Day #8 - June 21, 2010

Hot Springs, SD to Wounded Knee, SD to Casper, WY
383 Miles

I spent last night in Hot Springs, SD and early this morning toured The Mammoth exhibit, an indoor excavation site. During the Ice Age, woolly mammoths, camels, lions, wolves, and giant bears roamed this area and became trapped about 26,000 years ago, leaving these fossil remains. The fossils were first discovered in the 1960's, I think, and a temperature-controlled building was constructed around the site to protect the fossils while allowing paleontologists to work on the site and allowing the public to view it.


While the photos I took do not show clear detail, they give you an idea of the scope of the fosssil find.

We were also able to observe paleontologists working on the site.

Here you can see the facial bones and tusks.

At about 10:00 a.m. I left Hot Springs and drove southeast on Route 18 to the Indian Reservation surrounding Wounded Knee, SD. Along the way this church in the town of Oglala caught my eye.

The town of Wounded Knee is actually a small, very poor village with only one public building that I could detect, the U.S. Post Office.

The Massacre National Historical Site is actually beyond the village about 1/4 mile.

This photo, taken from atop the hill, shows the actual battlefield. According to John, a resident of Wounded Knee who spoke to me at great length of the massacre, in 1890 there were hundreds of tents pitched on these grounds and the U.S. Army fired from the hillside above.

This is the lone monument to the indians killed at Wounded Knee. According to John there are 244 people buried in this mass grave. The monument is in the cemetery on the top of the hill, approximately at the point I took the above photo of the battlefield.

This is the Visitor Center at the memorial.

About 1:00 p.m. I drove south into Nebraska and took route 20 west into Wyoming. I eventually want to reconnect with the Lincoln Highway in Wyoming where I left it two days ago.

I bought a sandwich for lunch and stopped at this Buckaroo Park in Van Tassell, WY. I was the only one in the park and it was a chance to reflect on the Wounded Knee experience.

I then drove farther west on route 20 to Casper, WY and checked into my motel.

This evening I attended another Minor League (Rookie Division) baseball game, the Casper Ghosts (Rockies) versus the Ogden Raptors (Dodgers) at Mike Lansing Field.

The pitching was pretty erratic for both teams, but it was good baseball, the crowd of 2,018 was enthusiastic, and a good time was had by all. The Ghosts won 6-4.

I had a wide variety of experiences today and I enjoyed them all. Tomorrow I'll head back toward the Lincoln Highway and continue my journey eastward.