Day Three – Moab, Utah

Arches National Park - A beautiful morning hike into Delicate Arch (of Utah license plate fame). And a noon hike in the shade of the Fiery Furnace where met two new potential campers and their Park Ranger Dad from all the way from Houston, Texas.

They tagged along for a new route out of the maze. We look forward to meeting up with them in the future. 

The afternoon was spent lazily floating on Ken’s Lake.

Day Four – Canyonlands NP

Island in the Sky – First stop the pine trees from the boreal forests of Canada (the only place you’ll find them in the lower 48 states) that hitched a ride on a glacier and found a new home on a ledge near a spring in the middle of the desert.

A hike out to the White Rim Overlook for views of the river 2100 feet below. No day would be complete without an inner tube float down the Colorado River.

Air is a little thin up here!

Camp Day One – Grand Mesa

Largest Mesa in the World. First time there and what a pleasant surprise 62 degrees while back in Connecticut it was 104. It was more like northern Canada than the  hot southwest.

Day Two –  Colorado National Monument

A great introduction to global climate change,  weather and sea level change. It has only been like this for the last 10,000 years prior to that it was a desert, swamp and the bottom of 2,000 feet of water and now it’s dry as a bone. The remnants of this ocean can be found at the bottom of the Great Salt Lake.

Drive Across America…We were fortunate to have one of our campers ride along the 1,800 miles to Colorado Springs where we store the RollingCabins.

Cabelas one of our old favorite spots to stop to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat. It’s always fun for the kids because of the museum hidden within the store. This will probably be the last time we stop for a meal because the breakfast buffet was a big disappointment.

A stop at Steve’s farm in Indiana is always a highlight of the trip to see what new exotic animals Steve’s brother John has collected. Brother Tracy and his wife Lydia treated us to the first campfire of the season and stargazing out at the sawmill.

A quick stop at Erna and Lowell’s, our companion’s Grandparents, whom provided a nice way station amidst the 750 miles we traveled that day.

Colby, Kansas our last stop before reaching Colorado Springs to see the Museum of the Prairie. On the grounds is the largest barn in all of Kansas.

15 minutes after reaching our RollingCabins we were hit by a golf ball size hail storm which broke 3 roof hatches and 1 skylight. The ice covered hailstones dimpled the Expeditions with dents that look like we parked next to a  golf driving range.  Thank God it happened while we were there!

More later tonight. Heading into the Big Ditch now

The best way to get over the WINTER BLUES!  5 minutes and you'll think you're back at CAMP.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska - The National Parks: America's Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

See it again on-air and online
Wednesday nights beginning January 27

Experience the Wonders of our National Parks first hand on an American Wanderer Adventure.

What a Great Summer!!!!

We cleaned and stored the equipment in Colorado and made it back home to Connecticut.  Two days of sleep and now we can finish the blog.

Custer State Park
South Dakota’s premier State Park comprises 71,000 acres. One of the nation’s largest state parks,Custer State Park has been home to diverse cultural heritages for thousands of years and has provided an array of scenic beauty and outdoor recreation for visitors since the early 1900s. Today, Custer State Park is famous for its bison herds, other wildlife, scenic drives, historic sites, fishing lakes, and  interpretive programs.



Narrow tunnels blasted in the mountain.


Big Horn Sheep


Harney Peak
A nice hike up to 7,244 feet. The peak is the highest point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.


Sylvan Lake
is considered the “Crown Jewel” of Custer State Park in the Black Hills of western South Dakota .The mountain lake sits at the base of Harney Peak. The lake was featured in the 2007 movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets.





Mount Rushmore


Fort Laramie


Making bread using the original military recipe.






Register Cliff. This popular campsite was approximately one day's travel west of Fort Laramie. The soft sandstone cliff invited emigrants to leave a record of their passing, which many, many did. The cliff is covered with the names of emigrants heading to California, Oregon, and Utah. Many signatures include not only a date but a hometown as well.





Oregon Trail Ruts National Historic Site. Here, the terrain forced the emigrants to cross a ridge of soft sandstone and the track created by the steady wear of the wagon wheels is worn to a depth of five feet at places. Visitors can still see wheel ruts, places where wheel hubs rubbed against the rut walls.


