only kid I still have at home off at the Cherry Festival in Traverse City on Thursday, so Andi and I had the weekend free to visit the Black Hills and do some lightweight camping at the Hot Springs airport. The trip out was uneventful, save for the smoke from the fires out west. Visibility was horrible, so I deleted all the photos.... Once we landed, we (ok, Andi) set up the tent while I chained the plane down and got the car set up.

Ed Jensen and larry Vetterman met us on the ramp and told us there were pancakes in Hay Springs, Nebraska in the morning, so we signed up on the spot.

Once we were settled in, we were off to Wind Cave for the tour and hiking. Three things you will know after visiting Wind Cave: 1) sixth longest cave in the world 2) 95% of the world's boxwork cave structure is in Wind Cave 3) Buffalo will kill you, stay in the car......... They tell you these things every 35 seconds.......

Some pics from the cave.......

The Boxwork - beautiful stuff!
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Top of the cave - some great hiking. The smoke lingers......
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Andi near the top of Rankin Ridge....
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Early morning departure for Hay Springs! Our tent is way down there!
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Bee Boxes on the Grassland......
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"RV9er Pop Hotel Turning final for 11, Hay Springs" ..... Billed at the "Best Turf Runway in the Panhandle”, it treated us right. This may have been the friendliest fly-in we have ever been to. Just great people!
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On the way Back to Hot Springs we detoured to Devil's Tower. Andi nailed a few great pics, while I "maintained 3NM for reasons of National Welfare"
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We landed Hot Springs and jumped in the car to head to Jewel Cave National Monument, but the due to the crowds on the 4th of July we were locked out, no tours available.......
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No worries, we caught the raptor show, with a live Ferruginous Hawk and several owls. Did some hiking, too!

Continued in part deux..........
 
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Part Deux!

We caught the very nice fireworks display in Hot Springs and retired early, so we could get a launch right after dawn.

The Sunrise over the airport was worth waking up for.....
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A dew-soaked 9erPopHotel ready for departure......
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Sunrise over the Badlands is worth the trip alone!
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Hello, Mighty MO!
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The smoke had moved to Minnesota and made for a foggy, groggy arrival.

We got home, got cleaned up and are enjoying the rest of the day!

Great little trip in the garage-built contraption!!
 
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Excellent write up and photos, as usual, although I was waiting to see an agressive buffalo picture.
 
Pete - excellent pictures and write-up, thanks!

You must have been changing the oil or propellor or something else important while Andi set the tent up by herself...
 
Bee Boxes

Great Photos as usual, Pete. I?ve never seen one like the ?bee boxes? photo before . . . very Interesting. Thanks for Posting!
 
Peetah the Caveman

Nicely done Pete. Didn't wake up any ancient spirits in the Tower :)
 
Awesome trip report Pete. The sights out West are something from the air.

I'm headed that way in a few weeks for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (75th year).
I'll be on my Harley rather than my -6 but I'm not complaining. Yes, I'm pulling the Harley in my other RV :D
 
Nice

Thanks for showing us more of your great country Pete, AWESOME!!!. We'll be "on top" next week checking out south east Canada and north east USA before heading to Oshkosh via Niagra Falls.

Bob
9a Australia
 
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