A trip to the Black Hills is always an adventure!

Over the Memorial Weekend Holiday, my 6 year old son and I took off for the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Usually, I like to plan and reserve every aspect of our trips but this time was a little bit of planned with a little bit of winging it for good measure!

Saturday - After watching my 17 year old win 4th at the state track meet in the 400 m (yay, Kinsey!), we left Bismarck to head south.  For this trip, we actually traveled to Dickinson and then went south.  It was a beautiful road with a scenic view for most of the way.  As we traveled by van, I decided we should try for Spearfish City Campground as our 1st night's stay.  We arrived just before office closing time and got a tent spot with no problem. 

This campground is located in the heart of town and the creek runs right through it.  The place is clean and comfortable and reasonable at $25 per night for a tent.

I decided a tent was too much of a hassle to set up so we just threw the air mattress into the back of the van and were ready to roll.  Ize enjoyed playing in the creek.  Our neighbors, 2 men on a fishing trip from Eastern SD, came over to introduce themselves and we ended up chatting most of the night.

Sunday -  After a restless sleep due to the mattress developing a hole in it, we were up bright and early to try and tackle Crow Peak before our 3 pm Wind Cave National Park tour.  The previous weeks had been spent searching the internet for a good hike with nice views.  Crow Peak didn't have many recommendations, but the photos I saw were fantastic.  So, off we went to drive the 7 miles to the trailhead, located just outside of Spearfish.

The trail was a bit tough for a 6 year old.  Just over 3.5 miles to the top and then a return.  But the hike was gorgeous.

We finally made it to the top.  It was absolutely worth it:

Our descent was much quicker and we saw a ton of people on the way down (only 2 other hikers passed us on the way up).  Best advice is to hike this early in the day, before others arrive.

We grabbed a quick lunch at McDs and then drove the 1.5 hours to Wind Cave National Park.  We arrived about 30 minutes before our tour to pick up the tickets and walk around the grounds.  The hiking opportunities look great here, so we will definitely be back.

Our tour was the Fairgrounds Tour and was about 1.5 hours long.  Lots of stairs involved but Ize did a good job with it all and didn't complain about the length.

Book your tickets at least several weeks in advance, as they do sell out and walk-up tickets are rarely available.

Our camping neighbor had sent me a very nice facebook message that morning asking if we would come back to Spearfish for another night.  Even though it was another 1.5 hours back, we decided to head there again.  Another fun night of good conversation and Ize learned how to clean a fish (as they caught trout).

Monday - Ize and I had to get up early again for our 9:00 train reservations at the 1880s train in Hill City.  We booked round trip tickets to take us from Hill City to Keystone.  We were advised to book on one side for the outbound and the other side for return to get 2 different views.  On the return from Keystone, we got seats right behind the engine and that was fun to see how it operated.

Ize thought it was ok, the trip was almost an hour each way with only 15 minutes in between.  The scenery was beautiful but the train did move very slowly.

We headed back to ND after our train ride, sorrowful that it was such a short trip this time.  But it gives us a good excuse to go back!

Catching the Sunrise at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Catching the sunrise at Teddy Roosevelt National Park

I am back after a long hiatus with big plans for this blog.  I rely heavily on blog searches to find information about future vacations.  It is only fair that I return the favor.  So, without further ado, my first installment is on my trip to TRNP over the weekend.

I live about 4 hours from this National Park and for the last 5 years, I have made regular trips to the ND badlands.  One thing I've been meaning to do is catch the sunrise at the Painted Canyon Visitor's center/Rest stop.  It is exit 32 off the I-94 interstate.  I have much respect for the wildlife in the area, especially at night, so needed to figure out some logistics on how to catch a sunrise without traveling in the night.

My search online found several reports that while camping isn't allowed, a vehicle parked in the parking lot doesn't raise too much concern.  With this in mind, I loaded my blow up mattress and sleeping bag in my van and arrived at the rest area around 8:30 pm on a Friday night.

About 3 other cars, a cargo van, 2 campers/travel trailers and several semis were parked at the rest area.  It was a long night. . .  Since it is a rest area, traffic continued throughout the night.  Travelers arrived to use the rest rooms all night long and continued on their way.