Rocky Mountain National Park

Opened in 1920, Old Fall River Road earned the distinction of being thefirst auto route in Rocky Mountain National Park offering access to thepark's high country.






near Fall River Pass, 12,304 feet above sea level.





Mills Lake
9,940 feet above sea level
Mills Lake is named for Enos Mills, Father of Rocky Mountain National Park. Mills wrote many articles and books (some still in print) and gave many lectures urging the establishment of a national park around Longs Peak. Six years of concentrated effort resulted in the park’s creation in 1915. Many hikers consider Mills Lake the prettiest lake in the park. M





Nothing like a cave to wait out a hail storm. 30 minutes later the sky was blue without a cloud...





Session IV leave from Denver airport.






Now the real fun begins...I get to put the 8,000+ pictures and video together for the 2009 Camper Yearbook.  It should be done by the middle of September.  

Enjoy the rest of the summer and remember "if you're not having fun you're doing something WRONG"

Devils Tower National Monument - America's First National Monument

Devils Tower rises 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. Once hidden, erosion has revealed Devils Tower. This 1347 acre park is covered with pine forests, woodlands, and grasslands. Deer, prairie dogs, and other wildlife are seen.

Also known as Bears Lodge, it is a sacred site for many American Indians.

President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument in 1906.

An afternoon hike around the base of the Tower.





A visit to the Prairie Dog Town, these highly social animals are not really dogs, but rodents. They are members of the Sciuridae or squirrel family, closely related to ground squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks and marmots. There are five different species of prairie dogs, but only the black-tailed prairie dog inhabits Devils Tower National Monument.

Prairie dogs are small, short-tailed animals with eyes and small ears set far back on their heads. Their light-brown fur blends well with the dirt of their mounds except when the animal has been blackened by burrowing into coal seams. Named for their bark-like warning call and black-tipped tail, prairie dogs average 14 to 17 inches in total length and weigh 1 to 3 pounds. With short, muscular legs and long-nailed toes on their front and hind feet, they are well equipped for a burrowing lifestyle.

Historic Deadwood

Saloon No. 10 where Wild Bill Hickcok was shot in the back by Bill McCall.


Homestake Mine tour of the historic town of Lead and Homestake's underground surface operation. We followed the mining process including hoisting, crushing and milling of the underground ore and views Homestake Gold Mine's state-of-the-art Waste Water Treatment Plant and open pit mine.





Dinner "with a view of the Tower" back at camp.


Badlands National Park containing the world’s richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 37-28 million years old, the evolutionary stories of mammals such as the horse and rhinoceros arise from the 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires. Bison, bighorn sheep, endangered black-footed ferrets, and swift fox roam one of the largest, protected mixed-grass prairies in the United States.








Can you spot the Bighorn Sheep and her baby?


Wall Drug Store - America's Favorite Roadside Attraction!
A stop for a homemade ice cream milk shake.


Wind Cave National Park
One of the world's longest and most complex caves and 28,295 acres of mixed-grass prairie, ponderosa pine forest, and associated wildlife are the main features of the park. The cave is well known for its outstanding display of boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs. The park's mixed-grass prairie is one of the few remaining and is home to native wildlife such as bison, elk, pronghorn, mule deer, coyotes, and prairie dogs.

Lunch on the lawn before the cave tour.


Three types of rock features are seen in the cave (boxwork - pictured here), frostwork and popcorn.


The natural entrance to the cave...a cool breeze flows out of the cave...feels like air conditioning.


Filling our water bottles with water from the Hot Springs "Kidney" spring fountain.


Cooling off in the Hot Springs waterfall before heading back for a swim in the camp pool.

Our next blog will include Mount Rushmore and more of the Black Hills. We're off to Ft. Laramie, Wyoming and neat sites to see from the Oregon Trail.

