Back to the Black Hills: Crow's Peak, Spearfish Canyon, Devil's Tower

True to our emerging Summer pattern, we headed East to the Black Hills after going West to the Bighorns the week prior (any guesses which way we're headed next week?)

This was actually our second trip to Devil's Tower in the past month. On our previous foray, we hiked every last foot of the 8 miles of trail--not a great distance but a lot of variety. This time, we did some bouldering at the base of the tower, then re-visited the prairie dog town and the birdy hill adjoining it (we've seen red headed woodpecker, eastern kingbird, black capped chickadees, prairie falcons, Bullock's orioles and lark sparrows all in the one 1/3 mile segment pictured above).
After bidding our farewell to the black-tailed prairie dogs, we headed onward to Spearfish, where we enjoyed the hospitality of Ginger's WanderInn B&B. But first we climbed up Crow's Peak (el. 5,760), where luckily we ran into a bloke kind enough to snap a photo for us.
Spearfish is a very laid-back little town in a great natural setting. It has a quaint main street, great natural foods store, good restaurants and a well-developed trail system. With thousands of bikers rolling into nearby Sturgis soon, we appreciated the quiet and calm.
Spearfish is also a great place to start an exploration into Spearfish Canyon. The photo above is of Roughlock Falls. Amazing how the trout make it up these things.

Kristen's first "twelve"

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Return to Bighorn, then on to Absaroka-Beartooth

Having whetted our appetite last week, we returned to the Cloud Peak Wilderness of the Bighorn Mountains en route to Red Lodge, MT for the 4th of July.
This time, we planned ahead, and picked a fairly high (9000+ feet) and remote hike (Coney Lake), and were rewarded with a pristine trail. Although we did encounter other hikers on our way back, our tracks were the first in the still snowy upper reaches. The altitude, snow-skirting and multiple river crossings made this a challenging tramp.

Onward then we went to Red Lodge, MT, where early the next morning we hiked deep into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and shot the following video hike:

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By breakfast on the 4th we were on the way back to Gillette, but took the (truly!) scenic route from the Beartooth Highway, back across Chief Joseph Highway and then over the Bighorns via Medicine Wheel Pass (which is still snowed in).

Below is the "beartooth peak ' from which the range takes its name.

The 10,000 foot high pass from which we took this photo, incidentally, was where back in the 70's they used to set up a "Drift Bar" in the high snowbanks during the summer. According to Jeff, a local skier we dropped off here, they used to party pretty hard, and even brought up an elephant from the (now defunct) Red Lodge zoo, which they painted pink!

Bighorn Mountains

After our first week in Gillette, it was time to explore them thar' Bighorn mountains to the west. Covered in year-round snow, the summit of Cloud Peak towers above the lodgepole pine forests.

Running from Buffalo to Ten Sleep, route 16 is the southern scenic byway through the mountains and on to Yellowstone. Several locals recommended Crazy Woman Canyon, a narrow and dramatic gorge with a single-lane dirt road. It was slow going, but well worth the detour.

The snow is not as visible from the valley to the west of the range, but the dramatic rock formations add plenty of color.
We took a 5 mile hike along the aptly named muddy creek on our way home, and bought a Forest Service map to plan other hikes over the next month. More to come . . .

South Dakota: Badlands and Black Hills

We had 3 days to travel the 800 miles between Minneapolis and Gillette before starting our new assignments, so we decided to spend our first night in a cabin (got the last one!) in Badlands National Park.

The next morning, we got up early to climb up onto the plateau to watch the sun rise (and moon set).
Then we drove to the nearby Black Mountains to back-country camp in the Black Elk Wilderness area . . .
. . . so that we could get a head start on the 10 mile loop hike-- and see Mt. Rushmore our way (admittedly not the easy way).

Snowy Range Road

40 miles West of Laramie, WY (click on photo to enlarge). Still tons of snowpack up here, worrisome for those living along the North Platte. In Saratoga, the river was already well over its banks and had shut down the "Hobo Hot Springs."

Video Hike: Medicine Bow

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