Day 68 - Badlands to Mount Rushmore to Black Hills

Today was a great, long day-- starting at the seldom-visited South unit of Badlands, heading to patriotic memorial Mount Rushmore and then to the scenic Black Hills.

A young Park Ranger said that Sheep Mountain Table was his favorite hike at Badlands, so I drove south. He also said the road could be impassable after heavy rains but I was able to travel four miles up to the mesa "table" top before the going got rough. I parked and walked along the dirt road amid vast grassfields and eventually leading to the edge of the mesa and lovely views of the canyons below. These white badland canyons reminded me of Bryce Canyon hoodoos. The road looped around and I walked for several hours without seeing another person-- my own private park.

Mount Rushmore was one of those places I had low expectations for given its tourist popularity-- but wow, I loved it! The memorial does a great job presenting the history of the site: 15 years in the making, 90% of the carving done by dynamite and great presidential ideals. The faces seem to look back at you. 3 million visitors a year make this a huge attraction and countless tourist attractions surround the memorial, making this Black Hills area a family-vacation, road trip hotspot.

High on the Black Hills highlight list is the Sylvan Lake-Mount Harney area of Custer State Park. I drove here late in the afternoon just as heavy rains were ending and the sky was brightening. The rock spires radiated off the water and the Black Hills vistas rolled effortlessly into the horizon. After a hike around the lake and hills, I drove along the 14-mile Needles highway, a narrow winding road built in 1922 and carving through "cathedral spires" and 8 foot wide tunnels. I then drove south through game land areas past Buffalo and Pronghorn Antelope before arriving at a secluded boondocking campsite outside Wind Cave National Park.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 172 - JMT Mount Whitney

Our day began in silence, at 315am in pursuit of the summit. We walked carefully, looking for slick, sandy rocks and icy sections--not wanting to fall. Hiking along a cliff edge in total darkness was thrilling, vividly black and white. By 5am, we had reached the three mile marker and the turnoff up to Whitney summit. We removed the heavy items from our bags and set off towards the summit sunrise. The trail was spectacular, a special creation of this nation, winding from one side of the mountain to the other, going down and around one side before coming up to another, creating anticipation with each turn. Looking back, the sloping ridges caught the early sunset delicately. As we hiked along the two mile upper trail, the views east would open up for the narrowest of moments. This opening was my favorite. 14,000 foot cathedrals of nature thrusted towards the heavens at each turn. The summit was almost in sight, the highest peak in the lower 48 states nearly at...

Day 52 - Mesa Verde

The Anasazi first settled on the mesa tops of Mesa Verde in 500 AD, then moved into the cliff dwellings this park is famous for in 1100 AD, then mysteriously abandoned the area entirely in 1300 AD. Like the other tourists, I was interested in seeing the cliff dwellings! Unfortunately many sites are closed in Colorado until Memorial Day, so I wasn't able to go into the two largest dwellings, Cliff Palace or Long House, settling instead for Balcony House. Balcony House is a small cliff dwelling built in a defensive posture on an inaccessible cliff. You have to climb a 30 foot ladder to enter the dwelling and then you have to crawl through a 3 foot wide hole and up more ladders to exit. Adventure and history are a nice combo. The ranger taught us about building techniques, spiritual structures and customs, and theories about the Anasazi culture and disappearance (draught or war). Pics. After the guided tour of Balcony House, I did self-guided tours of a historical museum,...

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