Hiking in the Black HIlls

Lots hills to climb

On our way back to Colorado, we didn't want to drive the entire way without a stop. The Black Hills was a good stopping point with so many hiking options. It was hard to decide where to begin. Every trail we took was a climb, hence the name Black Hills. We were staying a couple of miles outside of Custer, we started with a nearby trail.

Big Rock Park

In the town of Custer is Big Rock Park with Custer Skywalk. Trail with 55 steps to an overlook of the mountains and spires. Once we got to the top, we could only make out a shadow of the mountains because of the smoke. But it was still a good walk.

Once we reached the top, there were more stairs to climb. The smoke was still heavy from the Montana fires. 

The Willow Trail

The next day we drove north to hike the Black Elk National Forest and do some geocaching since there were 11 on this trail.

Mike had to climb for this geocache. My legs were a little (a lot) too short.

Sylvan Lake

It was a beautiful morning as we headed by Sylvan Lake to the Sunday Gulch Trail. It was Sunday after all. This trails had many boulders to climb over.

Sunday Gulch Trail

This trail was for walking under a boulder.

This narrow tunnel was for driving through one vehicle at a time. Our mirrors almost touched the edges.

The Cathedral Spires

Raspberries all along the trail were tasty.

 

We could hear the climber calling to each other while climbing the side of the giant rocks.

Heading to Harney Peak we made a wrong turn but managed to get back on track. Sometimes GPS and a map don't work.

The Black Hills are a real treasure. We could see ourselves returning since we missed many places we would like to explore.



Happy birthday Mike in the Black Hills

Today was much cooler for our hike after  having temps in the high 80s. We had spent time in the Black Hills 6 years ago and were glad to return for some hiking.

 

The sun was shining as we drove into the Cathedral Spires area with amazing views of the rocks.

 

 

 



The tunnels are quite narrow and with this one being 8 feet and 4 inches wide, we had to pull in our mirrors to fit through.

 

 

What a nice lush hike. The raspberries were rather tasty and flowers everywhere. Not a bad way to spend a birthday.

 

 

As we got higher the clouds kept getting lower which made for a cooler hike. The sun gets pretty intense this time of year.

 

We made it up Devil's Overlook which included some scrambling. But about half way to Harney Lookout, there was thunder to the west and then to the north. We turned around and made it back and just beat the downpour.

We got here for the end of the Sturgis Rally and never saw so many motorcycles in one place. There were so many beautiful bikes everywhere. The tow trucks were busy with lots of break downs along the road. The rigs that many of the bikes arrived in were pretty impressive.