Day 1- 7 July 2010-Well,it’s 10:12 Mountain time and we have had a full day. I have been up for 19hours and I am trying to blog a bit. We had a great lunch at the Darger’s. Theyare such great people. We gave them a $100 American Express card to show ourappreciation. We arrived at Wind Cave around 6:45 and immediately saw a herd of50 cow elk! We then saw pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, bison, rabbits, muledeer, whitetail deer, and a turkey vulture. Kids were amazed by it all. Severalhundred photos have been taken so far. Kids have been behaving very well.

We are up at 4:30am for the sunrise hike, then back to campfor breakfast and then off on the big all-day hike.

 Internet service is not available tonight and I don’t knowif it will be later. I did try though to post this with a few pictures.Hopefully it will work out.

 Day 2-8 July 2010-Wow!What a day! It started slowly as the girls had issues getting ready at 4:30 am,but we did make it to Rankin Ridge by 5:15. The sunrise was spectacular and thescenery insane. The kids were not terribly “smiley”, but they warmed up as didthe temps. Speaking of temps the weather has been perfect. At 4:30 the temp was42 degrees F. We saw a crazy array of animals today including arattlesnake!!!!! But first things first. We saw about 25 deer on the way toRankin Ridge and the fire tower. We also saw some great bull elk and we gotwithin 10 feet of a huge bull bison. He was licking salt on a gravel road andwe came up right next to him. And we saw many pronghorn antelope as well. Wehiked to Rankin Ridge and then drove around the Park a bit and saw a herd ofbison, a coyote and more elk. Then back to camp for a quick breakfast. Kids atemostly cereal and a few tried the freeze dried eggs. The eggs were not a bighit. We then prepared for the big hike. It took a while to get all our gear andlunches together, but we left at 9am. We reached our departure site at 9:25.Headed out across the prairie and that’s when the fun started. Mr. Labb provedto be an expert detector of bones. He found a bison skeleton and a shed muledeer antler. We also found a pronghorn carcass, another bison skeleton, a fewlive bull bison, more pronghorn, and another coyote. Mr. Labb found a coyoteden and saw three pups. Of course, all the boys wanted to see a rattlesnake andthey constantly kept searching likely areas. We stopped for lunch and watched abig bull bison in a wallow. Then we started the loop back and while walkingdown a heavily rocked area (and I warned the kids to watch for snakes!) andafter 4 people had walked by, Emily screams out, “Rattlesnake!” And sure enoughthere was a 3 ½ foot long prairie rattlesnake. He rattled a bit and then headedoff to a small opening in a rock. He curled up inside faced directly outtowards us. It was very exciting. No one was able to get a photo though.

 Mr. Labb also found a black widow spider in a prairie doghole and even though he was afraid of it, he got a photo. AWESOME!

 The walk back was tough as feet were tired, but the weatherwas incredible. 80 degrees, a nice breeze, wide open prairie, and more bison.We saw another coyote den and a pup too. We got back to the vans at 2. Weprobably hiked a good 10 miles and it was enough. Back to the campground, andshowers! Although no one seemed to want to shower except the chaperones.Finally, two hours later, everyone was clean. Kids wrote in their journals(With great protest. Why do we have to write? Cry, cry, cry. Although quite afew are doing well with their writing) Then they sat around and played somecrazy name game, under Mr. Labb’s direction.

 We cooked beef stroganoff for dinner and then headed intoHot Springs for a walk around town. I treated the kids to a soda at the“DakotaMart” ($35 for everyone!) and then headed back to camp. Craziness issetting as the kids were out of control in the vans. In my van, the topic wasEmma’s video she took of two bison mating. Of course, that led to a spiriteddiscussion of anything and everything. We laughed so hard it hurt. Back to campwith Mr. Labb terrorizing the kids with horror stories. In bed by 10pm.

 Day 3-July 9 2010-Muchbetter at getting up today. We were in the vans by 4:35 and at Rankin Ridge inperfect timing for sunrise. The hike was quite rigorous up to the summit but itwas spectacular. Nice and cool, 40 degrees. Perfect sunrise. The elk we saw onthe way were huge with spreading antlers. We also saw a very old bull bisonthat was quite thin. We saw our first Merriam turkeys of the trip too. Afterhiking down we drove to the southwest corner of Wind Cave and came across anice herd of bison. It is bison mating season (just ask Emma!) and there weresome huge bulls challenging each other. Lots of roaring, rolling inurine-soaked wallows and we were sure there was going to be a fight, but no onestepped up to fight the big guy.

 Back to camp for breakfast and the horse ride at 10:30am.

 Well, the ride was through beautiful scenery, but it was anhour too long. Most of us had our knees cramp up and although no one had saddlesores, we were sore! We went out in two groups of 10 because our group was solarge. It was very leisurely and most of the kids wanted to gallop. Sydney hada very moody horse called Gunther that was the problem child of the ride. Mrs.Daley had her horse break into a full-fledged run! It was great though.

