Another must! As we have started traveling more with the kids, visiting national parks has been a big part of our family travel. I’d like to get to them all – that may not be realistic, but it’s a goal. And when planning the Dakotas, I knew right away that we wanted to stop by Wind Cave. How often do you get to visit a park that’s equally spectacular above and below ground?

If you’re planning to go to Wind Cave, note that tickets to go into the cavern are timed, and they’re first-come-first-served. In order to be in the first group down, we left our campsite right after breakfast and were at the visitor’s center doors when they opened. We got tickets for the 8:00 a.m. tour – success!

(Dress warmly! It’s cold in the cave!) The underground tour was fascinating. Wind Cave is one of the only places in the world where “boxwork” cave formations can be found – that’s the honeycomb-like structure in the top right photo. And it has over 95% of the boxwork in the world. By contrast, the stalagmites and stalactites that I remember from childhood visits to Howe Caverns in upstate New York – don’t appear at Wind Cave at all. Super interesting and cool. The kids were enthralled.

After the cave tour, we finished up the kids’ Junior Ranger workbooks and they took the oath of office. No days off!

Wind Cave might be most famous for its underground wonders, but it’s also gorgeous above ground – and well worth seeing. We asked a ranger for a hike recommendation – just something short, since we had other stops to make and were hoping to squeeze in a wildlife drive and try to find some bison. She pointed us to a small spur trail and, following her directions, we headed off into the park. The trail climbed up through serene forest and then came out of the woods at a fire tower with this amazing view.

(Lest you think that all of our hikes were perfect, we had a mid-hike tantrum to contend with, and it was not the kid you might have expected. They’re all human. That’s my hot take for today.)

Now – I know what you’re thinking. What about that wildlife drive? Did you see bison?

Wind Cave is a fabulous park for spotting wildlife – in fact, that’s why I really wanted to go. Sure, I expected the cave tour to be interesting (and it was) but here’s the thing about Wind Cave: it’s a relatively small park – only 44 square miles – and contains a disproportionately large number of animals, especially big mammals, for that area. So the odds of seeing something cool are quite good at Wind Cave – as we discovered on the drive in, when we spotted hundreds of prairie dogs. We stopped to ooh and ahh, because they’re always so stinking cute, but we were after something bigger this time. And we found something bigger.

Our first big mammal sighting: a herd of pronghorn antelope! They were so cool – elegant and gorgeous. We stopped the car and stared out the open windows for a good long while, taking in the sight.

As cool as the pronghorn were, they weren’t our ultimate wildlife sighting goal. So we kept going, scanning every hill for characteristic brown backs. And then FINALLY…

We found them! Our long-sought American bison herd!

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. (Pardon any blurry shots – I was snapping away!)

I wish I had gotten some better pictures! Not sure what was going on with my cameras, but at least the camera between my ears was in proper working order. I’ll never forget the sight of these amazing, majestic animals. And after striking out on bison in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and not seeing any in Custer State Park either, it was beyond exciting to finally get the bison sighting we’d been hoping for all week.

So – a truly epic day at Wind Cave! Starting the day out in a completely unique underground landscape – one that looked very different from other caves I’d seen before – and then moving on to a hike with a beautiful view, and finally… the cherry on top… getting to see pronghorn antelope and bison at last. I think that’s about as perfect as a day can get, right?

Next week, we continue our South Dakota adventure, visiting two very different monuments. Check in with me then!

When planning our somewhat-last-minute trip to the Dakotas, I knew that the South Dakota portion of the trip had to include Custer State Park. It’s a huge park, with a lot of wildlife and plenty of scenery, so I also knew I had to research it to figure out how best to use our time there – since we’d have one day, and one day only, to explore.

For a first priority hike, I settled on the Cathedral Spires Trail. It had pretty much everything I was looking for: the right distance, cool scenery that we definitely couldn’t see at home, and enough ups and downs to keep things interesting. To get there – bonus – we had to drive part of the Needles Highway, a narrow road that winds through spectacular scenery and includes some excitingly tight tunnels.

