There's Only One Month Left So You Start To Get Your Poop In A Group

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

I have just under a month left here at Custer State Park, and it's finally hitting me that I really should have been doing fun things on my days off instead of watching Netflix and blogging (though I'm sure everyone appreciates the latter). But honestly, that's what I would do on a normal weekend...absolutely nothing. Relaxing after a busy work week is always really nice.

But a few days ago Kaitlin had suggested that we go hike Harney Peak, which I had been putting off ALL SUMMER! I remember being here for vacation when I was little and my brother and father hiked it while my mom and I stayed behind and did who-knows-what. In my mind I had this picture of climbing Mount Doom from "Lord of the Rings", but I would have hated myself if I was out here for 4 months and didn't even try, so I hopped on board.

In the morning we took off in a group of 6 and headed up to Sylvan Lake (thankfully not on Needles Highway. No need to vomit before even starting the strenuous climb). We didn't get as early of a start as we should have, so we headed straight for the trail before it got too hot out. Luckily clouds and a nice breeze came out and the hike was AWESOME!

Looks pretty high, but just a small overlook in the bottom half of the trail.

Got out of Custer State Park for a day. Almost didn't know what to do with myself.

Finally made it to the top! After some rock scrambling we got over to this awesome spot.

We're pretty tough chicks.

I hope I didn't disturb it by taking its picture...maybe I should have asked first.

Tried to do the "object in the hand" thing. Almost worked, but still neat.

Impending doom clouds. Totally Mount Doom.

McGillycuddy!

Found a little cave...my inner Gollum came out.

Just kidding! It's me, Smeagol! Filthy hobbitses...

*singing* How much is that Kaitlin in the window?

It's hard NOT to feel powerful after climbing Harney Peak and having this all around you.

Definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. I wasn't even tired enough to skip my evening run later on. At night a group of us headed to the Black Hills Playhouse show "Children of Eden", which was semi-entertaining, but would have been more enjoyable if I wasn't completely pooped and up way past my bedtime.

That's all for now! Have a great day and a happy morrow!