 We came back, made a lunch of freeze dried mac and cheese,rested a bit and then headed out on a 5 mile hike. It was a little hot but itwas a great hike. We split into two groups and hiked trails towards each other,switched keys and took each other’s vans back. Mrs. B’s group cheated, cut offthe trail and then couldn’t find our vans.

 Back by 5:30, dinner of beef stew, journal writing and ourfirst fire of the trip. We don’t have to get up until 5:30 tomorrow, so it’slike sleeping until noon.

There is still so much to do and I wonder if the kids aretruly appreciating all that they are seeing. They have seen so many animalsthey are now almost immune to their appearance. Tomorrow is the cave tour atWind Cave, a wildlife drive, and maybe laundry!

Day 4-July 10, 2010-upat 5:30 and in the vans by 6 to go on a drive to look for wildlife. Everyoneseems so tired today and we slept for an hour longer! Must be sleepdeprivation. Kids are doing a better job on their journals, especially thegirls. Some are writing for an hour before bedtime. The boys, not so much…

 We drove the wildlife loop in Custer and at first did notsee too much. But then we saw a pronghorn female with twins. They wereadorable. We then hiked up this very steep hill to a small cave. Treacherousclimbing with lots of lose shale. Great view from the top.

Then the big event, the burros. The herd seems bigger andwere they ever begging for food. The kids loved them (as did the chaperones)and there was a multitude of colors. There were a few foals and quite a fewmares that were pregnant. Much to Emma’s dismay there was no mating occurring.

 After the wildlife loop drive we came back to camp forbreakfast. One group of 10 left at 8:30 to go to Wind Cave for the first cavetour. The others stayed in camp, called parents, wrote in journals and cleanedup camp. We ate a lunch of chilli mac and beef before leaving.

 We had our cave tour at 1:30, so we met the other half ofour group at the visitor’s center and made plans for later. Our tour was great.The cave is so cool, narrow passageways, fantastic boxwork, and the cans withthe candles for light were an experience. We had the same guide that we had forour group last year. She rushed us a little bit, but it was OK.

 We met the other “gang” at 3:30 and drove into Hot Springsfor food supplies and we experienced an awesome prairie thunderstorm. Lightinglike you would not believe. Everyone took pictures and Cam got some incredibleshots.

 I then sprung a surprise on the kids by taking them topizzahut for dinner. You might think they had been eating freeze dried food fora year! As expected, the boys are adapting to the food better than the girls.

 Then back to camp, writing in journals. The kids have beenplaying catch with a football and we have a neighbor who has a young boy (5?)who has been dying to play. They have been great to him and let him play a lot.His name is Carson and he really admires Spencer and Cam. He even calls them bytheir names! His father doesn’t seem to appreciate  his son playing with our kids, but I don’t know why.

 We left at 8:15 for the evening program at Wind Cave. Therangers were giving a talk about the re-introduction of the black-footed ferretin 2007. Afterwards we all walked out into a prairie dog town with a bigspotlight to search for ferrets. The ferrets are nocturnal and their eyes shinegreen when hit with a bright light. This helps the rangers document the ferretpopulation. The night sky was spectacular as there was not a street or houselight anywhere and we could see every star in the sky. It took your breathaway. Of course, Mrs. Berthiaume was worried about snakes and said many badthings about me. We heard coyotes howling and saw pronghorn antelope, but noferrets. We called it quits at 10:30pm.

 On the way back to camp was when things really got fun. Wewere looking everywhere for wildlife and we spotted a herd of 30 or so elk onthe prairie. There was one HUGE bull and a bunch of cows and calves. We wereprobably 100 feet from them. My van load of kids went crazy. After driving abit more we came on some more elk and a bull bison that scared Mrs. Daley outof her wits. He was very close to us and his beady,  red eyes were devil eyes.

We arrived at camp around 11:15 and everyone raced to bed. Inever saw such a tired group of kids, and chaperones!

 Day 5-July 11, 2010-Ilet them sleep in today until 6:30 am and they told me it felt like they hadslept forever. Some have even professed the thought of getting up at 4:30doesn’t sound so terrible anymore…

 I got up early and went for a solo drive looking forwildlife and I was not disappointed. I saw three coyotes and two were beingchased by a very irate doe pronghorn antelope. I hopefully recorded someexcellent video.

 Today was chaperone appreciation day, so we went out tobreakfast at the BlueBell Lodge. This excited the gang to no end. We had agreat breakfast and Nick ate everyone’s leftovers. Of course, that didn’tamount to much.

 We left at 9:15 for the ride to Jewell Cave. This cave isdecidedly different than Wind Cave. Huge, cavernous rooms, lots of geodes, 721stairs, and many interesting formations. Our guide was a rookie, so the tourwas marginal, but the sights made up for any shortcomings.