The trail starts out winding through the forest – beautiful trees all around. We took our time, stopping to examine flowers growing by the side of the trail and snack on wild berries. (Kids, don’t try that at home – unless you know what you’re doing! I learned about edible berries in Girl Scouts.)

Eventually, after a bit of a climb, the trail leaves the woods and breaks out into a hanging valley surrounded by towering rock formations – the Cathedral Spires of the trail name.

They were absolutely glorious!

Steve said it felt like hiking through a landscape created by Disney. I couldn’t have agreed more.

It felt like no time passed at all before we reached the end of trail marker at a big rocky overhang. We loitered around for a little while, drinking water and eating trail snacks, and then turned back and headed downhill to our car, bound for the next stop in the park…

Sylvan Lake, a short drive away, boasted a general store – where we picked up lunch – and an easy, mostly flat, trail around the water. We perched on a rock and enjoyed sandwiches (adults) and Lunchables (kiddos) with a view of the water, then set off for an amble about.

About halfway around the lake, we bumped into a mom and two little girls who were staying at the same campground. The kids had met over dinner the night before, and Peanut – who was big into the Babysitter’s Club last summer – was enjoying supervising the littler girls.

I’d be leaving out an important detail if I didn’t tell you about the big event that was taking place while we were there… so when we were at our gate in the Chicago airport, waiting to board our flight to Rapid City, we noticed that – with the exception of one other group whose Osprey backpacks and little munchkins gave them away as headed on a family hiking trip – everyone at the gate was in head-to-toe Harley Davidson gear. Steve did some quick googling and discovered… the Sturgis Bike Rally. Not being motorcyclists (or knowing any avid bikers) we did not know that this was a thing. We quickly discovered what a very big thing it is: an annual event that more than doubles the population of the host state. (I thought I had trouble finding lodging because the trip was so last-minute. Pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place…) The first part of our trip, up to North Dakota, took us out of the action. But when we returned to South Dakota, we were in the very epicenter. And there were motorcycles everywhere.

(You might be thinking, as my dad noted, that there are no bikes or riders in any of these pictures. The explanation is: I am quite good at angling humans out of my hiking photos. Put it down to long practice taking pictures that don’t include other people’s kids.) I’m only mentioning this to share my big learning with you: from now on, when planning a vacation, I will google to see if there are big events of any kind scheduled to take place at my destination, and I’ll either change destinations or pick a different week if there are. The huge crowds definitely changed the experience – didn’t ruin the trip, by any means, but something I will try to avoid in the future. On the bright side, “the time Mommy made us go to Sturgis” is now family lore.

About finding lodgings with a big event going on… it was a challenge, but I ended up finding something great and I do want to tell you where we stayed. We booked a deluxe campsite with a kids’ tent at Under Canvas Mount Rushmore. To be honest, we stayed here because it was the only place I could find with availability (and there was only one campsite left when I booked). But I’d also always wanted to try glamping, and the entire experience was a hoot.

The campground included a main tent – where breakfast, lunch and dinner were compiled from fresh, local ingredients; the food was delicious – and a collection of campsites ranged around the property. The main tent included “indoor” (really just… under canvas) and outdoor deck spaces for eating and lounging. There was a board game corner where the kids dominated, and complimentary nightly s’mores overlooking the sweeping view across the Black Hills to Mount Rushmore.

Our tent was a canvas platform tent with a little deck seating area, a giant – comfy! – West Elm bed, and even a working shower. The kids had their own little canvas tent just feet away, and they slept on cute little cots under big, fluffy duvets every night (until the final night, when a loud thunderstorm had the whole family snuggling together in Mom and Dad’s bed). I can’t tell you enough how much we loved Under Canvas. The staff was warm and welcoming, the food was fabulous, and the glamping experience was just a total riot (and very comfortable). They’re not paying me to say this – they don’t know I exist. But it felt like a huge win to find this spot and grab the last available family campsite on short notice, and I’d definitely like to stay at another Under Canvas location in the future. (Funnily enough, the week after we got back, my friend Adriana posted pictures on Facebook about her stay at Under Canvas Grand Canyon – which she also loved.) Only regret: I never made it to early morning yoga on the deck. Next time.

