Family Vacation, Day 5

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Hiking to Harney's Peak

My awesome siblings!

For our last full day of vacation, I had tentatively planned a longer hiking trip for us to do together. I had heard about Harney's Peak, the highest point in SD, and thought the trail sounded manageable for my family. I presented the idea to them, and they all enthusiastically agreed to do it! There was a chance for rain later in the day, so we left around 8 and headed to the trailhead back in Custer State Park.

My cute baby sister :)

Harney's Peak is the highest point in South Dakota, standing at 7,244 feet above sea level in the Black Hills. There are multiple trails to reach the peak, but the most popular and easiest one is 7 miles round trip. The trailhead is around 5,000 feet, making it about a 2,000 feet elevation difference. We planned for this to be an all-day activity and brought plenty of food and water, just as the signs warned us.

I was super impressed with my family - everyone did so great and we had minimal stops going up, besides a few opportune picture spots. The first was an outcropping of rocks giving a great view to the West of the needles of Custer State Park. I must say I was also impressed that even after months without any peak hikes, I was still in shape and loving every minute of this! Oh how I miss hiking!

Squad!

Needles!

The sign of the day ;)

As you can see in the above picture, the trail was well maintained and not too rocky, and stayed that way throughout the whole hike. There were a few muddy parts and puddles due to the rain, but nothing that couldn't be avoided. The trail ascended quite a bit during the first mile, then went downhill a bit - it didn't seem like much while we were hiking to the peak, but when we were hiking back our legs were definitely feeling that uphill section! 

My adorable parents :)

The weather was absolutely perfect for hiking today. It was cool and breezy, and hiking in the early morning provided enough shade from the beautiful pines. The haze we had seen over the past couple days from the wildfires in Canada wasn't as apparent today, which was ideal for the great views at the end!

Find Sarah on the big rock!

We came across a lot more hikers today than we had the past 3 days. It's obvious that this trail is more used, in fact I read that during the summer, it has about 200 hikers on it each day! 

Joel! Our fearless leader!

So the one eventful thing that happened on our hike up... We came to a 3-way trail intersection. We saw this sign, parallel to the trail, with the arrow for Harney Peak pointing to the narrow trail behind it, and to a spur trail on the right. We took a look at it and didn't really have any question about it - it was obvious that we go on the narrow trail for the peak, right? So being obedient, sign-following hikers, we set off on the trail. 

Almost right away, I began having doubts. Why was this peak trail more narrow and overgrown than the spur trail? Where were the other hikers? And what was with all these horse droppings? I voiced my concerns, but because we were all so sure that the arrow was pointing this way, we carried on for at least a half mile. I finally spoke up when I realized that the trail was heading generally South, and not uphill. We needed to be going Northeast and obviously uphill! So we turned around, still doubting ourselves and what the right thing to do was. We had a little snack before continuing. Times like this show true character on the trails, and I think we all passed the test because even with adding an extra mile to our overall mileage, there was no complaining, just comments of "this was an adventure!" and "what a great story to tell!"

How the sign should have been!

We made it back to the intersection and figured out what went wrong - some genius hiker must have thought it would be hilarious to rotate the trail sign meant for people coming down the trail to confuse those heading up. What a great idea! *sarcasm* Still, it was an adventure, and at the end of the day we were able to say we hiked 8 miles instead of 7.

After that, the trail got steeper until it came to another trail intersection - and this time the trails were correctly marked, and we made our way up the final switchbacks to the Harney Peak Lookout! I tell you, the hardest part of this entire trail was climbing the steps up this tower. I can do rough, rocky trails, but but a staircase at the end and I am done!

The backside of Mt. Rushmore!

On the lookout tower

Harney Peak is awesome - At the highest point of the summit is the fire lookout tower, but beneath that is a large rock face that we enjoyed roaming around and checking out all the different views. Some people said they had seen bighorn sheep here earlier, but we couldn't see any - while that would have been cool, after my experience at Supai, I have a little bit of PTSD around those guys!

It was fun contemplating the different state high points I had been to while up here. Of course there's Arizona's Mt. Humphreys. Then, on the way up to SD, we passed by the highest point in Iowa, Hawkeye Point. Iowa's highest point is at 1700 feet of elevation. That's well over 3000 feet below where we started. However, at the highest point of SD, you're still below the trailhead to Mt. Humphreys in AZ, where the peak is 12,600 feet above sea level. So, is Harneys Peak very high? It's all relative! :)

I loved everything about this scenery. Every mountain range has its own beauty. I loved being able to look down over all the Black Hills. I can't wait to bring Curtis and Charlotte back here someday.

Inside the top of the lookout tower!

Sisters at the top :) So proud of them!!

Can you find Sarah?

We made it to the peak around 11:15, which I think is great time for having started around 8:45 and getting off for about a mile. We enjoyed being at the top for a long while, eating, resting, and exploring. Joel made friends with some of the cutest chipmunks ever.

We finally started back down after at least an hour at the top. It was much less eventful than the way up, with only that brief uphill section slowing us down. It was becoming cloudier as the day went on, so we were glad to have finished it when we did!

On the way up, I didn't notice this (because I didn't know what I was looking for!) but on the way back we were able to spot the tower from far away. And when we could see it from this distant look, it made us feel even more impressed with how far we had walked - this was no easy hike!

Love my mom!

After we made it back to the car, I really wanted to see Sylvan Lake, so I left my family resting at one point and followed the lake trail a little ways. This reminded me of Watson Lake in Prescott, AZ. I love how the water meets the granite rocks. On the East end of the lake, there were people all over the place, but once I wandered over a hill and around a bend on the trail, it was just me and a couple of geese. It was gorgeous, and maybe if we all weren't so tired from the hike, we would have circled the whole lake trail. Oh well, maybe next time. :)

My goose friend.

