We set out early for our first day of hiking—
Custer State Park.
Dad had a whole day planned,
Starting with a drive into the park
Through their infamous tunnels.
First was Hood Tunnel—
The Beast (our truck) barely fit!
Whew!
We made it to our trailhead
Where we were taking off for 3 shorter hikes.
First—
Cathedral Spires
It was a gorgeous day
And everyone was in a good mood
We made it to the marker!
Stop one:
Check.
It was an out and back trail,
So we got to see the Spires from different views
As you can see,
It was a beautiful sunny day.
The ground literally glittered…
Which of course didn’t come out here
But take our word for it,
It was SHINY!
(Which we sang all day long)
Our next stop was a scramble up the mountain…
Where we ran into a bunch of mountain goats
The scramble was awesome
A view from the other side of the scramble
All the way up we go!
To the top of the
Little Devil’s Tower
You could see the whole park!
There are the Cathedral Spires!
And that’s where we are headed next…
The fire lookout
On top of Black Elk Peak
After lunch,
We scrambled back down
Which was a lot of fun
And headed on a much flatter
But VERY shiny path.
Dad was looking for the biggest piece of mica he could find
But then Tucker and Mom upped the game
With even bigger pieces
The landscape changed to forest—
This spot was so mossy and quiet
It was peaceful.
We knew we were getting close
When we headed out of Custer
And into backcountry
On we go…
Playing the 15 question game
Of McDonalds foods
(It’s a Reed Brother tradition).
The stumper—CocaCola slushees.
No one remembered they had those.
The end of the trail was a heck of an elevation gain…
And then there were stairs to the fire tower…
And then there were stairs IN the fire tower
The view was again pretty awesome
We paused to catch our breath
And take it all in
See Weston down there?
He was feeling very pensive.
We had dessert while we chilled…
And attracted a few chipmunks
Time to head down!
Which is always easier
But just as pretty
A little TMI,
But highly memorable…
We highly enjoyed dinner last night,
But the beans were moving through everyone…
So we paused to use the “facilities”
(Aka, bushes)
At least the view was great
We made it back down in no time,
8 miles under our belts.
On the way down,
We noticed this…
What does it look like to you? ;)
Silly nature.
We head back through Needle Eye Tunnel
Suck it in, Beast!
And stopped at Sylvan Lake
For a dip and some drinks
And some fish chasing
Back through Hood one more time
Tuck couldn’t resist popping up through the sunroof
To touch the roof of the tunnel
Mom was obsessed with these signs—
They were EXTRA hairpinny she thought
(Which fit the road really well)
We had one last stop for our day.
We’d been there before
But only Jack and Wes remember…
To Mount Rushmore we go!
Wes had had enough of the pictures
And stole the phone…
Including these for posterity
It really is an amazing monument
We learned they thought it would take 5 years and $500,000
But ended up taking 14 years and $1,000,000.
400 people worked on it.
They used a model where 1 inch equals 1 foot on the mountain,
Carving it out with a plumb line and dynamite.
Our learning paid off with Junior Ranger badges.
(Jack and Wes already had them)
Our serious faces to match the presidents
Some smiles to cap off the day…
Because we have ribs waiting for us in the camper
And we earned them today!
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