Badlands

We left Minneapolis after work and stayed in Sioux Falls, SD overnight. We woke up and breathed in that wonderful South Dakota air. The speed limit is 80, so we just took right off for the Badlands, and 4 hours later, we had arrived.

Driving Through

We picked up the park pass that lasts 1 week for $20. This came in handy as we camped the Badlands on our way back from Colorado at the end of our trip. Thanks National Park service!

The Badlands went through three different geologic periods. Ancient seas and rivers contribute to the forming of the rock structures. In some places, you can literally see the different time zones based on the coloration of the rocks. It’s a geologists playground.

Also along the way are the ever so photogenic prairie dogs, and some big bison out in the pastures.

Black Hills

We journeyed on to the Black Hills to our campsite located at Sylvan Lake Campground within Custer State Park. It was about a 2 hour drive.

The landscape as you drive through is pristine with rolling hills and tall trees lining the highway. We passed some very cute, small mountain towns. With Mt. Rushmore being so close, these towns have built tourism into their DNA. There’s plenty of hotels, restaurants, and little shops for people to buy souvenirs.

As we entered the campground, we saw why this got such great reviews. Sylvan Lake itself is as tranquil as anything, and the camp sites were nicely positioned and placed back in the woods.

Hike the Morning

We woke up early, just after sunrise, grabbed a few granola bars, a couple apples, water, and headed out with our dog to hit the trails.

Here was our description for the morning:

Sunday Gulch Trail (Closed during winter season) Location of Trailhead:

Length: 2.8 miles (loop) | Time: 2-3 hours | Difficulty: Strenuous

Description: This trail offers perhaps the most unique scenery of all the park’s hiking trails. Descending into Sunday Gulch, the trail crosses a stream several times while passing over large boulders and near magnifi cent granite walls. Spruce, pine and a mixture of hardwoods line the trail” (CSP-Trails).

There’s nothing better than getting a good night’s sleep out in the woods, waking up to some mountain hiking, and being with your loved ones. Right!??

I’m also very proud of our dog. He did great hiking straight up bolders, crossing creeks, and leading the way.

Onwards to Colorado

After the hike, we packed up camp, and took off for Denver. With the windows down and listening to local radio stations, we were relaxed and enjoying ourselves. It’s about 5.5 hrs to Denver and we were staying with some friends.

These are the same friends we traveled to Ireland with and were so excited to finally have a chance to meet their son Grayson!

What do you do with a home brewer that lives in Denver? Drink a lot of weird/heavy beer until late into the night. So that’s what we did, and laughed along the way.

Colorado Springs

CO Springs sits about 1.5 hrs south of Denver. Before we left town, we stopped in a beer store and picked up some of our favorite beer from Crooked Stave. Then we took off.

This was a family affair down in Colorado Springs. My cousin was getting married and a lot of family was meeting up for it.

The reception was held outside overlooking the Rockies. It was absolutely beautiful.