Black Hills 10: Final Image

Our dinner stop in Cheyenne gave me one last opportunity to take out the camera.

Black Hills 9: Wind Cave National Park

Our final day in the Black Hills. Kim and Shirley headed home early. They took the dog, so that we could do a prairie hike in Wind Cave National Park.

Traffic jam in the Black Hills

View from the Rankin Ridge Fire Tower - our first hike

The first hike was a nice viewpoint, but the second was more substantial- a large prairie loop on the Lookout Point and Beaver Creek trails. Wide-open prairie, bison, a year's supply of prairie dogs, even a nice valley filled with caves. This hike had it all.

Wide-open spaces

Cave entrance

Black Hills 8: Back to the Hills

The next day Kevin and Shirley went to Wind Cave National Park to explore some caves, while the rest of us took the dog on a number of hikes.

We started with a short walk to Cathedral Spires, not far from the Little Devil's Tower of a few days ago.
Then we drove to Cathedral Lake, and took a great hike down into Sunday Gulch- a granite ravine filled with giant boulders and a rushing stream.
We lived in constant fear from the carnivorous dry-land beaver. These man-eating beasts have been eradicated from Colorado, but still pose a threat in the wilds of South Dakota.

Where old paddle boats go to die.
After our hikes, Dorinna and I took chairs and books and enjoyed some relaxation on the shores of Legion Lake. Until the riff-raff arrived...

Rain

We just had a little rain storm in Fort Collins- well actually a big rain storm. Almost 5 inches of rain in under 2 hours in the southwest corner of the city (where we live). The National Weather Service reports that flooding is exceeding 100 year flood levels.

Right now the rain is tapering off, but the flood waters are continuing to rise downstream. The irrigation ditch behind our house appears to be holding together OK. It's dark out, but the squishing under my feet as I walk across the back yard is no worse near the ditch than near the house.

My new rain jacket worked swimmingly.

Black Hills 7: Drive Back to Camp

Tired after two hikes, I still managed to snap a few pictures on the drive back to camp.

Bison at Watering Hole

Late Afternoon Shadows

Black Hills 6: French Creek

Our second hike of the day was to descend into the middle of French Creek canyon. At one point we considered descending through the canyon as a two-day backpack, but we decided to save that trip for another day. After following a long dirt road, we descended down steeply and followed a very rough path through the canyon. It was nice to leave the arid plains into a wetter environment. Sky certainly enjoyed the opportunity to go swimming and fetch sticks.

On the hike down, Dorinna was surprised by a chipmunk, and screamed at the top of her lungs. On the hike back, Dorinna was surprised by a rattlesnake, and calmly said "Is that a snake?"

Kevin, Sky, and Dorinna walking along French Creek

Red Columbine

Bunny was a bit shaken after seeing the rattlesnake

Me at French Creek

Black Hills 5: Back on the Wildlife Loop

After our hike, Kim and Shirley went horseback riding, while the rest of us made another pass around the Wildlife Loop road on our way to our second hike.

View of the Wildlife Loop from the Prairie Trail

"Where the deer and the antelope play..."

Drive-thru Burro Petting Zoo

Herd of Bison on the plains

Black Hills 4: Prairie Loop Trail

The next day I wanted to further indulge myself in the prairie landscape. Mountains are fun, but we have plenty of them in Colorado. We drove back to a trailhead that I had spotted the night before. We only made it a few hundred feet from the car before we disturbed a pronghorn- we got some great views as he charged across the meadow.

Parts of the hike were in forested terrain, but most of it was open prairie.

Primrose on the prairie

As we climbed up onto a ridge, we suddenly found our way blocked by a large herd of bison:


We patiently waited for the herd to mosey off before continuing the hike.

Sky and Shirley (and Bunny) stopping for lunch

"Prairie Grapes"

An idyllic little oasis of green

Black Hills 3: Wildlife Loop Road

Back at our campsite after the hike, we loaded up the cars with binoculars, cameras, guidebooks, and tripods, and set out to do a drive around Wildlife Loop Road. The weather was cloudy and stormy, but generally cleared up as we drove around. We traveled to a couple of viewpoints, and enjoyed some nice views of the peaks we had just climbed.

The fun part, however, started when we saw our first Bison.
As we traveled around the loop, we saw more Bison, Pronghorn Antelope, Deer, and several different birds. It's called Wildlife Loop for a reason!

Storm clearing over the plains

Wildflower on the red rock that rims the valley

Penstemon on the plains.

West Coast Trail Preview

Last weekend we returned from our vacation to British Columbia to hike the West Coast Trail in British Columbia. It was an eventful trip, and many more stories, photos, and videos will grace this blog as soon as I have time to post-- I've been spending too much time this summer having fun rather than writing about it. Er... maybe not. :-)

The Good
The West Coast trail was absolutely beautiful. We saw otters, seals, seal lions, whales, and bald eagles. Six nights camping on the beach was just lovely. Waterfalls, surf, sea caves, tide pools, and really cool temperate rain forest.

The Bad
On the sixth day of the backpack, Dorinna's knee started hurting. By the middle of the night it was noticeably swollen, and by morning she effectively couldn't walk. With a borrowed cell phone, we managed to get out a call to Search and Rescue. When the paramedics arrived on the beach, took off the band-aid, and watched green pus ooze out, they declared it a raging infection. We spent 8 hours in the Victoria hospital emergency room that night, and had a rough flight home the next day. Upon arrival in Fort Collins, we went immediately back to the ER for more intravenous antibiotics. She's getting much better, but it wasn't a great way to end the trip. Thankfully it was an easy rescue (the advantage of camping on a beach), and it was the last day of our trip.

The Difficult
The West Coast Trail is the hardest trail I have ever hiked. Heavy packs didn't help of course, but this was ridiculous. Roots, rocks, huge mud wallows, fallen logs, you name it. Ladders like you wouldn't believe... Here you go:




On that one day of the hike, we went up and down forty-one ladders. The other days had ladders too, along with swinging suspension bridges, ropes, rope ladders, hand-operated cable-cars and two ferry crossings. It was 47 miles of crazy-hard hiking.

More to come...