Cathedral Spires trail

Sunday June 19
Today’s destination was Custer State Park in the Black Hills, about an hour’s drive from our accommodation. It is a huge state park, famous for its beautiful scenery and especially all its wildlife. Normally you would have to pay an entrance fee, but we were delighted to discover that today it was free in honour of Father’s Day! We started with a walk around lovely Sylvan Lake, where people were kayaking, paddle boarding, fishing and swimming. Then we started on perhaps the most spectacular stretch of road, the Needles Highway, known for its sharp bends, tunnels cut through the rock, and spectacular views. We stopped at one point and enjoyed our sandwiches taking in the views, then set out on the Cathedral Spires trail featured in my blip, about 2.5 miles return, but all up hill on the outward leg, including some mild rock clambering in the upper section, but the views were worth the effort, and even better, we were rewarded with the sight of a couple of Mountain goats and their young, high up on the mountain tops. Laura was the first to spot them, not sure if it was a mountain goat or just a white rock, but my camera and the binoculars showed it was indeed a goat! We pointed them out to a number of other hikers who hadn’t noticed them. Jen continued up to a higher point, whilst the rest of us started back down the hill. We continued along the loop road, and finished with the wildlife drive, which unfortunately was rather disappointing, as we only saw a few of their 1200 herd of bison - - we had seen far more at Wind Cave National Park yesterday. All in all, however, another grand day, finishing up with dinner out at an Indian/Himalayan restaurant in Rapid City to celebrate Fathers Day. I’ve added an extra of Roger and the two girls I took in the Park to mark the day.