In spite of the rain, I was determined to run in Chadron State Park. In NE's North Western corner, it's the state's oldest park. I stood out in the rain for 20 minutes learning about forest fire ecology from the ranger. The pine beetle is decimating Western forests, providing dry kindle for rampaging fires. A good portion of this park burned last year. Even with all that time past, it still smelled of wet campfire.
Signs were burned and the trails had been overgrown by new grass growth, making it challenging to stay on the trail.
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| What trail? |
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| My scout kept us on the trail. |
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| No clue what this may be?! |
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| Definitely in the Pea family. |
I have finally adjusted to the altitude. Running the Pine Ridge at around 5000 ft was doable today. Cole makes it look too easy.
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| My mountain goat. |
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| View from the ridge. |
I loved this park, the only two people in it Tuesday were two rangers, both super friendly, the views were spectacular, the flowers blooming, mule deer and birds abounded. In a ravine, an eagle began to scold us loudly. I discovered that we were under her nest.
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| eagle egg shell |
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| Pioneer waffle iron...or a pine beetle management technique? |
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| After run snack of Fred's Smoked Jerky from Minnesota. |
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| Picked up a lot of hitch hickers: ticks! |
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| Chadron 5 mile run |
Down county road 59, live two neighbors with the gift of humor:
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| Better than the Interstate Rest Areas! |
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| Carhenge |
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| supposedly identical to Stonehenge's stone placements |
I'd run out of camp fuel a couple days earlier and had been unable to find the any in the camping stores in SD. What do I find? A Cabella's store in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. Happens to be the original store.
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| I left my wallet in the car and only took in 10 bucks. Wise decision. |
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| Instead of hiking hither and dither, I could have come here to see all the animals...not. |
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| A mere sampling of the growing collection. |
Along the NE-CO border, the land becomes much more arid. Larger tracts of pasture land is needed to sustain cattle, making the area less populated and more desolate.
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| Tumbleweed snagged in fences and on cars' grilles. |
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| Pony Express, California, Oregon and other pioneer trails passed here. |
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| Work, exercise---what's that? |
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| Similar water towers in most of these gritty Western towns |
I'd seen my first wind turbine in IA. Then about 50 of them on a plateau in WI. Now the mother load. 100's of them in CO. I was able to get close enough to see their design. From a distance, they seem the rotate slowly. Nah, nah. Now I see how it is birds get sliced and diced by them. The tips are like rotating Ginsu knives. Check out the tractor in its shadow:
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| Hundreds of industrial size pinwheels! |
Last run of the day at Sterling State Park, CO. The park centers around a 2700 acre reservoir that irrigates the surrounding farmland. The tall dam was built in 1911. Workers were paid 25 cents/day for hard labor, more if they brought a team of mules.
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| fighting the wind on the mile long dam |
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| 45 mph hour gusts of wind. |
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| Never shall I forget to pack my Peterson's guide to birds or wildflowers again. What is a pelican doing in Colorado??? |
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| The Great Pelican Hunter took care of my last pair of dry shoes. |
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| Sterling 5 miler |
My plans to camp here were thwarted when a family arrived with their camper, kids and three dogs, one being a cross looking pit bull. I noticed the tattooed Dad's unconcealed weapon, being matched in fire power, not wanting to reenact the Hatfield-McCoy scene, I left.
I have a knack for finding seedy motels. I need to publish a guide: Worst Motels in America. Can't beat these sub $40 prices though. My car is actually getting better fuel efficiency than I had expected, so I don't feel guilty about dipping into my gas cash.
