WHAT A DAY! I didn't think I was going to live through it a couple times. Nick lied to me about how strenuous this hike was. I think he thought he was telling me the truth based on his research, but I felt lied to over it. ;) It was HARD. I'm out of shape. The most activity I have by 10:00am on most days is turning around in my swivel chair at work... needless to say, today stretched that to the max.
He kept telling me it would be worth it, I kept telling him I wasn't happy with him... or possibly stronger language. :) I wasn't really mad at him, but it's hard to say nice things about someone when you can't breathe. lol.
We started on the trail around 10:00am and finally made it to the top around 12:30pm. And... I have to admit again, it was worth it. If I would have known how hard it was going to be I wouldn't have gone, but sadly, I didn't and was glad to have see what I saw. As Nick says, there is something special about seeing things you can only see by earning them. You can't drive there, you have to do the work for the reward. And I was happy because he was so happy and he was so happy I was with him, which of course is nice.
Harney is the highest peak East of the Rockies... whatever that means. Nick shared a lot of information on the trip, for example, don't take ibuprofen before a hike because it will give your body a false sense of lack of pain, drink water, you need to drink water, walking backwards relieves pressure on your knees... and several other things I no longer remember.
The views were stunning all along the way, but there was nothing like when we got to the top.
Everything sparkles in South Dakota! The dust, the gravel, the trees, everything. Some of it is just the sun glinting off of buffed rock and some of it actually look like glitter, it's just amazing. I think the trees might be glittery because of the sand/gravel and the wind blowing it on them... that's my guess anyway.
The goal... LONG WAY to go yet.
The trail was filled with mostly normal people, which was comforting. :) Lots of kids and dogs! I was surprised at how brave people were. When we got to the very top of the tower there was a lady w/ a baby strapped to her back! When we left at 10:00am there was a bathroom and never again until we returned... what are you suppose to tell kids when they have to go!? Beats me. You could tell it's just what they did -- they were life long hikers and knew what they were doing.
We passed a couple that were 76 on our way up... we didn't think we'd see them up there, but we did. Pretty awesome. There's no way I'm going to be doing that at 76. :) Nick's hoping to be tho.
Kids don't even know it's torture for the most part. They're just goofing around and playing. It's pretty great.
The trail got really tough in spots and towards the very end it was tough stuff and then we saw horses there!! Unbelievable!
And then we were there! Hard to describe this site. Again... pictures will never be able to express the grandeur. It's just stunning all the things we've been given in this world.
We saw this guy as we were climbing the last stretch, when we got to here we heard him say, "Come on mom -- you can do it!" lol.
Crazy -- a guy said you could see the back of the mt. that Mt. Rushmore is carved into... I don't think I actually ever saw it, but I kept saying WOW! lol.
Fire tower -- very top. Made me queasy, I had to get down pretty quick. That little spec in the pic is a helicopter. Crazy, to be higher than the helicopters.
If you double click on this pic you MAY be able to see the people sitting eating lunch out on these rocks. They're all the way out to the very tip of these rocks. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!
YAY! US!
Nick's the little person on the right. The fire tower is in the spire above him to the right.
Ummm... Yay! USA? What was this guy thinking??? Nick said it was good I didn't see it from the front. LOL!
It's ME! I'm waving to you and saying, "greetings from atop of Mt. Harney."
Awwww.... someone asked us if we were newly weds on this trip... Nope, even better, working on 14 years. Now I know him AND I love him. Before I loved him, but there was still a lot to know. Without a doubt, he makes this world a better place.
End of the hike! Back at the bottom (which was also torture, but more fun to talk to people! :) Lake Sylvan.
Nick loves to "vlog" his trips, meaning video blog. This one cracked me up.
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