2021-09-02 43 -103

Location

In a driveway near Custer, SD

Participants

Pedalpusher
J

Expedition

Continuing on our road trip in Hot Springs (you can read about our first segment here), we got up early to grab some breakfast at a cafe in town and then drove to Wind Cave which was nearby. We were unable to get reservations so we had to show up early, and we managed to get a spot on the first tour. Wind Cave was really cool with 'boxwork' rarely seen anywhere else in the world. After that, we headed to Custer and checked the hours of the local brewery there. Happy to see it was open, we stopped for a flight at the Mt. Rushmore Brewery. The beers were ok, but nothing too spectacular.

On the way out of town as we started on our way to Jewel cave for (hopefully) another tour, I realized I hadn't checked the hashes for the day. Handing J my phone to pull up the HashDroid app, she suddenly yelled out: "We need to turn around! STOP, the distance is going the wrong way and we are REALLY close!" We were within 2 miles of the Geohash when she pulled it up! I found a spot to pull off the road to review the location and sadly found that it was pretty close to a house. But since we were so close, we decided to drive back to Custer anyway and pick up a No Trespassing expedition.

I wish I had checked earlier at Wind Cave as we practically drove by on the way to the brewery. Driving down the dirt road, I found the turn off toward the hash, but it turned out that this was actually a shared driveway for two houses. J was willing to 'accidentally' drive down the driveway to get closer to the hash than our current 395 Foot/120 meter distance, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that. Especially since we wouldn't be able to get close enough for a success anyway. Getting a couple pictures, we headed back on our way to Jewel Cave where we had lunch. We were only able to get an 'Introductory' tour since they are working on the elevator and it's not currently in use. After that, we drove to Devil's Tower and camped out in a Tipi!

Since it was supposed to rain the next day, we hit up Devil's Tower that evening and hiked around the tower on the big loop before going back to the campsite to make some dinner. Before the storm rolled in around 23:30, the stars were brilliant and you could even see the Milky Way.

The rain held off in the morning, so we went back and walked the shorter trail around the tower and at one point we were actually able to touch the tower itself.

It was almost a week until the next workable Geohash which you can find here.

Photos

Boxwork in Wind Cave. The limestone cracked and filled in with this material first, then when the limestone was dissolved away, this material was leftover.
Stopping at the Mt Rushmore Brewery
A 'Punny' Sign for the Restaurant at the Brewery
Looking down the driveway toward the hash. For whatever reason, I didn't take the screenshot here or we would have been slightly closer.
Since the address posts for these two houses were here at the road (instead of at that intersection down the driveway), I didn't want to go any closer.
After moving slightly, the closest reading I got.
Driving back down the road.
This 'neighborhood' was nice: mostly pines and the occasional large rocky outcropping.
Devil's Tower in the evening.
Our tipi for the night.
Going back to Devil's Tower in the morning, we were able to get close enough in one spot to touch it.