Matthew and Cassie's Big Climbing Trip.: South Dakota and Wyoming

Final Day at Vedauwoo

Mike and some friends from Boulder joined us for our last weekend in Vedauwoo. It was great having friends to camp and hang out with. Due to some lingering climbing injuries, we weren't able to climb much though and we opted to take the very long way to Ten Sleep, WY. We left Vedauwoo on Monday morning and headed to Saratoga, WY on the promise that it had free hotsprings and would be on the way to Fremont Canyon. An unexpected bonus was that the Snowy Range (yes that's the name of the mountain range) along route 130 provide many beautiful vistas. It was a good thing that we got something out of that part of the drive because Saratoga was in the same shape as many towns along rivers this year. With a snowpack exceeding 200% in many areas rivers are overflowing their banks and causing much damage. Saratoga was in the same predicament and because of the high water levels the hot springs were closed. We pushed on towards Fremont Canyon. Though we weren't planning to climb I've always wanted to see the canyon because of its unique location. The North Platte river flows through the canyon and creates such steep walls that routes must be rappelled into which makes for a committing day of climbing. It was a beautiful canyon and one I'd like to come back to and climb.

Fremont Canyon

Casper Wyoming was far enough for the day so we camped there and talked about where to go next. We weren't quite ready to head north to Ten Sleep and the Bighorn mountains so we looked east to South Dakota. The Black Hills have always been on my list of places to visit but it seems that they are always quite far away. With our location in Wyoming it seemed like a good time to visit. We headed east from Casper and camped just west of Wind Cave National Park. We had seen the cave on a map and were interested in checking it out. It was very much worth $9 for a tour of the cave. Timp Cave in Utah has much more impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations, but what wind cave lacked in formations it made up in sheer volume. We walked for a good hour on the tour and hit only the tiniest portion of the cave. According to estimates only 5% has even been explored. The best part was that the 50 degree temps in the cave were a welcome reprieve from the 90+ degree day outside.

Cassie observing cave Boxwork

Once the tour was completed we headed towards Mt Rushmore. One the way we passed the statue of Crazy Horse being carved out of a mountainside. According to the signs all of Mt. Rushmore could fit inside the head of Crazy Horse. There was an entrance fee to see it so we kept driving. At Mt. Rushmore we found that the National Monument was run be concessionairs who get around letting us in with our National Parks Pass by calling it a "parking fee" instead of an "entrance fee". Totally bogus and not at all worth the $11 just to park. So, we did a u-turn and snapped a bunch of pictures out the window. We left frustrated and definitely not feeling any national pride, but rather disgust at capitalism. Such is life. We saw a mountain goat outside the monument. He was super cute.

John Gill is a very famous climber who put bouldering on the map. Before him no one considered boulders worthy of climbing. He was doing harder moves years before any started doing them on ropes, and established key test pieces all over the country. Two such classic lines are located in Custer State Park at Sylvan Lake. We decided to pay the exhorbitant $15 weekly fee which isn't so bad for a week, but pretty attrocious for a day use. We went swimming in the lake to cool off and I grabbed a crash pad and did two of the classics in a couple of tries. Both were quite high but with good holds at the top. The first was Free Ariel a V4 and then there was Middle Yellow Wall also a V4. Both were excellent lines and we left the lake feeling refreshed and in good spirits.

Middle Yellow Wall - Sylvan Lake

We drove through the Needles area of Custer State Park to finish the day off and were blown away by the crazy granite formations and even saw a huge buffalo as a bonus. That night we camped in forest service land west of Custer, WY and were swarmed by more flies than I've ever seen in my life and it was incredibly hot in the van. It was not the most pleasant camping we've done. Our next destination was back to Wyoming to see Devils Tower and get to the Bighorn Mountains near Buffalo and Ten Sleep.

Cathedral Spires - The Needles - Custer State Park

Devils Tower was an impressive formation and was easily visible from many miles away. There was no mistaking it on the grassy rolling hills. Luckily our Parks Pass proved useful here and we were able to enter and park without a fee. We hiked around the formation and checked out the visitor center. Some climbers were climbing the easiest route to the top even though there is a voluntary climbing closure in June out of respect for Native American religious practices. We were impressed with the west side of the tower because of the very difficult and continuous look to the routes.

As with many single destination places once you've seen it there isn't a whole lot else to do, so we headed west towards the Bighorns. About 30 miles away we saw snow covered peaks in the distance and were excited to think about camping in the mountains again. Luckily we found a forest service road off of Rt. 16 a few miles west of Buffalo, WY. The road proved to be a gem with a single campsite on a flat meadow surrounded by millions of the most beautiful yellow and purple wildflowers and a view of the Bighorn peaks. It rained hard after supper and the sun found tiny pockets to shine through. It was a gorgeous evening.