We left Grand Forks around 7am and started to make our weekend camping trip towards the Black Hills. Driving the roughly 8-hour drive was not too bad, pretty uneventful the whole way. About halfway I started driving and we stopped off at Wall Drug. Wall Drug is in the Badlands and it is this old style western type town. I rear ended my other friend we were driving with there. No damage but I was not driving my car. The owner was pissed and drunk but the other driver didn’t care. The town was sweet, had a bunch of old style souvenirs and posters. My friend was pretty pissed they did not have ice cream though, I thought it was hilarious.
We arrived at the Black Hills around sunset and drove through the mountains at night towards Custer State Park. Driving through the mountains were beautiful, something surreal after living in the middle of nowhere North Dakota. The Campsite was rested in a valley with gnarly views of the mountains. As we started to unpack all the gear it dawned on us that no one has really pitched a tent. I was relying on my friends, how am I supposed to know how? I grew up in Chicago. After putting together this raggedy looking tent we pitched a fire and went to bed.
The next morning, we headed to Sylvan Lake Park but we drove up the mountain on needles highway to start our hike on the Cathedral Spires trail. The surrounding rock formations were unlike anything I have ever seen. Needle like rock formation caused by years of erosion created this beautiful scenery. I have gone to Colorado numerous times and this was almost incomparable. We also saw some rock climbers and screamed at them to get their attention for no reason. They waved at us, pretty dandy. I was in charge of the map (not smart) and saw Harney Peak, the tallest peak in South Dakota, was not too far. On the hike the scenery increasingly got more and more spectacular as we approached the summit. The Black Hills were formed due to strong volcanic activity in the past years and they mostly consist of metamorphic rock. When we went off trail for a minute to climb a boulder we noticed the boulder was hard to the touch and even painful at times.
As we approached the top we had to climb this tower/castle that was located at the top. We later found out that the tower was actually used by firefighters to spot forest fires. But the cool part about this was because it was taller than the mountain, it gave a clear 360-degree view of all the black hills and we stood up there for an hour or so just indulging in the marvelous scenery.
Descending the peak we actually got lost and wound up on the wrong trail and went to Sylvan Lake where our car was not located. Thankfully a family actually offered to drive us back to our car and we were extremely grateful. Then we saw Mount Rushmore which was cool but overrated. We saw a bunch of white goats and these fools jumped in front of our car and waddled away like they own the place. Overall, the trip was amazing and I definitely recommend going there to hike the multitude of trails that the Black hills offer.
