Continuing our 4th of July adventure!
The morning of the 5th we packed up our tent and drove around
to see a few more sights (like Crazy Horse) before hitting the trail. The roads in the Black Hills are suuuuper windy (that's wine-dee, not win-dee) and narrow. Just a reminder:
Justin got a little umm, annoyed is a nice way to say it, at the tentative drivers. Here's Justin's impression of non-Utah drivers on winding mountain roads:
I almost peed my pants this was so funny!! He kept doing this whiny voice "Oh no, the road curved!!" to go along with the face. Priceless!
Here's how Utahns handle winding roads:
Like men.
This was our first (and possibly only) backpacking trip for the summer and it was a good one. We decided to do a loop and hiked a little over 10 miles the first day.
Justin got a little umm, annoyed is a nice way to say it, at the tentative drivers. Here's Justin's impression of non-Utah drivers on winding mountain roads:
I almost peed my pants this was so funny!! He kept doing this whiny voice "Oh no, the road curved!!" to go along with the face. Priceless!
Here's how Utahns handle winding roads:
This was our first (and possibly only) backpacking trip for the summer and it was a good one. We decided to do a loop and hiked a little over 10 miles the first day.
Here's the trail we did:
 |
| We started and ended at the same trailhead (green square/car) going counterclockwise around the loop (yellow dots). |
We only saw 2 other hikers at the very beginning, 2 horseback riders about an hour later and that was it! It was
really fun to be out in such a beautiful area with just my hubby :)
At the end of the first day we were looking for a stream to camp by because we were running low on water but the one indicated on the map was dry. We just kept walking until it suddenly started to rain. That was the fastest we've ever set up the tent! Thankfully we got inside pretty quickly and (even in our haste) chose a good campsite as we stayed dry even though it rained all night. Oh yeah, and we're super hard core backpackers because we brought our tablet and watched some TV before we went to bed :)
We had pad thai for dinner. Justin said I couldn't have any of the peanut butter. It literally had his name on it :)
Trailhead
Justin at our lunch spot. What a mountain man!!
Pretty views.
At the end of the first day we were looking for a stream to camp by because we were running low on water but the one indicated on the map was dry. We just kept walking until it suddenly started to rain. That was the fastest we've ever set up the tent! Thankfully we got inside pretty quickly and (even in our haste) chose a good campsite as we stayed dry even though it rained all night. Oh yeah, and we're super hard core backpackers because we brought our tablet and watched some TV before we went to bed :)
First night campsite.
We had pad thai for dinner. Justin said I couldn't have any of the peanut butter. It literally had his name on it :)
We woke up
the next morning, packed up and hiked to Harney Peak. This was the
steepest part of the trail. Justin and I made really good time the
entire trip though because we were in the Black Hills and we're used to mountains.
Harney Peak had some beautiful views but a lot of traffic coming from another trail (the Sylvan Lake area is really popular and easy to hike).
We ate lunch on the peak and then decided to ditch the tourists and get back to our isolation. We hiked to within a mile of our car and set up camp for the second time. This time we were a little pickier about our campsite as it wasn't raining on us. We camped up on a little knoll just off the trail.
Once we were all settled inside the tent we heard some weird animal noises. Kind of a half bark, half moo if you will. Neither of us had heard it before but I thought it could be elk. We were actually within cell service so Justin decided to search for "elk sounds" on his iphone. I had to tell him to plug his earphones in- if it really was an elk I didn't want to attract it!! YouTube didn't produce anything exactly like what we were hearing but after a little while we realized there were actually two of whatever-it-was out there!! One on either side of us. So crazy!! Neither of them were very close to our tent but they were clearly talking over us! A little scary at the time because I really had to pee but did not want to go outside! I did eventually and didn't see any big animals nearby. I even looked around for them. So I guess scary movies are actually accurate when people go checking out weird noises. We were both super tired and fell asleep quickly. I didn't hear anything all night so the elk or whatever must have gone to sleep as well.
The pine beetle is sweeping through the Black Hills. So sad :(
I look like a hobbit!!
Harney Peak had some beautiful views but a lot of traffic coming from another trail (the Sylvan Lake area is really popular and easy to hike).
Words to live by :)
The top of Harney's has a fire tower. The army used to man it...
which is why this marker is there. We were pretty much standing on it to take the picture above.
I look great in this shot. Justin is just silly :)
We ate lunch on the peak and then decided to ditch the tourists and get back to our isolation. We hiked to within a mile of our car and set up camp for the second time. This time we were a little pickier about our campsite as it wasn't raining on us. We camped up on a little knoll just off the trail.
Cathedral Spires
These lilies grow wild all around the trail.
Hobbiting again.
It actually did rain on us a little while we were walking. This time we were prepared!
Campsite #2- we opted for higher ground.
Once we were all settled inside the tent we heard some weird animal noises. Kind of a half bark, half moo if you will. Neither of us had heard it before but I thought it could be elk. We were actually within cell service so Justin decided to search for "elk sounds" on his iphone. I had to tell him to plug his earphones in- if it really was an elk I didn't want to attract it!! YouTube didn't produce anything exactly like what we were hearing but after a little while we realized there were actually two of whatever-it-was out there!! One on either side of us. So crazy!! Neither of them were very close to our tent but they were clearly talking over us! A little scary at the time because I really had to pee but did not want to go outside! I did eventually and didn't see any big animals nearby. I even looked around for them. So I guess scary movies are actually accurate when people go checking out weird noises. We were both super tired and fell asleep quickly. I didn't hear anything all night so the elk or whatever must have gone to sleep as well.
It also rained all night again but our trusty tent kept us warm and dry.
Sunday morning we woke up, packed up and were at the car within 20 minutes.
I highly recommend SD. Probably only in the summer though :)
On our way out! This part of the trail was probably my favorite.
There were huge boulders on each side and it was so green and pretty!
I didn't even notice until I took my shoes off but I'd earned a gigantic blister on my heel :(
I highly recommend SD. Probably only in the summer though :)
