badlands, hot spring, disappearing river, drive to jackson, elk reserve

from the last post i went back to the badlands, i was going to hike around but its just way to cold for that. i like it was 15 degrees and very windy. then i went into rapid city for a night on the town. first i made couscous in a parking lot. i met a group of people from deadwood and hung out with them for awhile. then i met two guys from the area that were travelers themselves. i ended up being able to stay on one of the guys couch. he lives in a mansion over looking the whole city. the next day i drove to thermopolis wy. i went to the hot spring for about 2 hours. i stayed in a gas station parking lot. today i drove to jackson wy. on the way i stoped at the disappearing river. i did a little fishing there and caught 2 trout, at the reappearing side of the river. i went over to the disappearing side and got some really cool pictures of the ice flowing over the river. a also went off the beaten path and found a mans wallet and a woman's purse. they are thawing in my car right now. i hope to be able to call the owners and let them know what happen to there lost goods. the drive to jackson was pretty rough. just about a white out then whole way. when i finally arrived here i went on a tour of the elk reserve. its 27000 acres, with 3000 elk, 600 buffalo, a few moose, and several types of birds. i only saw the elk. im going to be staying here a few days, there is alot to do here. im snowboarding for a day, snowmobiling for a day, fishing for a day, and snowshoeing around a lake. its a fun town too, so i plan on staying the weekend here.

 prairie dog in badlands. there are tons of them

r

 in the badlands

 making dinner

 hot spring

 you could see trout right through the ice. there were many 30 inches +

 the first one, about 16 inches

 number 2 about 12

 this is where i was fishing

 this is where the river disapears 

 this is out of order buts its the elk reserve

 a frozen log

 i saw like 10 of these. there everywhere