Southern Hills RV Park, Hermosa, South Dakota
The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” ~ Genesis 25:22-23 These two nations would one day become Israel and Edom, and their ‘jostling’ continued for centuries – even into today. The children? Jacob and Esau. God’s sovereign choice is demonstrated here, because at that time, younger sons always served the older because the older received the bulk (if not all) of the inheritance. I also loved it that Rebekah had a close enough relationship with God that she felt she could go to Him for answers. At the same time, as a mother, I think it would be disheartening to hear that your sons (especially sons you’ve waited for for 20 years) would be separated. Still, she had to know the promise made to Abraham, and only one son could carry on that legacy.
I’m trying desperately to adhere to my vow of less pictures, but do you have any idea how difficult that is in Custer State Park? Between the two of us today, we took 159 pictures and two fairly lengthy videos (Which unfortunately, I’m unable to share. Just know that they’re videos of the buffalo walking around in the street stubbornly blocking traffic. 😊). Of those pictures, I was able to whittle some away for various reasons, bringing the total down to a mere 122.
Day two in Custer State Park, we took on two strenuous hikes covering at least ten miles of gorgeous scenery in The Needles area. Remember that area I pointed out on a picture yesterday? That’s where we went today! Another gorgeous drive and day! There are two tunnels on the Needles Highway, and one on the Sylvan Lake Road – both of which we were on today. Why mention them? Because they are all 8’ to 8’9” wide and 9’8” to 10’10” tall. They’ve put the notice in their booklet you receive when you enter the Park, and there are very large school-bus-yellow signs well before each of the tunnels, as well as another smaller one right before the entrance. So again – why mention them? You’ll see later. By the way, our Jeep is 6’5” wide, and 5’10” tall. I had to wait for Blaine to measure because he wouldn’t provide me with just a guesstimate. 😊
We left early this morning and entered the park just before 7:00am. We hadn’t driven far towards our first trailhead before we spotted four “teenage” buffalo alongside the road!
And not too long after, we were stopped by a herd! And they refused to move! (And no, we didn’t have to take so many pictures, but how often does that happen??? And yes, I could’ve left some out of the post, but which ones??) A guy behind us in a red pick-up had obviously done this before because he just plowed through them honking his horn and forcing them to move, but we were pretty sure we heard his truck being struck a time or two. That gave the rest of us courage, so Blaine started into the herd on one side of the road, and the person in front on the other side did the same. They weren’t so gracious to us. One kicked the Jeep when Blaine tried to nudge him, and another planted himself in front and appeared to be licking the bugs off the grill. How blessed we were to witness all this! It was a blast! Oh. And in case you’re wondering, the Jeep was fine. She’s a pretty tough ol’ bird.
Either that, or it had a deep desire to wash our filthy Jeep.
We saw plenty of wildlife today – deer, bighorn sheep, and a mountain goat. We’ve yet to see an elk, but we’re certainly not complaining! And we’ve got a lot of days left. 😊
It was a beautiful drive to our first trailhead!
This one’s really pretty. It’s called the State Game Lodge.
Can’t miss the sign.
What a story!
People were soooo much more patient back then.
Here’s our first hike – The Cathedral Spires – 2.5 miles round trip:
Made the trail smell lovely!
to show how pretty some of the trail was. : )
We also discovered that there was a regular dirt trail that skirted around the rocks.
Oops! Too late. lol
He’s always got his eyes peeled for eagles! : )
We finished up and drove on to the next trail. This one promised to be more strenuous, and it was (6 miles round trip that includes a pretty hefty ascension). But we were up for it! And it included a delightful rock scramble. Although, by the time we reached the top of Little Devil’s Tower my legs were kinda weak (adrenaline or lack of conditioning, or both?), which made me uncertain to walk around the top. But I did some. Just made sure I held onto Blaine for support – or a nearby rock. 😊
They weren’t there when we went up.
You’ll read about that later.
We could see Black Elk Peak from up here. At 7,242-feet, Black Elk is the highest point in South Dakota, and indeed, the highest point in the US east of the Rockies. Guess where we’ll be going one day? 😊 By the way, Little Devil is only 283-feet shorter.
We also discovered where all the ladybugs in the State congregate. Incredible!
The views hiking back down were just as astounding as the ones going up, but Blaine had my phone in his pack, so I couldn’t take any pictures. I had to do a lot of sit-n’-scoot on the way down that rock mountain. Not good for iphones.
There was an emergency call. Just as we climbed down to the ‘base’ of the rock (the place I mentioned earlier), we overheard a small family group talking about cancelling their 911 call, and one of the women giving them an emphatic “NO!” She wanted a ‘full ekg and scan’ because something was wrong with her heart. We passed a sheriff, on his way up, but we were a long way down the trail by then. We heard him talk into his radio and say that he had an AED with him. Then, when we were nearly back, a paramedic passed us and I mentioned to him that he had a long walk ahead of him. He wanted to know where she was located, so I told him. Neither of us stopped walking. We think she’ll be okay. She sounded pretty lively when we left her. We thought either over-exerted, or dehydrated. Both of which are possible.
The paramedic started from the parking lot! 
Guess the sheriff did too
We continued our scenic drive looking for a place for lunch, and we came to Sylvan Lake. We’d been told by the Ranger yesterday that this place was busy, but we never expected anything like this! Cars were everywhere!
We’d just about given up stopping, when Blaine spotted an empty space and whipped in. We grabbed lunch and walked over to an empty fishing pier, and while Blaine got lunch out, I removed my shoes and socks and soaked my tired, hot feet in the lake. Ahhhhh . . . . . What a perfect lunch spot!
As we continued on, we came to the final tunnel. And know you’ll find out why I mentioned dimensions and signs previously. On the other end of the tunnel sat a Class C motorhome. There was no possible way that thing was getting through that tunnel! I did a little checking – most Class C’s are 9’ wide and 10’ tall. Don’t recall there being a place to turn around there either. YIKES!! And cars were backing up behind him. . . .
The rest of our scenic drive, on a round about way towards home, took us to another lake overlook . . . . . .
. . . . . . and then on to Rapid City where the closest WalMart is located. We had a lot of “extras”, plus grocery shopping to do, and even though WalMart isn’t our favorite place to shop, we could get it all done in one place. I even bought postcards for a fraction of the price of the souvenir places!
And that’s my tale for today.