Well, this has been a novel of a blog post, so I’ll pause here for you to go make your glamping reservations for this summer. Next week, we check out Wind Cave National Park! Will we finally see the elusive bison? You’ll have to read my post next week to find out.

On our last morning in North Dakota, we woke up to bright blue skies and warm sunshine. It was a shame to leave, even to head for more fun in South Dakota. With a long drive ahead of us, we started looking around for ways to break up the time on the road, and decided one more hike in TRNP was in order. Although technically in the South Unit of the park, the Painted Canyon Visitors’ Center – and hiking trail – are about 45 minutes or so south of the rest of the park, so right on the way to the next leg of our trip. It was meant to be.

The trail starts on a bluff right next to the visitors’ center and starts to descend right away into the canyon.

Soon we were walking over gravelly sand and past striated buttes. The gorgeous tans, ochres and greens of the North Dakota badlands were all around.

(One of us leaned into the cowboy culture extra hard while in North Dakota. Three guesses who.)

Before we knew it, we had reached the valley floor and the badlands were rising all around us. The good news is: the scenery was spectacular – this was one of the most beautiful hikes we did all week. The bad news is: what goes down must go… up.

But before we faced that hot, steep climb, we had plenty of scenery to enjoy. I was still staggered at how beautiful the North Dakota badlands were. This trip was a little bit spur-of-the-moment and, to be honest, I hadn’t thought much about the scenery we’d be enjoying – I was more focused on finding lodging and figuring out which trails were likely to be the right difficulty level for the kids. This beauty was, although not unexpected if I’d been thinking about it, just a wonderful treat.

More prickly pear!

Always on the lookout for exciting wildlife, as we hiked along, I spotted a pair of fuzzy brown ears in the grass. We all stopped to stare (quietly).

Too cute! Eventually something startled him (it wasn’t us, I swear we couldn’t have been quieter) and he hopped away.

Fortified by an adorable bunny, we faced the climb out of the valley with as much good grace as possible. I tucked my phone back in my hiking pants and focused on trucking up the steep section of the trail and we eventually arrived at the top – sooner than expected, actually – red-faced, sweating and huffing, but very happy.

I mean, how could you be anything but happy with a view like that to look at?

Next week: we’re on to our next stop – South Dakota! Lots of adventure in store, so check in: same time, same place.

It will come as no surprise that Theodore Roosevelt National Park is chock full of TR history. (Fun fact: he hated being called Teddy. I also hate being nicknamed, so I felt that.) You don’t have to go far into the park to find places to walk in Roosevelt’s footsteps, either. You can do it just steps from the South Unit park entrance – right behind the visitors’ center, where Roosevelt’s tiny Maltese Cross Cabin is situated. (This isn’t the original spot; the cabin has been moved.)

The anklebiters are no strangers to Presidential residences. We have an annual family membership at Mount Vernon, after all. But the Maltese Cross Cabin is a little more snug than President Washington’s grand mansion.

I loved the rich, knotty, grainy wood of the cabin’s exterior.

And the interior! So cool to think TR touched these very walls.

We checked out his desk and letter-writing spot and joked that he must have sat there to answer Uncle Dan’s fan mail. (Theodore Roosevelt is my brother’s favorite president. I like him too, but my favorite president is a bit more recent. President Obama forever!)

The table all laid out for a hearty meal after a tough day of galloping around the badlands on horseback…

And check out that stove! And the teapot – and waffle iron! How cool.

I will say that as cozy and inviting as the kitchen appeared, the bedroom – not so much. That bed looks uncomfortable, no?

We didn’t spend much time here – it would have been hard to do so; you could see everything there was to see in the span of five minutes. But what a fun little stop, a good way to stretch our legs before we headed out on another long drive, and a nice glimpse into the life of everyone’s favorite Rough Rider.

Next week: it’s time to head back south, but we have one more hike in TRNP on the way!

