Vacation Post #5

As always, scroll down for earlier posts.
This post covers August 14 - 16.

After leaving Wall on the 14th we headed off to the Black Hills. Our first destination there was Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota. This was the only high point of our trip that actually required hiking. The photo on the left is the tower at the top of the peak, and on the right is the view from the top. Harney Peak is the highest mountain East of the Rockies.

It was interesting, because we've been on other high mountains (which apparently were lower elevations than this) and we are always very cold at the top. Not with Harney. It was a rather warm day up there!

Hiking note- there are two common trails used to hike to the top. We had asked the ranger which to use and she suggested to go up one and down the other. Sounds great. Only one problem- we couldn't find the trailhead of the one she suggested. So instead we took the more difficult trail up and the easier one down. No biggie, but a lesson that there should be better signs in the parking area about where the trails are.

After our hike we took a quick dip in the lake at the base of the mountain to wash off some sweat and then we headed off to Mount Rushmore. The roads through the Black Hills are challenging. It looks like it should be a short distance, but they are so narrow and twisty that it took us a while to get to Rushmore.

There was a trail that went close to the mountain, but unfortunately we were tired from our hike earlier in the day so we didn't take it. Instead we poked around the visitor center and watched a film on the construction of the sculptures. Can you believe that most of the "sculpting" was done with dynamite? Those workers became very skilled!

We were supposed to spend the night at a campground in the area, but we had to get to Leadore, ID by the next evening to meet Andrew. So we canceled our reservation and started driving west. We headed into Wyoming. WE drove for a bit and then decided to stop at a motel for the night. What? All the motels in town don't have vacancies? But the next big town is 90 miles away. Back in the truck. We drove some more. We got to the next city. First motel- no vacancy. 2nd and 3rd motels, same story. 4th motel- smoking only. Ick. Luckily they gave us a discounted rate since we didn't want smoking.

The morning of the 15th we got up and hit the road. Soon we were driving through lots of smoke. Guess there were some forest fires. At one point we stopped at a ranger station to see if there were any road closures. There are so few main roads out there (and lots of mountains in the way) that we would hate to drive most of the way to our destination to later have to turn around and go back to get to a different road due to closures.

No roads were closed, but the next day we heard that a town we drove through later needed to have their street lights on in the middle of the day because it was so dark.

Around 4:00 we arrived in Leadore, population 90- and that number may have included the pets. Interesting that such a small town had two restaurants and two convenience stores. Andrew had gotten a room at the motel (which was run by the mayor who was also the taxidermist) and we stayed with him.

There were 7 other hikers in town, so we gave them all snacks and we hung around on the lawn of the motel chatting. After a while we went to dinner. when we got back there was a bit more chatting, and then some TV watching and then bed.

In the morning we all went out to breakfast. Chris and I were rather entertained watching the hikers eat. They really know how to eat! Pie as an appetizer followed by at least 2 full breakfasts, and then maybe some pie for dessert.

After breakfast they did some last minute food shopping at the convenience stores (and bought some corn dogs as a snack) and Chris and I emptied all of our stuff out of the bed of the truck. Then we piled 8 hikers plus their packs into the truck and we drove them the 15 miles to the trail. On the way back to town we came across a herd of cattle in the middle of the road. We didn't know what to do, but luckily there was a truck behind us. He passed us and started driving through the cows, so we followed.

We stopped back at the motel to get our stuff and then we headed off to Yellowstone. We got there early evening, set up camp, and enjoyed not being in a rush to get anywhere.

Vanessa- I chuckled to myself at your definition for Trail Magic. And re Stacy's blog- I was so excited when I saw the plug that she gave me there. I may even get an order out of it. Someone emailed me interested in one, but she's having some Paypal issues and since she lives in Canada she can't easily mail me a check. We'll see how that turns out.

I have more info on the deer from my previous post. There are two deer in the area. Their mother was killed/died and her two babies now roam the area. There is someone in the neighborhod who has been feeding them, so they have completely lost their fear of humans. This one in the pictures is much more this way than its sibling. We did see the other one, but it kept its distance.

In other news.... This past Saturday was our 4th Annual Pinewood Derby (and Cookout). I think we had our biggest turnout yet- 27 people! There were some awesome cars there- Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The beach, the shark, the garbage truck... And the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Sunny, but not too hot. So many great pictures that I don't even know how to narrow it down, so just one for now and then the layout will have more- working on resizing them now. Have a coupon that expires at the end of the week so want to get them printed.

Weekend Review

For your viewing pleasure, we have a post that is NOT about gardening. (Feels like I've blogged about that a lot lately.)

This weekend we went to New Jersey. Chris' family has a cabin there and his parents were going to be there for the weekend, so we went down to see them there.

On the way we had to stop at a convenience store. I went in to make my purchase and waited. And then waited some more. There was only one employee, and he was busy pumping gas outside. He said he didn't see me go into the store, but we made eye contact. However, since I was in the store alone, it allowed time for me to take a picture of the bong collection. I also got to look at the box of porn DVDs.

Later on Saturday while at the cabin a deer came up to me. Literally. I thought he woudl be scared when he saw me, but instead he came right up to me. No stranger danger at all! In this photo on the left you can see me on the right and the deer next to me. For some reason he kept turning his head away right when I was taking the pictures.

I went inside to tell Chris' mom and she came out and the deer was still there. She tried feeding him some lettuce, but he wasn't interested. Instead he ate a cigarette butt that was on the ground. Mmm... tasty. Blech!

She then pet the deer. Personally I don't believe she should have fed or pet the deer, but I certainly understand the temptation. I wanted to but was partially afraid of it biting me, but I also didn't want it to get too comfortable with humans.

Next up is a photo of Chris and I "hiking". The cabin is very close to the Appalachian Trail, so we wanted to do some Trail Magic. We went to one place and were looking at the map trying to figure out what would be a good spot when a park ranger came by. We asked him for his advice and he told us of a shelter a few miles away. Perfect! The shelter was .2 miles from a road and parking lot.

We hiked up with a few gallons of water and ran into some weekend section hikers. One of them (the dad of the group) had thru-hiked in '03 and it looked like he was out with his son and either daughter or daugther-in-law. It was her first time backpacking.

Sunday morning we went back and noticed that 2 1/2 gallons of water was gone, so we left 2 more gallons as well as a bag of Snickers and Skittles.

Later that afternoon we swung by again and found 3 more hikers. Good thing we stopped by because they hadn't checked out the bear box where we had stashed the goodies. They were very appreciative!

As we were heading back to the car I kidded with Chris that we were now section hikers. After all, we had hiked the same section 3 times now. Probably doesn't count though seeing how it was such a tiny section. :)

We also made a stop at High Point. My dad "collects" high points- that's the highest point of each state. He had been to High Point, NJ before with Andrew. I figured that since we were so close I should get this one as well. After all, I've visited a number of the others with him.

This monument is at the top. There are 292 stairs inside, as you can see below. And let me tell you- a day later my calves are killing me from climbing those steps!


After High Point we headed back to the cabin, packed up the truck, and headed home.

Funny how a 4 hour drive feels so much longer after you've been driving around all morning through state parks, etc.