Archived Entry for August 26th 2009 Part II:
By the time we left Wind Cave the air was hot, a skin-splintering prairie heat that kept getting hotter. My mom and I opted to drive south eleven miles to the historic town of Hot Springs S.D. and let me tell you that this portion of our adventure was filled with drama and somewhat unwelcome excitement.
Hot Springs S.D. is a charming town with beautiful nineteenth century buildings and Native American and Old West history. It was recently named as a 2009 Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation due to its mix of history and the towns commitment to preservation and building a better community.
Hot Springs is an excellent day trip for those vacationing in Custer State Park and or The Black Hills. It's topography is contrasts to the lushness of the Black Hills near Mt. Rushmore and is a mix of prairie and foothills. The site was sacred to many native peoples due to the natural warm springs within the town's boundaries. These springs are warm, not really hot anymore, and offer healing properties.
Sandstone structures dating from the 1880s still line the downtown streets. Although the down economy has forced some restaurants to close up shop - this town is still full of life - with historic hotels, over 400 hotel rooms in a town of roughly 3,000. Lots of historic bathhouses and spas are open for business, and a nice downtown trail showcases the warm springs and natural beauty of the region. I suggest by starting off your tour of Hot Springs at the 1890s Railroad Depot, which has been transformed into a very nice visitor center.
Area attractions include Evan's Plunge - a water park using the healing warm spring water the town is named for, The Black Hills Horse Sanctuary - where the movie Hidalgo was filmed, a golf course, and the Mammoth Site.
My mom and I really wanted to see the Mammoth Site, but we are a little strapped for cash, and all of our money goes for the campsite, gas and food. However we still wanted to at least stop by the Mammoth Site visitor center to pick up some brochures and learn what we could about a significant natural history site.
The Mammoth Site is one of the most significant Natural Historical sites in the world, and is a worthy detour for anyone in the area. Located just outside downtown Hot Springs is the site of a karst sinkhole, which contains the remains of fauna and flora preserved by entrapment during the Pleistocene era and Ice Age.
During the Ice Age, mammoth, camel, and giant short-faced bear roamed the Great Plains of North America and this portion of South Dakota. The Mammoth site's history begins 26,000 years B.C. when the cavern at the site collapsed, resulting in a steep karst sinkhole, running 65-feet deep, and at one point was 120 by 150 wide at the surface. The same warm artesian-fed springs, which are present in the area today, created a pond in the sink hole, which attracted wildlife. From time to time, animals who stopped by for water would fall into the sinkhole after drinking water as they were unable to gain a foothold to escape. The sinkhole was a deathtrap.
The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs S.D. is the preeminent site for Mammoth research and is the largest mammoth paleontological site in the world with over fifty-five Mammoths found to date. The majority of mammoth remains have been identified as Columbian Mammoths, however Woolly Mammoths have been found in the sinkhole as well.
The Mammoth Site is a non-profit research agency founded in 1974, with the advent of the discovery of the natural history site. Year round scientists from around the world working to excavate fossils and study the natural history of the area. Admission is $25, and gives tourists a first hand look at excavation, Mammoth fossils, and an informative thirty minute tour. It is open year-round!
For more Information visit the Mammoth Site
After a brief tour of the site, we couldn't afford the price of admission - not because it was over priced we just didn't have the funds readily available, my mom and I stopped by the nearby National Wildlife Visitor Center office at Buffalo Gap - which is the base for the National Grasslands and Prairie.
The rangers were very friendly and suggested we drive south ten-miles to beautiful Cascade Falls, a popular picnic area and watering hole for locals. My mom and I thanked them for their advice and headed over to Cascade Falls. It was then that our trouble began.
It is important to note that we are fully out of the mountains and into HOT and I mean TORRID HOT prairie, filled with more grasshoppers than you've ever seen, and tall grasses and sunburned skin just by sitting in the car...HOT and flat land. The sky is big, the grass tall and at times you feel lost. This topography makes sense if you look at the map - we were just forty minutes away from Nebraska and in the middle of the Great Plains.
The signage for Cascade Falls wasn't the best, and we found ourselves a little lost. We kept driving thinking the Park was just another mile or so, but all we found were miles of desolation, ranches, and cows. The heat was brutal, and our air conditioner just ran hot air.
It was about this time I happened to look down at the dash and it wasn't good. I had noticed the car had been making a gurgling sound in the past few minutes and I now knew why - the water gauge was way atop the danger zone. Like a scene from a movie our car was overheating in the middle of a desolate prairie in an area with no cell-phone reception and the chance of cars passing by. It was time to PRAY!
I pulled into a turnout for a ranch and we let the car cool off for about twenty minutes, however the heat on the prairie and splintering sun beaming down on the hood of the Oldsmobile only made things worse. My mom and I decided our best option was to try to drive the twenty some miles back to Hot Springs and get to a service station.
As we drove north toward the town of Hot Springs, 'Warning' Lights came on and flashed, making me only more anxious. I kept praying that we could 1) Reach a gas station and 2) get somewhere with cell-phone reception so I could call AAA. We had $150 for two more weeks, barely enough to pay for a rental car for a few days let alone get the car fixed. Panic could easily have set in, but I kept my faith and God heard my prayers.
About ten-minutes later we saw the parking lot for Cascade Falls ( yes we'd passed it thinking it was a turn out, as the falls aren't visible from the road, they are down a cliff backing up to the parking lot.) We decided it best to stop as the car could only go a max of twenty-miles per hour...
Plan A - We waited ten minutes, parking the car under a sole shade tree with hopes it would cool off - not so lucky...car would start period at the end of that period...
Plan B- I had tried Triple AAA, but had been on hold for 25 minutes...My mom went down to the falls and swimming hole, which is very beautiful - the water is comprised of the healing Hot Springs and if you watch for Poison Ivy cliff side - is a nice place to stop. She filled up a Nalgene bottle with water and we dumped it a top the car hood, hoping cool water would cool down the car - didn't work....
Plan C - God steps in! I know some people don't believe in answered prayers, but I don't know a better example of God's answered prayers. Just as we felt destined to beg and grovel for a Western Union express from our relatives (who would not be happy to comply) my mom started talking with a fellow traveler named Summerhall. He was in his sixties, traveling from Dallas on to Yellowstone. In a past life he'd been a car mechanic and offered to look at the car.
He quickly confirmed that the water was low and the car was overheating. In some weird twist of fate, Summerhall had ten gallons of water jugs in his car (for camping), more than enough to refill the water in our car and get us on the road again. After pouring water in the gauge until it was full, the gauge went down to nearly zero. He then double-checked the engine and said we were good to drive home and wouldn't have anymore problems with the car. How many people have that expertise and carry that much water in his car (camping or not). It was serendipity and I am still grateful for Mr. Summerhall and God's answered prayers.
He followed us into Hot Springs. My mom and I parked the car in town in a shaded area and let it sit for an hour to fully cool off. We took this time to explore Hot Springs and eat some ice-cream in an old-time fountain in town known as The Blue Buffalo. We also explored a historic Episcopal Church in town and toured the Visitor's Center.
We drove our car back to Custer around five-thirty. In what turned out to be a crazy day we were happy to relax over a picnic dinner at Legion Lodge in Custer before heading back to our campsite at Center Lake...
For more on Hot Springs:
*Pictures - Top Left - Prairie and Pronghorn, Top Right - Downtown Hot Springs Trail
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