3320 miles in 5 days exploring the mid West

[sseaman]

For a while now a buddy and myself have taken a longer trip every couple years either backpacking or canoeing and have browsed Expo imagining a road trip with the trip being the destination. As life would have it our schedules have gotten so busy with families and work that this year was flying past us very quickly and he and his wife had number 3 on the way. Around August we pinned down a long weekend on the calendar knowing this was the last window for a while if we were going to make this happen. The hardest part for me is that I normally like to have a plan but we wanted to roam this time with nothing other than start and end dates, maps and a GPS. We decided to head west from the KC area where he lives and then decide north or south depending on the weather forecast. As luck would have it about 10 days out the forecast was looking good to head north so we geared up for that. I bought my JKU last Christmas Eve so we felt comfortable with the vehicle, I added a shelf behind the rear seats to set gear on in case we needed to sleep inside and cut some plywood to cover the gap with the seats laid down. I decided that this trip wasn’t really long enough to mess with taking the rear seat out and building a shelf but it is on the list for future mods. I picked up a small air compressor and sand mats just in case since who knows where we might end up. The Jeep was great on the trip, averaged around 18 mpg over 3320 miles and was very comfortable, the satellite radio was also nice to have along for the ride.

I started out midday on Wednesday from Nashville to Jackson, TN to see my sister, niece and nephews for a bit then headed up the back roads through TN and MO to the KC area.
Crossing from TN to MO

Backroads in MO

Sun setting on Day 1

 

[sseaman]

We decided we wanted to get in Denver mid-morning to hit some outdoor stores and grab some gear, so 2 am we jumped on I-70 and headed west. I drove through the worst fog I have ever seen, visibility was so bad that it wasn’t uncommon to be 15-20 MPH below the speed limit, but the sun finally came up and we could make up some time.
Passing through KS

We go in Denver around 10 am hit a couple stores, had lunch at My Brother’s Bar, which was fantastic. We finished up and hit I-25 heading north to WY.
Bison on the side of I-25

Terrain changing


We exited the interstate near Orin, WY and started our trek on the highways and back roads to Custer, SD.


We arrived after dark, grabbed some pizza at a local joint and found a forest road to camp. We slept in the Jeep the first night to save setting everything up in the dark, and it worked out fine. The temps were in the mid to upper 70’s all day and the low was in the mid 40’s, not bad for late October.
Where we dispersed camped


Friday morning we got up and headed back into Custer for breakfast and to see where we wanted to head for the day. Not much is open since tourist season is over but all we needed was Baker’s Bakery and Café, the food was delicious and we ate a bunch. Passed by Mount Rushmore then decided to make our way towards Lead and Deadwood via the forest roads and spent most of the day in the Black Hills following dirt and gravel paths, this is what we came all this way for.






Mid afternoon we drove through the towns and jumped on I-90 over to Rapid City, Main Street here is full of local restaurants and shops so we grabbed a late lunch at Firehouse Brewing Company, again I would recommend this place.

 

[sseaman]

We headed out from there towards Sage Creek campground in Badlands National Park. The write ups for this campsite said that Bison frequent the area and we were not let down. Driving in we must have seem over 100 bison near the road and a dozen or so roaming the campsite.



We setup the tent and spent some time driving around the park.




It is hard to explain how the terrain changes so quickly and everything we saw in 1 day. While driving through the park we saw Bison, Mule Deer, Bighorn sheep, Pronghorns and Prairie Dogs. We didn’t see any coyote but heard them somewhat close to the tent while sleeping. The forecast for the nearest town had the low at mid 40’s so we expected a little lower but awoke to frost and the Jeep thermometer reading 27.

 

[sseaman]

Saturday morning we packed our things up and headed to Wall, SD. We had seen signs for what seemed like 100's of miles for the Wall Drugstore and figured we were this close we better check it out and have breakfast. The town was pretty quiet being off season but the food was good, we each had an order of sausage biscuits and gravy and a caramel roll, either item would have been more than enough by themselves. We decided to jump on I-90 for a bit them took HWY 83 south. The terrain continued to change as the Badlands slowly went to prairie and then sand dunes as we entered Nebraska.
We split off the highway and explored Fort Niobrara Wilderness, here we were able to spot some Elk, the Bison had already been moved to the winter area.
Elk in the distance

Exiting the park

Some more exploring brought us through the Valentine National Wildlife Reserve then on to the Nebraska National Forest near Thedford. The name is a little misleading as we found out after driving through what mainly seemed like dunes and grassland that this is an area that has been hand planted to try and recreate what was believed to have once been a natural forest. It was a fun little drive either way though. It was now midafternoon and so we started looking at the maps to see where we wanted to camp for the night. We settled on Glen Elder State Park in KS, and headed that way. A quick detour near Lebanon, KS for the Geographic center of the 48 contiguous states and on we went.


With such nice weather for the past week or so the farmers were busy harvesting everywhere we passed, it is fun what you see when not on the Interstates blasting between 2 points.

We arrived at Glen Elder on Waconda Lake and set the tent up near the water as the sun was setting.

We were finally feeling hungry from the big breakfast so found the next closest town with some restaurants, a little mexican and World Series finished the evening off nicely.

Sunday Morning we packed up and hit the road heading towards home, I dropped my friend off around noon in KC and burned up the asphalt to Nashville.
At one point my friend asked me if the trip satisfied my overlanding desire or fueled it for more, the answer was easy, and plans for another trip have begun!!!!

 

[batmn77]

looks fun!

 

[adrstout]

Looks like a fun trip! Glad you guys got the chance to do that.

 

[Willman]

You covered some track!

 

[roverrocks]

Nice trip and report and pictures. Western SD is a great place.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Nice report.

 

[IceCap4runnerORP]

Good stuff, looks like fun.