Gribblenation

After a great day at Rocky Mountain National Park, it was time to go in a new direction - North - and into the Black Hills of South Dakota. Route: I-25, US 85, US 18, SD 89, US 385, SD 87, US 385, SD 244, US 385, US 16 With it being offseason in the Black Hills, we ended up staying the night in Rapid City.  It made travel a lot easier. Photo Set on Flickr: Wyoming Road Trip - Day 5 The night before, a cold front came through Cheyenne.  The wind gusts shook the old windows of the rental.  And in the morning, the drive north on US 85 was full of grey flannel skies with complimentary chilling drizzle.  I was surprised that there was more traffic than I expected on US 85 between I-25 and US 26 in Torrington.  Once beyond Torrington and Lingle, any vehicles on US 85 became nearly non-existent; and the weather improved.  A progression of improving skies along US 85 in Eastern Wyoming. At Mule Creek Junction, it was a right turn onto US 18 and into South Dakota....

Following spending the night in Belle Fourche my destination was in North Dakota in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  From US Route 212 in Belle Fourche it was a solid 174 miles north to Interstate I-95 on a desolate stretch of US Route 85. This blog entry serves as Part 11 of the 2016 Mountain Trip series, Part 10 can be found here: 2016 Summer Mountain Trip Part 10; Devil's Tower National Monument US Route 85 north of Belle Fourche in South Dakota traverses through rural Butte County and Harding County.  Between Belle Fourche and the North Dakota State Line there isn't much to capture the interest.  The site of interest I did find was the ghost town of Redig in southern Harding County.  Oddly Redig is something I've never been able to find much information on as it rarely ever appears on historical maps.  The community has an abandoned service station that appears to have been last in use in the mid-20th century.  There was no apparent signs of ...

Back in 2012 I visited an old alignment of US Route 85 and Elephant Butte Lake on the Rio Grande River. Elephant Butte Lake is the largest Reservoir in New Mexico with a maximum surface area of over 36,000 acres.  Elephant Butte Dam was constructed from 1911 to 1916 and was at the time the largest dam built for the sole purpose of irrigation water impounding. When US Route 85 was first signed it was routed through what is now the City of Elephant Butte on New Mexico State Route 195.  US 85 would have ran briefly along the west bank of Elephant Butte Lake to modern NM 179 where it continued to Hot Springs (Modern Truth or Consequences) on modern NM 51.  According to Steve Riner's New Mexico Highway site US 85 was routed on the current alignment of NM 195, NM 179 and NM 51 until the 1940s when it was shifted to the modern alignment of NM 181. steve.riner.com on NM Highways 176-200 steve-riner.com on NM Highways 51-75 The shift in US 85 can be seen by comparing ...