And that wraps up our family vacation! I am so glad I was able to travel with my family again. It really helped this week to go by faster, and we made so many great memories! Of course, I know I'll have to come back here some day to make new ones with my husband & puppy. :) 

Day 5 Wrap up: Hiked 8 miles to Harneys Peak and enjoyed the wide views, needles, and lovely lake in Custer State Park!

The next day, we drove straight back home - 11 hours! Not much else to say about that. :)

Family Vacation, Day 3

Monday, July 6, 2015

Exploring the Black Hills of South Dakota

For our first full day in the Black Hills area, we decided to do a little mix of sightseeing and hiking. Everything we wanted to see was within a reasonable driving distance from where we were staying, so we never had to do too much driving. Our day started out with a visit to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

A message for my husband.

While we had seen the memorial itself in many pictures before, we were in awe of how big it is in person. It is also quite impressive with how much detail was put into the faces. It reminded me a bit of visiting Montezuma Castle - even though Curtis and I visited it 3 times, we were always struck by how BIG it was. It's so hard to imagine people up there, working diligently to make it just right!

Artsy pose with my cool sister!

Family!

We took the short loop trail that takes up up closer to the memorial, and paid a little visit to the Sculptor's studio. It was fun learning about all the time, effort, mistakes, and many hands involved in making this memorial what it is today.

After that, we drove to Custer State Park. We drove through 3 narrow tunnels cut out of rock and switchbacked up and down steep, winding roads. Once entering the park, we kept our eyes pealed, searching for any sign of wildlife the park promised we'd see.

Mom was the first to spot some - 2 buffalo on the side of the road! We were so excited, dad drove slowly as we all took pictures and joked about the things this beast could do to our suburban. As we were inching our way along watching, a car coming from the opposite direction stopped and called out, "There are over 100 more around the corner!"

And he was right - Buffalo everywhere, as far as we could see! There were many people stopped and disobeying the signs warning against getting out of your cars to see the buffalo better. While we understand that they are dangerous to be outside around, we decided to take our chances, knowing we couldn't possibly be the slowest out of all these people to rush back to our car for shelter if a dangerous situation were to occur. Spoiler alert, no one stopped was injured during this buffalo crossing!

After this, we stopped in the visitor's center and talked to a very friendly and helpful park ranger about the trails in the area. We were all ready to do some hiking at this point and be out of the car, so when she pointed out Lover's Leap as a popular loop trail in the park, we jumped at this option. The trailhead was right across the street from the visitor's center, which may have been a big factor in why we chose it - so that we wouldn't have to drive any more!

Lover's Leap is a 3 mile loop trail that quickly ascends a steep hill, then follows a ridge up and down before descending and taking you along a lush area with a flowing stream. While the beginning was very steep, everyone pushed through and we made it to the ridge in less than 15 minutes. 

We were all a little winded after making it up to the ridge, so we stopped and took some pictures while we caught our breath. We knew that there was a great view to our right, however we weren't able to see it because of all the trees in the way!

My mom & I!

Daddy & me!

After walking along the ridge for a bit, up and down a series of small uphill and downhill sections, we made it to the main attraction of the trail - a large outcropping of rocks with a great view. Legend has it that this is where 2 Native American lovers took a leap, hence the name, "Lover's Leap."

Panorama of the view!

Squad!

My sisters!

We stayed up here and snacked, rested, took pictures, and enjoyed the view. It was so worth all that steep uphill hiking! After this point, it was mostly downhill or flat from here on out.

Fun fungi on the way back!

A very red mushroom - it looked fake!

Joel, our fearless leader, showing us the way back!

After descending the hill, the trail remained flat and took us through a lush, green forest. It crossed over the stream multiple times, each time offering a small foot bridge to walk across.

The lady in the visitor's center told us that this was one of the most popular trails in Custer State Park, however we only saw 3 other groups hiking on it today. That surprised me because of how full the parking lots were, but this turned out to be a theme on the trip - while parking lots and visitor's centers were full, once we set out on a trail, we would be almost completely on our own!

We completed the 3 mile loop in less than 2 ½ hours. After that, we decided to take the long way around the park and enjoy the wildlife along the way. Even on this cloudy and chilly day, we were able to see more buffalo, burros, and prairie dogs!

Wild donkeys!

Very friendly little guy :)

They all lined up and posed for me!

We love prairie dogs! Thankfully this wasn't our only sighting on this trip. :)

Our next stop was at the Mt. Coolidge Firetower. Dad did a great job driving up the very steep, narrow, dirt road to the tower, which climbed almost 1000 feet from the road to the parking lot! While it was cloudy and hazy (from the wildfires going on in the Canadian Rockies), we were able to enjoy the view, and get a better idea for how great this land is.

Our final stop in Custer State Park was at Stockade Lake. It was chilly, yet quiet and peaceful here. That is, until my siblings began the rock skipping contest. ;) Joel won with a very impressive 10 skips! Because of their hard work, we successfully transported 300 rocks from the side of the lake to the bottom of it. Joel told us it was the highlight of his trip, so far!

Panorama of the lovely lake.

We drove past the exit for Crazy Horse on the way back, but took some advice from others and skipped visiting it. Here, we saw the silhouette of the work in progress.

We went back to our cabin for dinner, then attended the lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore at 9. It wasn't exactly what we expected it to be - we were thinking more lights and less talk - but we enjoyed the experience of it all. All in all, it was a great day and we enjoyed everything we were able to see!

Day 3 Wrap Up: Hiked 4 miles, visited Mt. Rushmore National Memorial and Custer State Park.