The more time I spent researching things to do in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the more must-dos I came up with. It seems this park is just jam-packed with iconic hiking trails – including the Petrified Forest Loop Trail, a ten (or maybe more?) mile loop that passes through expanses of prairie and a valley full of petrified tree stumps. Doing the full loop trail was not on the agenda this time – our small hikers are good for a maximum of four miles at a time – but according to the trail reports I was reading, the really cool petrified wood was located approximately 1.5 miles into the longer hike. Now, a three-mile out-and-back… that we could do.

The trail begins on the prairie. There are broad steppes in every direction – we saw a few wild horses grazing atop one of the buttes.

The trail reports cautioned that the prairie part of the hike was a little boring, but you had to press through it to get to the cool petrified wood. I disagreed – I didn’t think the prairie was boring at all. I kept thinking of Laura Ingalls Wilder in On the Banks of Plum Creek, describing the prairie as being full of little rounded hills, dips and hollows – it’s so much more than just a stretch of flat grass.

At least one person in our group did find the prairie section boring, though. Hiking is not Peanut’s favorite activity. I told her to channel her inner Laura Ingalls. That meant nothing to her, because she has not read the Little House books. (She did read the My First Little House series years ago, when she was a preschooler and kindergartner – but it had been a minute.)

Eventually, we reached a trail junction. Our research had indicated that we could take either the North or the South trail and end up at the petrified wood, but the South was a bit faster – so we went that way.

Just as Steve was starting to wonder out loud when we’d be seeing the petrified wood, I spotted some unusually shaped boulders immediately ahead of us. “I’m pretty sure… now,” I replied.

We walked over a little lip in the trail and then started to scuttle down the bare rock face into a valley that was dotted, unmistakably, with petrified tree stumps. It does not get cooler.

We wandered around the petrified forest for almost an hour, taking our time poking into every nook and cranny, examining every piece of petrified wood, and calling each other over to share in all the cool finds.

What a cool hike this was! I’ve found that when hiking with anklebiters, it does help to have a goal. The goal doesn’t need to be a petrified forest – it can be something as simple as a snack picnic at a good turnaround point. But it’s nice to occasionally be able to deliver something with real WOW factor, and the Petrified Forest Loop certainly had that. The kids were suitably impressed. And as we hiked back to the car (scanning for wild horses – saw some – and bison – another strikeout) I started mulling over a trip to Petrified Forest National Park, which I imagine is… like this, but on a grander scale. I can’t say that was high on my list of national parks to visit before, but after this hike it certainly moved up the ladder a few spots.

Have you ever found petrified wood on a hike?

Next week, we check out another one of TR’s Dakota residences. This one has walls!

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is comprised of three separate units: the South Unit, the North Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit. Staying in charming Medora, we spent most of our time in the nearby South Unit. The North Unit was a long drive away, so we quickly decided it wasn’t going to happen on this trip – maybe another time. But we did want to check out another part of the park, so on our second full day in North Dakota, we piled in our rental car and drive two hours to this small park unit.

Side note: the front grill and hood of our rental car became a grasshopper graveyard. Peanut was horrified and disgusted. Nugget was fascinated.

Elkhorn Ranch is famous as the Dakota badlands home of Theodore Roosevelt. While TR had a few different homesteads in the area – including the Maltese Cross Cabin (to be featured in a future post – keep reading!) – Elkhorn Ranch was his primary, and most-loved, home in North Dakota.

For no good reason that I can think of, I was under the impression that this hike led to an actual preserved ranch homestead that we could check out – like the Maltese Cross Cabin – or at least some interesting Old West ruins. But the ranch buildings are no longer standing, and the most a visitor can see is the suggestion of a floorplan. Not sure if it’s not really publicized that the ranch is no longer there, or my poor reading comprehension – the latter, probably. But note to would-be visitors: this is a lovely hike and the views at the end are rewarding, but there’s no ranch house anymore.

About those views…

The hike culminates in a beautiful meadow surrounded by quintessential North Dakota badlands buttes. Just stunning – and the aroma, I can’t even tell you. Let’s just say if you ever get the chance to stand in a meadow surrounded by sage and breathe in, do it.

Worth every minute of that long drive.

Next week: we channel Laura Ingalls, hike the North Dakota prairie, and find some really cool petrified wood.