Day 69 - The Black Hills

A lightning strike last night had disabled the elevator at Wind Cave. Safety regulations require the elevator to be working during tours, so I went to plan B: climb Mount Harney, the tallest peak east of the Rocky Mountains.

An hour drive took me back to Sylvan Lake where despite 100% chance forecasts of rain, I put on my hiking gear and breezed up the 3-mile long, 1000 ft+ climb. The CCC built a castle-like stone watchtower on top of the mountain in 1933, making the final climb very memorable. A white mountain goat at the top of the peak appeared regal and resolute but the dark clouds around ominous. I took some pics and headed back down, hoping to get down before the rain set in. The descent route took me to the backside of the cathedral spires I saw yesterday.

After climbing Harney, I drove an hour north to Rapid City to Meineke to get my front brakes replaced and complete my second oil change. 10,000 miles! $427 later the van was back in good shape and I drove south along the scenic, winding Iron Mountain Highway and then Wildlife Highway to my secluded boondocking campsite in the Black Hills National Forest near Wind Cave. 1.3 million motorcycles descend on the Balck Hills every June for the Sturgis motorcycle rally! After driving hundreds of miles around here, I can understand why. Ohh, and baby Buffalo calves are the cutest animals ever!

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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 48 - Canyonlands Island in the Sky Pt 2

Mountain biking the 100-mile 4x4 White Rim Road is said to be a great American adventure. But without any water, you need a follow truck to carry your water and gear, and reservations must be made three months in advance. So I just decided to hike down 1500 feet to the white rim and hike the road a bit. Steep, steep, steep was the descent down the Goosberry trail, but I reached the rim level in only 45 minutes! I hiked further down to the white rim road and then past to the very edge. Looking around for a possible path down to the river bottom 1000 feet below was a fun task, but a hard one as the "white rim rock" has a solid sheer 50-150 feet dropoff. I found one possible path down but a lone Nalgene bottle left down below the white rocks indicated an aborted attempt down. I continued to walk the rim for a few hours, finally climbing a small Mesa edge to enjoy the high view of the other side. After a brief respite, I walked back an hour along the Jeep 4x4 road to the G...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

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