20 September 2014 – Saturday
After all the hard work yesterday, Ellen said her goal for
today was to sleep in and ‘take the day off’.
We loaded up all our dirty laundry from the trip so far and headed to
the nearest town of Custer. We did find
a laundromat aptly named the ‘Lost Sock’ and filled up three commercial
washers. Ellen headed for the Farmers
Market (and snagged a great watermelon) and I carefully guarded our laundry and
enjoyed the high speed internet connection…
We then headed for the Jewel Caves National Monument. We signed up for a 2-hour ranger-guided tour
and got to spend some time enjoying the visitor center.
I’m getting a better appreciation for Park Rangers all the time, but I did learn that there’s big difference in how they fund national ‘Parks’ from national ‘Monuments’.
I’m getting a better appreciation for Park Rangers all the time, but I did learn that there’s big difference in how they fund national ‘Parks’ from national ‘Monuments’.
It was great tour.
We found another ‘hiking trail’ close-by in the National
Forest that was about 5.5 miles long.
Ellen thought we should try it, even if it was our ‘day off’. Since it was named “Hell Canyon Trail”, I
had my doubts… We went to the trailhead
and started off.
It was beautiful,
gently rising elevations as we headed up the canyon, and then the trail headed
straight up the canyon wall to get to the edge looking over what we had just
climbed. We desperately hung on the
impossibly narrow trail that followed the high canyon walls hundreds of feet
above the path we had just traversed.
About that time a young girl passed us on a mountain bike. She had to be an “Iron Woman”!
We desperately hung on the impossibly narrow trail that followed the high canyon walls hundreds of feet above the path we had just traversed. About that time a young girl passed us on a mountain bike. She had to be an “Iron Woman”!
Off to Hot Springs tomorrow and maybe another ‘day off’!
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