Sunrise over Custer, South Dakota
There were plenty of choices for the day. With an early start, I decided to tackle one long hike and perhaps one shorter trail, time permitting. The drive into the Custer State Park involved numerous deer sightings, including this one why didn’t seem to mind my presence at all.
Much to my surprise, there was also a field of buffalo.
I decided to start the day with a hike to the area they call Cathedral Spires. There’s a one mile trail from a parking lot further up the road. Instead, I simply parked by the lake again and went the long way.
There were only four vehicles in the lot when I started up the trail around 6:45A. It didn’t take very long to encounter yet more deer.
And a rock giving hikers a thumbs up...
At about a mile, there’s another parking lot for the Little Devils Tower trailhead. In the end, I was glad I took the long way. The early light was a little harsh, so photography stops were few. Best guess for mileage was about two and a half miles until the spur trail down to Cathedral Spires. The trail down, call it another half mile each way.
A bird on a hand?
Back up to the main trail, is was a short backtrack to the spur to Little Devils Tower. This is a little under a half mile each way. The side trail started easily enough, but becomes quite rugged the higher it goes. Towards the top, it was getting a little out of my comfort zone. But, I’m glad I kept going. The view from above.
The light was much better for the trip back down. Best guess for the morning, seven miles, give or take. Not too bad.
Back at the parking lot, it still felt a little early to call it a day. During a well earned respite to refill water bottles and let my feet breathe a little, out came the trail guidebook. The lake loop is a mile. On the back end of the loop sits a 2.8 mile loop trail named Sunday Gulch. Back when this was mining territory, apparently the wives would take Sunday walks through the gulch and the name stuck.
The guidebook suggests taking the loop counter clockwise. This turned out to be a good suggestion. The first stretch down involved steep rocks and pipes for handrails. Even dry, some of these rocks seemed a bit slick. It begins innocently enough...
And then the pipes...
Yeah, counter clockwise was definitely the right move, though there were plenty of hikers going the other direction, creating quite a lot of bottlenecks. Once down, it was quite a pleasant hike through the woods…
Of course with any hike down comes the inevitable climb back up. Except for a few stairs, it was mostly just an elevating trail. Tough, but not too bad.
Perhaps it was the morning’s hike, but I was really feeling it when I finally made it back to the lake. Between the gorge and the lake loop, it was another 3.8 miles in the books, and my feet felt it.
This one went into the books as a really great day.
Coming Up,
One of THOSE mornings...the really good kind
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