flume trail mishap

girls hiking trip!! monique and i wanted to have a big experience so we decided to check out the flume trail near sheridan lake. it's a gorgeous trail that starts out by the lake, follows the run off stream, and the path of the old fume. we got to cross through 2 tunnels; the short one was no problem but the long one was scream inducing for me. the whole floor of the tunnel was covered with water with a couple boards hovering over the water. each step makes the boards sink down in to the water. there was just something horrific at watching the water creep towards my shoes, like maybe it was acid or lava or BLOOD!! ack!

once we made it through the tunnels we hiked and hiked and hiked. total trail miles one way for the flume trail is 14 miles and i would say we got maybe 10 miles down the trail before my toe was hurting so bad we turned around. (my five finger toe shoes let me down on this one.) since the day was hot and my foot hurt a short cut was needed. unfortunately, the short cut turned out to be a long cut and we ended up hiking hours out of the way. technically we hiked into a shooting range but in the end we scored a ride from a local college student that saved us another 10 miles of hiking. despite everything it was a beautiful, amazing, intense, and intensely fun day! i love hiking!

trail head

thought it was a huge crow...

turned out to be a vulture of some kind.

lots of vultures!

life is so tenuous. poor guy.

they were everywhere!

spot where the old flume came through.

i have never seen anything like this.

dam at sheridan lake.

man, it was steep!!

flume support wall.

nature's puzzle pieces.

long tunnel.

so glad i brought my headlamp, thanks jeffrey!

thats monique.

closer...

made it.

i love thistles.

another trail friend.

we walked a line between life and death.

prickly pear.

there was another red head in the woods that day. :)

spent sunday on the sunday gulch trail in custer state park

sunday, with barely any rest from camping and hiking in spearfish, we headed to custer state park with the neighbors to hike the sunday gulch trail. i haven't ever hiked a trail that crossed over and through streams so this was super exciting for me and of course the kids loved jumping through the creek and hoping on all the boulders littering the creek bed. we saw squirrels galore, a buffalo, and a family of big horn sheep. i just love custer for all the amazing wildlife roaming freely though out the park. after the hike we splashed around in sylvan lake before headed to DQ for some much needed ice cream. a perfect ending to a perfect day!

1st ever black hills camp trip!!

we loaded the car with gear and headed to spearfish canyon to camp for a night at the rod and gun campground. perfect site right by the creek, if only the bugs would have left us alone. we were lucky enough to discover the path for the lower rimrock trail passed right behind our tent! it was almost like hiking in a rainforest, there was so much green with the richest black soil i have ever seen. i am totally looking forward to a return trip and another hike. pure bliss!

the view from our tent