320 miles, 11.3 hours.

Since the temperature was very comfortable and I was headed to Jewel Cave (where it would be very cold), I slept in and took my time getting started this morning. Because of that, I met my campsite "neighbors". They were Canadian with three kids and a popup trailer, traveling into the US for their first time. They were asking me a lot of questions about if it was worthwhile to visit Yellowstone. I told them it certainly was, and gave them a Wyoming/Idaho/Montana campground book that I was still carrying. They were incredibly thankful and gave me a couple pieces of fruit in return. I was just happy to not be carrying a thick book any longer than I had to!

Once I got going, I went out to Jewel Cave. The land near Jewel Cave had a pretty bad forest fire in 2000, which was sort of interesting to see. The trunks of the trees were standing but obviously not alive.

While I was waiting for my tour, I hiked around the top of the entrance to Jewel Cave. There were some interesting flowers and animals to be seen. It's amazing how a half-mile hike can get you away from the large crowds who never leave the Visitors Center and guided tour.

Jewel Cave itself is larger- both in total size and in passageways. Some of the rooms were HUGE. You could easily fit an average American home in them. The formations were much different, too. Where Wind Cave was fairly plain except for the box formations, the walls of Jewel Cave were often coated in crystals that had grown together and formed a crust over the limestone that was several inches thick. There were very beautiful variations in rock colors as well as many different formations.

When I was ready to leave Jewel Cave, the day was really heating up. It was about 12:45 and the temperatures must have been in the high 80s already- and I was at a fairly high elevation (above 5400 feet!). I headed west to go through Hell Canyon, then south on 85 and east on 18. Both of these highways were incredibly boring- they would be almost arrow-straight for dozens of miles on end. The barely rolling grasslands were interesting, though. Occasionally you'd see a small herd of cattle, but mostly it was cars, trucks hauling trailers of bikes, and bikes.

After going through Hot Springs, I headed east on 18, north on 79, then took dirt roads east into the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It was nice to do something a little different than being on the highways and freeways.

The DL650, fully loaded, is a little bit of a handful on gravel. It has a tendency to tankslap, which also means it can be twitchy on some dirt and gravel surfaces. It certainly isn't my favorite, but it does handle them acceptably. I had one little moment- the dirt road became very rutted from water draining down it, and I didn't see it coming. So I was in the ruts going about 40mph when the bike started wiggling much more than I was comfortable. I said a few creative words in my helmet but managed to keep it upright.

Three of the highlights of this gravel and dirt experience revolve around animals. First, I ran into a medium-size herd of cows on the road. I had to split them, which is always interesting. Second, there was a group of horses running on the road. They moved slightly to the side to let me through. It made me (and them) incredibly nervous. I tried to be gentle with the throttle to keep from startling them, but then wicked it up like I'd do to a dog chasing the bike. Finally, there were some antelope (not sure- they had big white butts). The mom went across the road from left to right, but the baby stayed on the left side. He was scared but wouldn't cross the road, so I eventually started to chase him. It was fun (and dangerous!) to be running at 35mph while watching an antelope do the same just a little ways in front of me.

The Indian reservation is the poorest place in the entire country.. and it was fairly obvious as I rode through them. There aren't many jobs available, so there were lots of "missions" and other project businesses. The majority of the residences were mobile homes in various states of disrepair. Pretty sad stuff.

After the reservation and quite a bit of riding, I arrived in the Badlands. All I can say is WOW. That is some of the most unique terrain I've ever seen. The peaks would simply rise up from the valley floor- steep angles with no "foothills" or anything else. The main road through the Badlands went from the valley floor to the tops of the peaks. I think my favorite was the different colors that could be seen on some of the exposed edges. Whites and reds were common, but yellows and blues were also visible on some of them.

After Badlands, the road ends in Wall, SD, the small town famous for Wall Drug. I went in, wandered around, and bought a dish of ice cream. I would have loved to get a Jackalope, but I don't have anywhere to put it (both on the bike and at home).

During this day I started getting stung by some insect. It felt like a bee sting- a very sharp pain that would persist for a few minutes. The difference is that the redness and pain would go away after about 15 minutes. I still don't know what it was- bees? fire ants? It was a very severe pain and would really drive me crazy when it happened.