6 a.m. MST was a welcome relief.  To my surprise, the vehicles in the lot had more than doubled in the night.  I quickly prepared for the day and walked the rim to await the sunrise.

It did not disappoint:

After viewing this masterpiece for a while, I decided to try my luck at hiking the Painted Canyon Trail, a 4+ mile out and back segment:

The Arrow shows the route I tried to take.  The Painted Canyon trail should not be confused with the Painted Canyon Nature Trail - which is a short loop (less than a mile) on the west side of the parking lot.

The Painted Canyon trail begins at the signage on the east side of the parking lot.  I made the mistake of following the rim path along the canyon instead of taking the proper trail and ended up on bizarre game trails that took me down into the canyon.

There was no signage, so I wandered blissfully unaware of my precarious circumstance of almost being lost.  I did find a gully that the game trails led me through and explored the wash for a bit in each direction, which was quite fun:

Eventually, I accidentally stumbled on the correct trail and signage reassured me I was on the real Painted Canyon trail until the intersection.

The colors were just beginning to turn down in the canyon:

The PCT ended at the T intersection.  From here, you can retrace your steps back to the parking lot or travel east/west along the junction of the Upper Paddock Creek Trail.  I chose to go West for another 2 miles

It was a beautiful morning to hike, with plenty of varied scenery and mule deer to keep me company.  I did feel some concern, however, as the trail only showed recent footprints heading into the park, none returning.  I fervently hoped that my previous colleagues weren't the victims of a Bigfoot or Mountain Lion ambush.  I saw recent signs of the wild horses and had hopes of catching up to them but alas, it was not meant to be.

I passed through some sort of boneyard.  Being artistic in nature 😂 , I took the opportunity to do some creative photography with the props laying around.

Around this time, I decided that turning around would be a good idea.  The high was forecasted for 93 degrees that day and I knew it would take me longer to get back up the canyon wall than it did coming down.

My return trip ended up on an adventure I didn't want to take.  I will blame this broken post as the reason I got lost:

And this unmarked post also:

Once I got back to the gully, I took that same path back.  In hindsight, I think this was the spot where I ventured off the trail.  I was so sure that all the game trails would eventually lead back to the top.  But that was not how it worked.  There were several branches off the trails every couple hundred yards or so and I chose the ones I thought I had traveled before.  Soon enough, though, I took a wrong turn.  Being the farm girl I was, I decided to scale what I was sure was the rim to the top.  I took the easiest sloping side I could find, as no trails nearby led up the rim.

I reached the top and discovered it was a narrow ridge that led nowhere.  No connecting with the bluff behind it and I could not see if the next one over was the right rim or not either.  I was dejected and a little bit scared at that point.  What if I couldn't find my way?  What if I died up there and no one found me?

I didn't want to backtrack, so instead I picked the gentlest slope I could find on the other side of the bluff and slid down, tossing my pack ahead of me.  I slid right into a prickle patch but I was too relieved with not falling and breaking a limb that I just brushed the thorns out of my backside and picked out the worst prickles from my hand to carry on.

Undaunted by the drops of blood, I was almost frantic to find my way again.  I was sure I had to go a bit further east, so bushwacked until I found a game trail that led to the top of the next ridge.  It wasn't the one I had descended on but I was anxious to gain some ground and orientate myself.

I climbed and pulled myself up with some bushes and collapsed with thankfulness at the top when I saw I had scaled the correct ridge and the parking lot was further back.

I decided to sit for 15 minutes at that spot and take in the view one more time before I picked up my pack and trudged back to the van.  I pretended I was merely enjoying the view but truthfully, my legs were shaking so that I needed to sit before I could walk further on.  It had been an exhilarating morning full of beauty, excitement and adventure on my 8 mile journey.

TRNP will always have a special place in my heart.  There are so many trails to explore for solitude.  I did not see one person on my hike out and back so if you are looking for quiet trails to commune with nature, this park has it.

Please subscribe to read about my next adventure to Arizona and Utah, as I tackle "The Wave" - the hardest hiking lottery permit to win in the world!