[gal://2003/07_july/to_smith_falls_NE_07022003/04_smith_falls_07022003.jpg]I finally made it to Smith Falls, NE on what is my longest planned\ndrive of the trip. I left Pikes Peak, IA at 6A CDT this morning, and\ndrove for almost 11 hours to get here. Quite a long drive, but at the\nend of it, Smith Falls is pretty dang impressive. But first, before I\nforget, I should talk slightly about Pikes Peak.\n\n[gal://2003/07_july/to_pikes_peak_IA_07012003/14_bridal_veil_falls_07012003.jpg]Pikes Peak is a pretty interesting place right on the IA side of the\nMississippi river where the Wisconson river comes in. It's about 8\nmiles south of the Mounds National Monument, and there are a few\nmounds inside the state park as well. The mounds are rather\ninteresting. I suppose if you were to suddenly come upon one, you\nprobably wouldn't even know it, as they're pretty unassuming for the\nmost part. In fact, untill I saw more than one of them, I thought it\nwas just a interesting coincidence. Unfortunatly, I didn't actually\nget to go to the National park's mounds, as I was pressed for time,\nand it was nearing dusk when I arrived. However, I took a pretty\ndecent panorama of the Wisconson side from the Iowa side, so it will\nbe interesting to see how that turns out.\n\n[gal://2003/07_july/to_pikes_peak_IA_07012003/06_wisconsin_river_joining_mississippi_07012003.jpg]One of the other pictures is of a deer that was watching me watch it\nas I wandered over to a minature falls called Bridal Veil. For those\nof you who have seen the big Bridal Veil falls at Yosemite, this was\nits midget third cousin. (But still neat in its own little way.)\n[Interesting (or depressing?) side note: Mosquitoes in Pikes Peak are\nnasty. I think I got bit about 20 times, most of them look pretty\nugly. Worse, the dumb mosquitoes were so huge that their anesthetic\ndoesn't work very well, so I spent most of the time while cooking\ntrying to beat the buggers off while avoiding blowing up my stove.]\nAfter leaving Pikes Peak, I drove, and drove, and drove, and\ndrove. 600 miles in single day is alot of driving, especially when\nmost of it is done at 55-60mph (US 20 for about 450 of those\nmiles). But arrive here safely I did. [There are a few pictures of the\ndrive... US 20 adroitly avoids most property lines, but for miles on\nend it is arrow straight (although it does go up and down hills.)]\n\n[gal://2003/07_july/to_smith_falls_NE_07022003/11_don_armstrong_at_smith_falls_07022003.jpg]Smith Falls itself is about 14 miles East of Valentine, NB on NB\n12. It's a small park with about 12 or so car acessible spots, and\nabout 20 primitive sites. I got slotted into one of the car spots,\nwhich is ok... although it really didn't matter to me. The Niobrara\nriver burbles away right behind me (and a few canoeists have floated\nbuy in the time I've been typing this.)\n\n[gal:///2003/07_july/to_smith_falls_NE_07022003/09_smith_falls_07022003.jpg]The falls itself are pretty impressive, apparently the largest falls\nin all of Nebraska. No where near as tall as the falls in my favorite\nplace, Havasupai, but still pretty nice, and definetly more than I was\nexpecting.\n\nAnyway, I'm going stick the pictures on this machine, and then close\nup shop; I need both hands free to stave of flies.\n