Friday, July 8 – We hit the trails for hiking today! We drove over to Sylvan Lake to hike three trails in the area: The Sylvan Lake Shore Trail, Sunday Gulch Trail, and Harney Peak/Little Devil's Tower Trail. All in all,we hiked about 7 or 8 miles on trails rated Easy (2 miles), Moderate ( 3-4 miles), Strenuous (2 miles).
The Sunday Gulch Trail was the most unusual for us.
It was in a boulder field scattered along a stream descending into Sunday Gulch. The trail crosses a stream several times while passing over huge boulders.
Hikers use handrails fixed to the boulders to aid their decent.
Pretty slow going and actually easier climbing out then our decent into the gulch. It is a beautiful hike. We enjoyed the challenge for a couple miles.
The hike around Sylvan Lake was more a stroll but enjoyable.
This beautiful lake is nestled in the pine forest and is held back by a dam of huge boulders at its Northern end.
This is the wall of the dam.
Harney Peak/Little Devil's Tower Trail is rated strenuous, but we felt it was more in the moderate range.
The trail has been rerouted because of forest restoration after thinning to clear pine bore damage.
If you cannot read this easily, remember you can click on any photo to enlarge it.
Interestingly, Harney Peak is said to be the highest peak east of the Rockies. We did not finish this hike because it was getting late in the morning, and the trails were filling-up with families with kids.
We decided to turn around and hike to the peak some other morning.
We finished the day with a drive around the Custer State Park Wildlife Road.
We did see some Pronghorn, Bison, and wild donkeys.
Look who was holding up traffic.
He seems to be saying…Who you looking at?
The scenery was beautiful. Many meadows, pine trees and mountains.
We were a little disappointed in the wildlife viewing. The kids were loving the donkeys, but they seemed a little tame and staged to us.
We finished our day with a picnic lunch along a brook and headed home. A pretty nice day!
We did not go back to Mt. Rushmore last night for the night program. We had a huge thunderstorm with lighting. We have rescheduled this for Sunday evening.
SIDE NOTE: Many of you FMCA members have mentioned to us, either by email or comments on our blog, that you saw pictures of Paul in the most recent FMCA magazine, doing our residential refrigerator installation. Yep, that's him alright, but as you may have noticed, we did not write the article, but the author did use information directly from our blog posting.
Some months ago, Paul received an email requesting use of his installation pictures and directions for this type of refrigerator conversion and was promised he would receive credit by the author. We have not seen the article yet (We have not had our mail forwarded recently.) but understand no credit was given by the author. We did see the online article and did not see any notification of Paul's input. Interesting. Doubt we will do anything about the omission, but wanted readers to know....yes, that's Paul in the recent FMCA magazine and our installation story.
If you are interested in reading the post, you can find it here.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all soon. Have a great day.
Especially like the pronghorn and bison photos. Nice! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHow many of those burros put their heads in your car? They are DEMANDING!
ReplyDeleteWow - three hikes in one day. Impressed!
Unfortunately the Harney Peak trail is well used by families. We were surprised some of them actually made it to the peak. It gets pretty tough near the end. We liked Custer State Park but in the summer it's way too crowded.
ReplyDeleteI think you should at least e-mail FMCA and tell them you aren't happy. Lots of great hiking but I understand why you quit when all the people started arriving. The donkeys have just been fed by people for so long they are domesticated. Like the ones in Oatman. But I still think they're cute.
ReplyDeleteNice looking hike to Sylvan Lake. But, where's the custard (see your title)??? I love custard!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of those bison.
Interesting that the magazine didn't follow through their promise!
nice day for a hike!!..and the animals that posed for their blog pictures?..how kind of them to accommodate you!..have a great weekend!!
ReplyDeleteAfter being in Yellowstone, most wildlife drives might be a little disappointing in comparison. :)
ReplyDeletethat park brings back some good memories... Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove that area! Highly recommend a trip to Jewel Cave just west of Custer. There's also a fabulous and very scenic hike near the cave called Hellhole Canyon. Great day-trip!
ReplyDeleteNina (wheelingit)
Definitely think there is a problem with credits not given to you for the information and for the picture. I agree with others that you should at least contact the magazine.
ReplyDeleteYou have definitely had one heck of a trip exploring the beautiful sites America has to offer. I love the wildlife most of all but probably would only be happy with the wild donkeys.
Enjoy .. you're almost back to Ohio.
I would contact the person that wrote the article as well as the magazine. That is just not right!!!! Watch out for those bison, they can hurt you.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, that is one of our favorite places:)
ReplyDeleteNice hikes and pictures!
ReplyDeleteChecked the FMCA article and you are both mentioned in a caption of the "after photo." It read: FMCA members Paul and Marsha Weaver replaced their RV refrigerator with a residential model. Shown here is the after photo.
Nice picture of Paul's back is one of the other pictures included. :-)
Another beautiful day!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of all the wildlife...looks like an amazing hike!
ReplyDeleteMarsha there was a side note at the beginning of the article that mentioned you both. I'll scan that page and email it to you later. It's in the booth at the moment and I'm in the coach. I'll have it to you in a few hours.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your SD Sunday .... love that state - our new "home state" for five years! So much beauty there.
I can't believe the people are out of their cars where the burros are! I thought there were regulations on that that you were supposed to stay in your cars. Oh, well! It's like you are not supposed to feed the animals as well. It sure takes away from the experience of seeing the animals in the wild. They should have gone to a petting zoo!
ReplyDeleteWe were there years back and some pictures look like we took them...
ReplyDeleteGreat hikes .
This is one of my favorite places to visit, have always gone away with a sense of wonder.
ReplyDeleteI allow others to use my photos and notes, but make sure that at least the photos have my copyright on them. You're touring another area we're looking to visiting for the first time someday.
ReplyDelete