Session IV Start - Days 1-5 Wow Session IV got off to such a fast start we haven't had time to blog. As you can see the kids are all having a great time! Greetings from the KOA Billings, Montana (our first Camp Site). Pictograph CaveState Park In Billings, Montana along the continuation of asandstone cliff line that forms an impressive natural boundary and characterizesthe valley. Two of the three caves that define the site complex contain evidenceof habitation dating back over 4500 years ago. The pictographs that give thepark its name date from over 2200 years ago. Pompeys Pillar National Monument is one of the most famous sandstone buttes inAmerica. It bears the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis andClark Expedition, which appears on the trail today as it did 200 yearsago. On the face of the 150-foot butte, Captain William Clark carvedhis name on July 25, 1806, during his return to the United Statesthrough the beautiful Yellowstone Valley. Captain Clark named the pillar "Pompeys Tower" in honor ofSacagawea's son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom he had nicknamed"Pomp." Nicholas Biddle, first editor of Lewis and Clark's journals,changed the name to "Pompeys Pillar." Little Bighorn National Monument This area memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the NorthernPlains Indians to preserve their way of life.  Here in 1876, 263soldiers and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, including Lt. Col.George A. Custer, met death at the hands of several thousand Lakota andCheyenne warriors. Custer's stone marking the place he died in battle. He was later moved to West Point. Trail End Historic Site was home to the John B. Kendrick family. One of Wyoming's most successful rancher/politicians, Kendrick was a self-educated Texan who began his career as a penniless cowboy and ended it as a United States Senator. In between, he was a rancher, banker, land developer, entrepreneur and Wyoming Governor. Although Trail End is not Wyoming's only historic house museum, it is by far the largest and most authentically furnished. Nearly everything on exhibit at Trail End is original to the home or the Kendrick family, and our four-acre grounds contain many of the same trees planted by the Kendrick family when the original landscaping was done in 1914. The Sheridan Inn was built across from the old train station and was mark as, The Sheridan Inn called itself "The Finest Hotel between Chicago and San Francisco." The Sheridan Inn had one infamous owner--Colonel William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. He was known to frequent the Inn and audition acts for his Wild West Shows in the Inn's front yard. On top of the Bighorn Mountains Sledding in August! The 192 foot Porcupine Falls drops in a horsetail in three or four steps (depending upon the flow) into a large pool at the head of Diablo Canyon. Cool dip under the falls. The water is 50 degrees! Can you find the Moose and her calf? One of their smaller trucks..... 385 foot water slide We're now in Devils Tower, Wyoming...off for an afternoon hike. We'll next update the blog from Rapid City, South Dakota in a few days! Permalink: americanwanderer.rvcampforkids.com/2009/08/08/session-iv-start--day-5.aspx Comment on this entry. Subscribe to future comments on this entry. Unsubscribe from this blog This is an automated message.

River rafting down the Yellowstone River in Cody, Wy



They all needed to get in the hot tub to warm up after the rafting trip.


You could spend days in this Museum....


On the way back to camp we stopped at the Erma Hotel for Gun Fight.







A little gun fight at the Erma Hotel!




Pictograph CaveState Park
In Billings, Montana along the continuation of asandstone cliff line that forms an impressive natural boundary and characterizesthe valley. Two of the three caves that define the site complex contain evidenceof habitation dating back over 4500 years ago


Miniature Golf at America's First KOA.


Well needed relaxation......


Our new Friends from France are on there way home.....

Bon Voyage

Just passing Greenland on the way to France.  The rest of our clan will depart in the morning thanks to Frontier Airline...(Long Story)

New Campers will be joining us tomorrow for Session III....................

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
is the primary geologic feature in the Canyon District. It is roughly 20 miles long, measured from the Upper Falls to the Tower Fall area. Depth is 800 to 1,200 ft.; width is 1,500 to 4,000 ft.

Upper Falls


Artist Point


Lower Falls


Natural Bridge
The Natural Bridge was formed by erosion of this rhyolite outcrop by Bridge Creek. The top of the bridge is approximately 51 ft. above the creek.


A Cool dip in Yellowstone Lake
The first few feet is 60 degrees, a few degrees warmer than the air, and under that it stays a constant 42degrees


Then we all needed to warm up in the sun on the asphalt.


Cody Wyoming the Rodeo Capital of the World






A Night at the Rodeo


On our way out of Yellowstone we encountered a real Yellowstone Roadblock!