 After the cave tour we drove into the town of Custer forwhat was supposed to be a relaxing couple of hours of lunch and browsing. Instead,we were met with the most fierce thunderstorm/hailstorm I have ever seen.Quarter to golf ball sized hail fell, pelting the streets and vehiclesunmercifully. I was frantic that the vans would get damaged but there was nowhere to hide. The water was rushing down the side streets in torrents and mainstreet was so covered in hail that you could actually lose control of thevehicle. Wait until you see these pictures and video! It finally stopped andthe kids went to DQ for lunch. We spent about 2 hours in town and then headedback to camp. The storm had hit camp as well and it was raining very hard whenwe got back. We intended to go search for the burros but decided to updatejournals and take a break while it was raining.

 Overall, the gang is doing very well. Clean-up has beengood, the camp site is reasonably clean, and the cabins…well, not so much.Although in my humble opinion, the boy’s cabins are neater than the girls’. Thekids are being very cooperative and helpful, mostly polite, and becoming numbto the wildlife. That is almost inevitable because we see something at everyturn.

 We have had some great laughs and at times, have beenbrought to tears in hysterical fits of laughter. The kids have some greatstories, but what happens in South Dakota stays in South Dakota…

 This is my fourth year doing this trip with Tantasquastudents and every year has its own sights, memories, mysteries, and yes,problems. But, it is always different.

Day 7-July 13, 2010-Movingday! I rose at 5 as did Mrs. Berthiaume and Mrs. Daley. We took showers andthen headed out to look for the bison herd. Karl also got up at 5 because hewanted to take a shower before hiking with Mr. Labb. Everyone else slept in.

The bison van drove into Wind Cave and began a search forthe buffalo. We finally found them in the far eastern section of the Park. Wehad to drive about 5 miles down a gravel road, but at least we found them.There was a lot of activity but Mrs. B did not get to see her fight. She hasbeen desperate to see two mature bulls lock heads.

While we were gone, Mr. Labb and Karl hiked to the top of ahuge hill outside our camp. When they got back to camp Mr. Labb cracked thewhip and swung the gang into action. By the time we arrived back at camp, thegang was packed and ready to leave. It was awesome. We were able to leave at8:45 instead of the planned 10am.

We drove north to Rapid City, stopped at Wal-Mart for morefood (what else??), and then headed to the town of Wall. We arrived at 12:16.The kids were allotted until 2:30 to eat, shop, and rummage through Wall Drugand its associated stores. Everyone had a blast and there was many aninteresting photograph taken.

Each year on this trip I buy a pair of boots at the westernstore and this year I bought bison boots. I tried to convince of the boys tobuy a pair but no luck.

By 2:45 we were ready for the drive to the Badlands. It tookapproximately 45 minutes to get there, but wow! What a spectacular scene. Thenegative? It was 97 degrees F. Ouch! That means most of our hiking will have tobe VERY earlyin the morning and at dusk. There is absolutely no shade here.

Everyone has their own real bed, a shower to a room, realpillows and sheets, and I heard many a, “This is awesome!” comment from thegang. See how easy it is to please them?

Once we were all checked in at the cabins, I gave the kids acouple of hours to settle in, relax, write, and think about tonight’s gruelinghike. This is the night of the rope ladder hike. It will be fun to see how theyhandle it.

Dinner prep began 6 and it took forever. We didn’t leave until7:30 and it was hot. We hiked the notch trail and we hadn’t gone more than 200feet when I spotted a rattlesnake on the trail. Just a small one 18-24 inches.Everyone got to see him and exclaimed he had a “baby rattle.”

The hiking was fun and the views were awesome. When we gotto the notch, it took your breath away it was so beautiful.

The rope ladder was a big hit on the hike, especially goingdown.

We arrived back at the cabins around 9 and we watched a slideshow I put together of the photographs I have taken so far. Everyone enjoyedit. Then we crashed with 4:30 coming very fast tomorrow.

Day 8-July 14, 2010-Upat 4:30 today for a sunrise hike on the Window Trail. Unfortunately, there weremany clouds and we only got a glimpse of the sun. BUT, the good news was thatwe saw 4 bighorn sheep feeding. One was a large full-curled ram. They werepretty far away but we could see them clearly. Awesome is the only word to use.

 The temperature was cool, but not as cool as we experiencedin the Black Hills. After the hike we came back for breakfast and then preparedfor our 6 mile hike on the Castle Trail. We split into two groups and hikedtowards each other again. All eyes were on watch for a rattlesnake. Mr. Labbheard one and He and Mrs. B’s group found a dead one but no visuals were made.The snake they found was small, 16 inches or so. Cam carried it back to thecabins and we cut the rattle off and also examined the head.

