It's About the (RV) Journey....: Hike in the Hills....

Harney Peak is the most popular hike in the Black Hills, and with good reason. For more information, click here. It is a beautiful hike to one of the highest peaks in the Black Hills. There are several ways to reach Harney Peak, but we took Trail 9 from Sylvan Lake.

start of Trail 9 at Sylvan Lake

Here we go!

Inspirational bench (in memory of a too-young-to-die guy)

We had a beautiful day and a lot of company! All of the people we met on the hike were so friendly. About 20 of us seemed to be making our way UP at the same rate, so we would chat at rest stops or while passing each other.

going up

and up

nice view point and rest stop

lots of us resting here (you can't see the other 10 people!)

soaring

nice trail...good shade in parts

pretty moss and woods

see-Trail 9

hitting the tree line

going up, along with lots of others

nice mountain flowers

more up

are we there yet?

I made it to the top...almost! My fear of heights kicked in at the very end. I was able to climb the steps, until it was only a rock wall on one side and nothing on the other. I almost got myself into a pickle! Yikes! Another guy with a fear of heights, who was frozen to the wall with his 2 little kids, tried to encourage me to keep going....it was only a few more steps....but I declined. I don't know how he did...he may still be on the wall, trying to figure out how he was going to get down.

yeah!

these were some of the last flights I did....once there was a wall or railing only on one side, I froze

Tom with me at my highest point...ALMOST at the very top....just steps away

Tom at the lookout before the very top (where i was too, before coming back down)

Tom, of course, is fearless! He went to the top, and stayed a few minutes enjoying the 360 degree view before coming down to join chicken little for lunch. Haha. We ate at a beautiful spot a little ways back down the mountain.

Yum, tuna again

but of course tuna

nice view

getting ready to go down

On the way back, we decided to take different and slightly less traveled trail (Trail 4). At one point, we thought we took the wrong trail, but we were good. I was glad that we wouldn't have to climb back up and retrace our steps!! The way down was not as nice...too many trees were down. Not sure, but it could have been some sort of wind damage, like a tornado. They do get some wicked storms here. We've seen a few wild storms in the few days we've been here.

taking Trail 4 down

There were so many trees down....someone mentioned it was wind damage. Parts of the forest were wiped out. Other areas were healthy and green. Of course, there were lots of rocks. The trail was shimmering with mica in some parts...it was like fairy dust! Very cool!

is that fairy dust at my feet?

nice sparkly trail (or am I just tired?)

Trail 4, nice so far

lots of trees damaged and down

The hike went through Custer State Park as well as the Black Elk Wilderness, which is a national forest with different guidelines. For the National Forest, we needed to fill out registration forms and carry one with us, and put the other in the box. There is a hefty $100 fine for not doing this.

we signed in on the way in on Trail 9

Black Elk was an Indian leader

At one point on the trail down, we thought we missed a trail head, because the landscape was so different. We explored a bit before continuing on the trail, which was correct after all. Yeah!!

stonehenge?

let's check this out

heading down

come on Susie

nice refreshing part of the trail, with shade, trees, pine scent, moss...nice

another great view

hope we're on the right trail

going down can be tough too! Really!

You never know what you will see when you start looking around hiking. I was still scanning for snakes, but when I looked up, I saw this little guy on the top of one of the outcropping of rocks. Some of the rocks were eroded and had actual holes, or windows, in them.

marmot getting some sun

getting nearer to the bottom of the mountain

babbling brook

rock erosion

getting there

So, the stats on the hike...it took us about 4.5-5 hours, with lunch, rest stops and photo shoots included. Tom recorded the hike on his "backcountry navigator" app on his phone, and turns out the hike we did was 7.4 miles. I had my fitbit on, and clocked 20,456 steps and 151 flights of stairs. That's a record for me (the stairs!)

almost at the end of the trail

My feet were screaming by the time we finished the hike. We brought our chairs to relax at the lake. Sylvan Lake is known as the crown-jewel of the Black Hills. It is really nice, with lots to do if you enjoy water sports (swimming, boating, fishing) or walking/rock climbing or picnic-ing. The rocks are a big hit with the younger set!!

relaxing at the lake after our hike

this is heavenly here

as Grandpa would say, my puppies are barking

relaxing

There is a nice one-mile easy walk around the lake, which we thought would be really nice to do as a cool down once we I recuperated from our hike to Harney Peak. Well, to my surprise, we had to scramble over the rocks and there was some "up" involved. It was not a flat easy stroll, like I thought, but it was lovely. So, my total fitbit stats ended up being 23,946 and 161 flights of steps! The lake is absolutely gorgeous...with the rock formations surrounding it. Too bad you can't smell the pine through this computer too! Quite aromatic!! Just so very refreshing!!