Cross Country Day 10 - Lead, South Dakota – Spearfish, South Dakota – Gillette, Wyoming – Worland, Wyoming

To get out of South Dakota, we left Lead, SD on 85 South, then took route 14 to Spearfish, SD. The drive on route 14 to Spearfish took us through some of the most impressive parts of the Black Hills National Forest. Simply gorgeous scenery - trees, forests, and massive rock formations and mountains. See below for pictures.

Reflecting on the trip thus far, I have to say I am most impressed with South Dakota. It has a variety of gorgeous country side terrain - including the prairie/grasslands, Badlands and Black Hills. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for adventure/scenery to spend some quality time in this beautiful state.

From Spearfish, SD we jumped on I90 West toward Wyoming. We contemplated taking the back roads, but decided to take the highway to save time. I'm glad we did - eastern Wyoming proved to be a very barren. Like the Nebraska and Iowa border, the South Dakota and Wyoming border coincided with a drastic change in terrain. Eastern Wyoming is like a desert or Tundra. Very dry, HOT (temps were in the 90s), and dust/sand plains with small shrubs - very few trees. It was like this for miles, until we hit Buffalo, Wyoming, where we could start seeing giant mountains looming in the distance (West). I saw my first oil drill in eastern Wyoming as well - a good number of them litter the terrain near the highway. Pretty darn ugly if you ask me.
　　
We got off I90 at Buffalo and took the VERY scenic 16 toward Worland (about 90 miles away). Route 16, also known as the Powder River Pass, climbs over the Big Horn Mountains, one of the largest and most spectacular mountain ranges in Wyoming. Only mountains in the northwestern corner of the state surpass the Big Horns in height. The climb up the mountains was incredible, but a bit scary - PX bogged down a little and struggled going up some of the hills with speed (could maintain about 40 mph). Also, the temperature dropped from 90 degrees in Buffalo to 50 degrees as we passed over the mountain, hitting a max altitude of 9,666 feet (Go PX!). I nearly froze.

The sun went down halfway into the Powder River pass, so I couldn't take pictures. Even without sunlight, you could see these enormous mountains and rock structures towering over the road. I really wish I could go back during daylight hours to snap pictures. Next time.

Total miles - Day 10: 330 Miles

Black Hills

























Wyoming - Highway








Powder River Pass (9,666 feet)