 Everyone, particularly Spencer, was looking for fossils aswell and Mr. Labb found an awesome prehistoric sheep jaw bone with the teethintact. We marked it and reported it to the Park service. The kids were veryexcited about it. They found lots of ancient sea shells, snail  fossils and a few leg bone pieces.

 The hike took 5 hours and we were back around 1pm. We hadlunch and then everyone took a two hour break to update journals, nap, shower,or whatever.

 We left at 3:30 for a walk to the visitor’s center where welooked at the displays and watched a movie about Badlands National Park. Cameback to the cabins, sat and talked a bit and then made dinner. Tonight was amixture of various foods. Chilli-mac, stroganoff, beef stew, etc.

But the big news was our appetizer. There is a plague of grasshoppers around here and they are quite large. So, I suggested we capture a bunch and fry them up. The kids went grasshopper hunting and brought back a dozen large hoppers. I removed the wings and fried them up, added a  little hot sauce and man! Who ate them? Me, Spencer, Sydney, Emily, Elliot, and Collin. We videotaped the whole thing.

 After dinner we drove to the west end of the Park. It was avery different view than what we have seen so far. It was a beautiful sunsettoo. On the way back, Charlie spotted a female big horn sheep and her lamb justresting on one the formations very close to the road. We were out of our mindswith excitement over that. We got some excellent photos.

 When we got back to the cabins at 9, I treated everyone toice cream. You might think I bought them all a new car!

 The kids then played football under the car lights with alocal young boy who is only 7 and this kid has the arm of Tom Brady. He wastelling stories about shooting prairie dogs, eating rattlesnake, and he was one tough little kid.

 Everyone turned in around 9:30 and they can sleep in until 6:30 tomorrow.

 Hard to believe we have only two days left.

Day 9-July 15, 2010-Sleptwicked late today-6:30am! It felt like it was noon when we woke up. Even thekids said they felt more tired today than when they wake up at 4:30. Did youhear that parents????

 Chaperones went for coffee at the restaurant while the kidsate breakfast and prepared for today’s excursion. We departed at 9am and did ashort hike through Cedar Pass. It was a “walk-way” hike, nothing like the gangis used to hiking. Scenery was nice though.

 Then into the vans for the two hour ride to Wounded Knee.Guess what? The kids slept most of the way. How fair is that? The sleepdeprivation is setting in big time.

 Seeing the “memorial” at Wounded Knee is best described assobering. We only spent an hour there, but it produced some good conversationon the relationship between the conquering Europeans and the native Americans.“Sad” was a word often used.

 The ride back to the cabins was long and tough. I had zerosupport as Spencer, Amanda, Mikayla Locke, McKenna, and Nick were all passedout in my van. It was so bad I listened to rap music to keep my focus. We gotback to the cabins around 1:15pm and the kids started packing. I much as I hateto admit, they are excited about coming home. I want them to be sad they areleaving. In 9 days the sights they have seen are remarkable. The list ofanimals they have seen includes:

 Rattlesnakes

Big Horn sheep (ram, ewe, and lamb)

Rocky Mountain Elk (bulls, cows, calves)

Bison (bulls, cows, and calves)

Prairie dogs

Mountain Blubebirds

Coyotes

Pronghorn antelope

Mule deer

Whitetailed deer

Vultures

Merriam’s turkeys

Magpies

Marmot

Desert Cottontail

Redheaded woodpecker

Burros

Black widow spider

Western Meadowlark

Vulture

Owl (species?)

Little brown bats

Biting flies

Ticks

Dung beetle

Grasshoppers

 We rested a bit and then everyone began packing fortomorrow. We got lots done and will be able to get out of here quickly in themorning.

 Dinner was spaghetti and meat sauce and it was pretty good.Blueberry cheesecake and raspberry crumble for dessert.

 After dinner we split into two groups to do an evening hike.Some wanted to hike saddle pass and others the notch. Mrs. Daley and I tookCharlie, Nick, Elliot, and Karl to the notch and Mrs. B and Mr. Labb took therest of the gang to saddle pass. It was a beautiful evening for hiking.Perfect. We all arrived back at the cabins at the same time as if wecoordinated it. 9 pm.

 The kids danced to Mr. Labb’s music after we got back andthen everyone called it a night and crashed. Tomorrow is an optional 4:30 am risefor the sun rise.

 July 16-Day 10-I gotup at 4:30 for the sun rise hike and anticipated having everyone ready to go.But no, much to my dismay, I went solo. It was a beautiful morning and the sunrise was spectacular. The colors in the rocks in the early morning light arejust beautiful.

 I am taking everyone out for breakfast today at the lodgerestaurant. The kids are wicked excited as it is an all you can eat buffet.

 Almost can’t fathom that today is day 10 and we are leaving.

 The second leg of our flight is already delayed 45 minutesand it’s only 6:30 in the morning!

Here is our flight schedule: