Wild and Free-Roaming?

It's not often that I'll give a WHOOP! while reading my morning newspaper, but this morning gave me one of those happy moments. Let me explain...about a week ago I read that a number of wild horses contained in BLM holding pens were going to be slaughtered because of budgetary concerns. I wrote to the BLM, our senators, our representative, even a representative from another state. I was still contemplating who else I could voice my concern to when I read in the paper this morning that Madeleine Pickens, wife of T. Boone Pickens, was going to rescue these horses. And not just the ones scheduled for the slaughter house, but *all* of the horses currently held in the holding pens - approximately 30,000 wild horses and burros! (Read a more detailed article) THANK YOU Mrs. Pickens! It's wonderful to have wealthy people with such big hearts in this world who can do such tremendous good!

I'm no expert on the wild horse issues out west, but in simple terms there appears to be some objection by private cattle ranchers to share the land with the wild horses. I came across this video that will explain more:

But this issue is not resolved. Mrs. Pickens has saved the animals currently in the holding pens, but the BLM will continue to remove others from the wild to take their place. The Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 needs to be restored.

So, if you would like to do something to help, here are some ideas:
1. Go to The Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and click on both - Take Action and Sign the Petition
2. Consider donating to one of the current wild horse sanctuaries that have been rescuing these animals over the years:
* Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary - (we've visited this sanctuary in 2005) - in Hot Springs, SD
* The Wild Horse Sanctuary - Shingletown, CA
* Return to Freedom - Lompoc, CA
I'm sure there are other sanctuaries out there, but these are three I'm aware of. Each one could use volunteers, donations of goods, or monetary donations.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about this issue.

Spearfish, SD - Devil's Tower

We took a scenic drive to Devil's Tower today. The campgrounds in the area are closed already, so we didn't have the experience our friends Jim and Chris had - they got to watch the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind on an outdoor movie screen with the real Devil's Tower in the background. Cool. We day-tripped it and took the Tower Trail walk around it to see all sides. It's a geological wonder that does stand out in an area that is generally rolling hills.
Devil's Tower is not considered a "monolith" since it is actually made up of a number of bundled 5- or 6-sided columns. Occasionally a column breaks off and ends up at the base of the tower.


After learning that 8 Indian tribes called this "rock" a name with 'bear' in it, we want to call it Bear Lodge or Bear Tipi or Bear Den, too! The Indians still consider this a sacred place and have several different legends as to how the rock came to look as it does. Most legends revolve around bear claw marks. To respect the Indian's beliefs, the NPS asks rock climbers to voluntarily not climb the Tower during the month of June which holds special sacred meaning for the Indians.
On this tree you can see several prayer flags and prayer bundles.

Spearfish, SD - Termesphere Gallery

As of Thursday most of the roads were cleared and the snow had begun to melt. We visited a local art gallery here called Termesphere. It's very unique. Thankfully the artist, Dick Termes, was there to explain his work. He plays with illusions and vanishing points and paints his work on spheres and other geometrical shapes. His work is painted on the tops and bottoms and around all of the sides of these different shapes, so his art is suspended from the ceiling. Even his art gallery and workshops are geodomes - he got the designs from Buckminster Fuller himself! Check out his site, because that would explain his unique work a lot better than I could put it into words.

Spearfish, SD - Snowed In!

Well, the first snowfall of the year was a “blizzard”. Tuesday started with rain, then sleet and finally towards the evening it changed to snow. By Wednesday morning we had 7 1/2”, according to Andy’s unscientific means of measuring. It was beautiful. We got up early and took a walk around the campground. The sad thing was that there were so many deciduous trees that were still full of leaves: yellows, reds, and some still green. Now that the leaves were covered in ice and snow, many of the trees had bent over in half or snapped from the weight. Many trees lost branches or came down completely; some had branches peel off from every side so they looked like a peeled-banana. It looked like a hurricane had come through. One large tree branch fell on the power line bringing down two telephone poles. And, even though several RVs and cars had branches on them, it didn’t appear anyone suffered damage in the campground. Several locals said it wasn’t surprising to get snow this early in October, but never this much. After breakfast we tried to help out by going around the campground and shaking ice and snow off of trees to prevent them from snapping. We could still hear the “craaacck” of trees breaking as we worked. Hopefully we did some good. It’s a beautiful city campground with the Spearfish Creek running through it and a paved pathway for walkers and bikers, deer and ducks share the campground with us, and tons of these deciduous trees (birches, maples, and oaks, and more). We didn’t want them to lose more than they had to. Here are some winter wonderland pictures:
Not often do we see a campground looking like this
The bike path was closed in several areas from fallen trees
The Mallard Ducks don't seem to mind though
Here's one of the young maple trees we saved
Someone wasn't ready for the storm











Who's ready to go kayaking???

Spearfish, SD - Canyon and Deadwood

Diane actually drove the distance from Badlands to Spearfish, SD. Andy wouldn’t let me til now since the antibiotics and pain meds made me so sleepy he thought I would just nod off driving our 49’ of fun. But I’m now officially clear of drugs. Yippee!

Spearfish is back in the Black Hills, but in the north section, and almost on the border of WY. We came here because it is written up as “naturally inviting”. On our first full day here we drove the Spearfish Canyon. This is another wonderful, scenic drive. And with all of the yellows and golds it is a beautiful time of the year to do it. There aren’t too many hiking trails to be found (or at least that we could find) coming from the canyon. We did stop to see Bridal Veil and Roughlock Falls and an area where Dances With Wolves was filmed.

We circled around to the town of Deadwood. This town has been revived by gambling. Driving down Main St you can almost repeat yourself: Black Hills Gold jewelry store, gambling room, hotel. Just say that over and over and you now know all the stores in town, and almost in order. I’m exaggerating, of course. There is a ton of history here and I’m glad we picked up a brochure on a Walking Tour of the town because we would’ve missed a lot without it. The neat thing is that most of the buildings have been preserved or are under restoration. The poor town has been flooded three times and burned down twice. Most of the buildings now standing are from 1895-ish. This is the town where Wild Bill Hickock was assassinated during a card game. Yeah, gambling was rampant back then, too. And brothels, which several buildings still have girls in windows (well, mannequins).

















At St. Moriah Cemetary you can visit Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and many other well-known folk from Deadwood’s history.

But there was also a great view of Deadwood from the overlook at the cemetary.

Driving south again to go back through Spearfish Canyon, we stopped quickly in the town of Lead (“leed”). As you might expect, most of these towns were born from mining. Lead had a gold mine that was operational until just three years ago when it closed. The “Open Cut” was a huge open pit mining operation – 1800’ wide x 4500’ long x 960’ deep. The rock was beautiful. I wonder what they’ll do with this pit now the mine is closed.

Back in Savoy in Spearfish Canyon, we stopped to do a short hike on the ’76 Trail. Only ¾ mile, but 1,000’ elevation change made for a steep hike. It’s the only trail that will take you to the rim of the canyon. The groves of aspens on the trail were almost as impressive as the view from the rim. Now the sun is starting to set. The colors in the canyon really started to pop now.


Glad we got to enjoy such a beautiful day outside, since today (Tuesday) {editor's note:) since we didn't have access to internet, I'd write the blogs with the hope of uploading them when access was avail, so my dates might seem odd} we are getting freezing rains during the day and snow at night. Isn’t this wonderful – we’re gonna be stuck in another “first snowfall of the year”. Last year it was the first snowfall in the Sierras that caught up with us in Texas. This year, the first snowfall is hitting us in South Dakota. That’s ok, the town of Spearfish looks nice and we’ll take full advantage of their restaurants, arcades, library, and shops. Oh, our heat pump couldn’t keep up with the temperature (hasn’t gone above 40 degrees yet today), so Andy went out and bought a portable heater to keep my nose from falling off AND the RV park has just shut off the water in the campground to keep the lines from freezing. Wish us luck!

Badlands Natl Park

“Otherworldly”. “It’s like landing on Mars”. “This must be where they do all the lunar movies”. These were the types of things we were saying to each other as we hiked the trails of the Badlands.

Even the Lakota Indians called this area “mako sica” for “bad lands to cross”. And, no wonder. With erosion having created deep crevices, limestone bridges, crumbling ridgelines, and steep slopes, it must’ve been impossible to cross this region. Not to mention the lack of water. The clay earth is cracked. Any puddles are chalky white or muddy red. And, in a rainstorm the ground would turn to “gumbo”. Our translation for this term would be a “clay quicksand”.


The one thing I found fascinating is that there is a Badlands Wall. Imagine a “Z” formation: a prairie on the lower level, then a sloping wall of limestone and clay, and then a prairie at the top. So, when we hiked up Saddle Pass, which scales the Wall, I expected there to be a back-side to this “mountain”, but that’s not the case. You are all of a sudden plopped onto the High Prairie. Hiking the upper Castle Trail and Medicine Root Trail are relatively flat hikes in the High Prairie. There are 8 hikes within the north unit of the park. We did them all in the day and a half we explored here. Most of these trails are in the eastern half which is quite dramatic. But the park is “open”. You are actually permitted to hike anywhere off-trail you would like. We did a little off-trail walking when we found something of interest to explore further. But there’s the fear of getting lost in this maze of buttes and crevices or slipping off of a high ridgeline.

We drove the Badlands Loop Road and Sage Creek Rim Road and stopped at the overlooks. The drive is nice because there are so many different types of formations in the park: spiky spires and outcroppings, grassy buttes, Spanish skirts, yellow mounds, etc. And there is quite a bit of wildlife to be seen: Pronghorns feeding on the nutritious short grasses in the Prairie Dog towns, mule deer in the prairies, and big horns relaxing on the rim of the Wall. Out of the 400 bison that are supposed to reside here in the park we saw a whopping ONE. And, we were constantly on the watch for the venomous Prairie Rattlesnake, but never came across any – I guess that’s a good thing.
Here's one of the thousands of prairie dogs...
And a baby bighorn with tiny stumps starting to grow...
And my favorite, a bighorn sitting on the edge of the wall enjoying the view.










We did find fossils, and I’m not talking about the replicas at Fossil Exhibit Trail. During a respite, we sat down and once I started to look around me I started to see small shells and things that looked like corals and sponges. Our first fossil find! We even found several of this type of critter – fish or shell, I’m not sure:

We didn’t venture into the South Unit of the park. There’s only one short scenic drive and no designated hiking trails. Considering this area was previously used by the military as a bombing range, and there are still unexploded ordinances out there, we decided to pass for now.

The battle, or massacre, of Wounded Knee was not too far away from here. It’s just a few dirt roads south into the Pine Ridge Reservation. I understand there’s talk of the Lakota building some kind of a memorial, but for now there’s nothing to see. The history in the West is very interesting, but sometimes it is hard to stomach the things that we did to each other. Wounded Knee was where several hundred Lakota Indians were massacred as they were en route to, of all places, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Heading to the Badlands

After trying to catch up on the blog and posting all those entries it seems like we've done so much here in the Black Hills. Yet at the same time, there is so much left undone. It's a great area with lots to do. Who knows, maybe we'll stop here again some day.

But it's time to move on. We're heading northeast now for the Badlands. We'll be there for a couple of days, then....Well, we're not entirely sure where. A lot of the attractions and campgrounds up here are starting to close for the winter. October 1st seems to be the big 'shut-down' day.

We'll let you know our plan once we devise one!

Custer, SD - Centennial and Mickelson Trails

Well, today we attempted to bike a portion of the Centennial Trail which is a 111-mile trail that starts at Bear Butte State Park in the north and winds south all the way to Wind Cave N.P.. We knew we weren’t permitted to take our bikes on the trail in Wind Cave, but in Custer State Park it is considered a multi-use trail (hikers, bikers, horses) and we were really looking forward to getting on a section of this trail. We finally found Badger Hole trailhead and got on the trail and headed south, deeper into Custer S.P. where there are no roads. We didn’t get too far, though. The trail was deeply rutted and too narrow for our bike pedals. It is very hard to go up hills without pedaling. So we bagged it and went back to camp to do another portion of the Mickelson Trail. We might’ve had better luck trying another portion of the trail, or we could’ve biked the interior gravel roads. But we didn’t want to spend our time searching, we wanted to ride. The sun was out and the temperature was a toasty 80 degrees. Considering we were in fleece and gloves yesterday, and this morning was in the 30’s, we were eager to enjoy this warm day!

From our campground we rode our bikes to the Mickelson trail in town. We got on around MM45 and just rode a little over 5 miles north to where we could see the Crazy Horse Monument and then turned around. This time we were luckier. It was uphill on the way out and an easy downhill coast on the way back. Along the path we came across a couple of horses near the fence in their pasture. One large paint and a chestnut foal enjoyed our petting, but then Momma Chestnut put her ears back and came stomping over and scattered everyone including us. But once she realized we didn’t do her baby any harm, she let us get a few more pets in before we left. A foal’s coat and mane is so incredibly soft (I can’t even think of anything to compare it to). The horses here and in Colorado have seemed so happy. We think it’s because they have such large pastures to roam around in and usually there are several horses together (they are very social creatures). After our bike ride, we took a rare moment to just sit at our campsite and read and enjoy the birds who came to visit.

Custer, SD - Mt Rushmore and Rapid City

On Wednesday we toured Mt. Rushmore. We were surprised by how many tour groups were there – all posing for group photos on the Grandview Terrace. Once, there were three groups posing at the same time. But the President’s Trail didn’t seem that crowded. We walked around which gave us some nice views of the monument. Plaques mentioned each of the different presidents at the prime viewing spot for that president. I think it’s a shame they never actually finished the monument the way Borglum had planned – with Washington’s jacket and Jefferson’s hand poised as if he was talking and Lincoln’s hand on his lapel. The scale model seemed to come to life with these additional features.
They say the granite is so strong here in the Black Hills that it will only erode 1 inch in every 10,000 years.
On our way to Mt. Rushmore, we saw these two mountain goats on the side of the road.

From Mt. Rushmore we headed up to Rapid City to check out the city and do some shopping. It looked like a neat little city and was very clean. We walked around Main Street and hit some of the stores on the highway coming in. Unfortunately we didn’t have more time to do some of the tourist attractions in the area. Maybe we’ll find time when we’re passing through again.

Custer, SD - Hike to Harney Peak

The trailhead for the Harney Peak Trail started at pretty Sylvan Lake. It was 3.8 miles to the summit which is also where a historic fire tower is located. This fire tower was built by the CCC in 1939 and was in service until 1967. It is made of stone and is a handsome building with a stunning 360-degree view. From here you can supposedly see 4 states. It was a clear day and we could see for many miles. I’m assuming we saw 4 states! The trail up was steep and very pretty as it wandered through ponderosa pines, firs, aspens and birches. We could hear birds, even if we couldn’t see them all. Occasionally we could zero in a woodpecker because of the rat-a-tat-tat on an old tree. It was very quiet and peaceful until we reached the fire tower. At the tower, it appeared a tour bus had just dropped off a bunch of chattering tourists. But we knew it was a popular hike, and if we can avoid that kind of noise on the trail itself, we’re happy. We ate lunch at the summit and had to resist feeding the “lil’ beggars” – chipmunks…adorable (almost irresistible) and absolutely ballsy in their attempts to scarf up food. If you turn your back on them they’ll eat a hole through your pack if they suspect a free lunch. On the way back down we decided to take a different trail to make it a loop. Our guess is the way home was probably closer to 5 miles (mileage on signs and maps didn’t match). USFS Trail #3 led to Trail #4 which took us near the Cathedral Spires. These pointy granite spires do resemble the spires you would see on the top of an old cathedral. We saw rock climbers scaling the spires. The granite boulders are fun for scrambling and are about as close to rock-climbing as we can get. The rock is course enough so it’s not slippery and bumpy enough to give you lots of handholds. There are also locks of cracks and crevices for your feet. We would scramble up boulders to get better views of the surrounding areas. And just to have fun. I had to drag Andy away from this area to keep heading down the trail. About half way down, we had the option to take a spur trail to Little Devil’s Tower. We started to worry about the clouds, the time, and our tired legs, but we figured “oh, it’s onnnnllly 0.6 miles each way. So, why not?” Well, considering it was practically straight up and took us ½ hour to walk up 0.6 miles, would’ve been a good reason why not to do it. But the view was worth it. The last part of this hike required us to scramble up boulders, some with shiny pink granite stripes, to get to the summit. We could see the Fire Tower, the town of Custer, the backside of Mt Rushmore, and on and on. The hike down from Little Devil’s Tower was painful for the knees and toes, but didn’t take us as long. This hike rated as one of our favorites for the scenery along the whole route. But what a day…especially for being our first hike in three weeks.

Custer, SD - Mickelson Trail

The George Mickelson Trail
This 109-mile Rail-to-Trail cuts north-south through the Black Hills from the town of Deadwood all the way south to Edgemont. Nah, we didn’t bike the whole thing, just a 10-mile stretch out-and-back. It was my first “active” day since the surgery. It was a great ride. The path was crushed gravel and traveled over 12 trestle bridges, through three tunnels, and past one ghost town (Mystic) – just in the 10-mile section we did. Our only mistake was starting at MM70 because the first 5 miles going north was all downhill…so you know what that means? Yep…one tough, long, uphill push for the last 5 miles on the return trip.

Custer, SD - Jewels, Needles, & Wildlife

Jewel Cave
Even though September is a great time to tour the busy parks, one of the downfalls is that there are usually less services. At both Wind Cave and Jewel Cave this meant one kind of tour being offered. Normally there are about 5 different tours, not to mention the wild tours. Not so in September. But we enjoyed Jewel Cave. The group was smaller (30 vs 40 people at Wind Cave), and may I remind you that I get claustrophobic in a crowd, not a cave. So these big tours weren’t really our thing. One thing we should’ve done differently was bring our own flashlights – you can see a lot more detail in the formations with your own light. We just hung around the family in front of us who had their own lights. The most common formation was Nailhead. These knobby looking crystals covered the ceilings and walls. Some areas of the cave are wet creating the normal formations: stalactites, stalagmites, cave popcorn, and cave bacon, etc. Here's a picture of a 20 foot long cave bacon.

Needles Highway (Hwy 87)
Needles Highway is just one of several scenic drives in the Black Hills. Our first stop on the loop was Sylvan Lake, a pretty little lake with huge boulders bordering the backside. A short trail takes you around the lake and over some of these boulders. Fog was encroaching over the rocky outcroppings and mist was rolling over the lake. Back on the highway we drove through rock tunnels and past granite spires with names like Needles Eye, Cathedral Spires and Little Devil’s Tower. We still don’t know if Black Hills got its name because of all the dark granite outcroppings or because the hills look black from the thick Ponderosa Pine forest that covers the hills. Both provide a great contrast to the yellow and gold of the aspens and birches, though. On the way home we were even lucky enough to spot a Great Horned Owl sitting on a snag at the edge of the forest.


Custer State Park – Wildlife Loop Road
As the name states, you should see lots of wildlife on this scenic drive. We must’ve picked a bad day. It was chilly and foggy at the higher elevations of the drive. For the first several miles we didn’t see anything. Then we saw a few deer, then later a herd of bison in the distance, but what made it all worth it was seeing pronghorns – and one was right next to the road which is unusual. They normally stay pretty far away from the roads and people.

Custer, SD - Crazy Horse Memorial

Custer, SD
We moved further up into the Black Hills and stayed in the town of Custer for its convenience to many of the attractions. Custer is close to Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Cave, Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, and many hiking and biking trails.

Crazy Horse Memorial
Our first stop after setting up camp was at Crazy Horse. The visitor’s center and museum there is very in-depth: history on the Lakota Indian tribes, the sculptor they hired, the sculpting process and there were tables set up with Indian craftsman selling their wares. We spent about 3 hours touring the facility. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, started sculpting the memorial from a request by the Lakota elders to build a memorial to show “the red man as heroes as well”. Korczak started carving in 1948 all by himself. He used a compressor named Buda with 2,000 feet of hose to start jack hammering the granite outcropping. Buda wasn’t very reliable and would quit on him sometimes before he even walked to the top and got started. One day he had to go up and down 9 times to restart the compressor. How he must’ve dreaded hearing those sounds: “kaputta, kaputta, kaput”. Luckily for Korczak, he met his wife and had ten kids. Now 7 of those children and his wife are continuing his legacy. Crazy Horse is a private non-profit, not accepting any federal funding so they can create the facility without any outside influences. And it is a top-notch facility. Oh, did I say just how large this monument is?? It’s huge. Crazy Horse’s head alone is 87 1/2’ tall and the horse’s head will be 219’ tall. For comparison, Mt Rushmore is 60’ high.

We were given a re-admittance pass to come back for the night-time laser show, but it took us three nights before the rain would allow us to return. I expected just your standard-fare laser show, but this was really good. The pre-show included different colored lights shown on the monument. The laser show actually covered the history and meaning of the monument. History of the Lakota Indians, Crazy Horse, the request for Korczak’s work, progress of the sculpting, etc. It was 30 minutes long and was definitely worth pulling out our winter gear (hats, coats, gloves) to watch. But even with the damp cold the sky was crystal clear (previous days were blanketed in fog) with so many stars that felt within reach and even the milky way was visible. It was a very beautiful night. In So. Florida it’s easy to forget stars even exist for all of the city lights blocking our view.

Hot Springs, SD - Mammoths, Wild Horses, and Caves

Mammoth Site
This place is an archeological wonder. So far, they have found over 100 mammoth skeletons from both the Wooly Mammoth and Columbian Mammoth. Apparently, it used to be a sinkhole that filled up with water and, being in Hot Springs, the water was a year-round 92 degrees. So grass grew on its banks year-round and the water never froze. Lots of animals were drawn to this site for water and food. But the poor, ungainly mammoths couldn’t climb out of the sinkhole if they slipped in while trying to drink or eat. Ironically, all of the skeletons so far are males – still trying to decide if that’s due to more courage at the sinkhole or less intelligence. Girls, ya wanna vote?

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary
This non-profit sanctuary is an 11,000-acre ranch for unadoptable wild horses. They currently have over 400 horses. It started when the owner, David O. Hyde, saw starving wild horses at an unethical feed lot and decided they deserved better. The sanctuary survives off of private donations, receipts from guided tours, and the sale of foals. Many of the foals we saw were already sold, but just waiting to be weaned and transferred. Not only do these sales provide necessary income, but it also provides space for the sanctuary to keep taking in new horses. We went on a guided tour with Bob in a little Blue Bus. Bob drove us around the sanctuary for views of the grounds and discussed the background of the sanctuary and local botany. But when he found a herd, he took us on the “country roads” – which meant straight out into the pasture, no road, no trail – we had to hang on to our bus seats to keep from bouncing out into the aisle. Bob was a little crazy. He literally drove us into the middle of the herd for our close-up photo ops. There were even a couple of horses who he knew would let us touch them. Most would walk or run away if you entered into their personal space. But, wow, it was great standing in the middle of all of these beautiful creatures. Even with burrs stuck in their manes, or cactus branches stuck to their sides, and the stallions even had bite marks from fights. They’re wild.
The stallion on the right was one of my favorites!
Several groups of horses were curious, and would just walk up and watch us.






The property has been in several movies. One was “Crazy Horse”. The set Hollywood built to look like Ft Robinson is still on the grounds. The other movie was “Hidalgo”. Apparently the first 8 minutes of the movie are on sanctuary grounds. Mr. Hyde is only the second owner for this land. The first owners were true homesteaders. We were shown the cave they lived in for the first 7 months they homesteaded. And in that same rocky outcropping are petroglyphs carbon-dated 2,000 years old. And presently, Lakota Indians hold their Sundance ceremonies there on the property.

Wind Cave Nat’l Park
Wind Cave is popular for its above ground attractions as well as those below ground. On the surface there are rolling hills dotted with bison, deer and prairie dogs. The bison are growing their thick winter coats (whereas in the spring it is dripping off) and even their horns appear to be thicker and larger. But they were everywhere. WCNP is another great place to get up close and personal with these large beasts. Inside the cave, the most common formation is called Boxwork, which is extremely rare in all other caves. It’s called Boxwork because it looks like little empty cardboard boxes hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately, when we first pulled into the park I didn’t realize that my memory card on the camera was full. So I have no pictures of the long bison parade that walked past us, within 25 feet of where we were standing, and no pictures of the Boxwork. Oh well, we all make mistakes, right? After the cave tour, we went back to the RV so I could upload my pictures and re-charge my batteries, and then we went back to WCNP (only 5 miles away from RV Park) for a sunset drive through the park.
Here a herd of buffalo are using the parking lot instead of one of the natural mineral licks.