This trip was interesting. It included hiking, biking, kayaking, and riding a horse. I went with Angie, a girl friend from college. We were the ‘babies’ of the group (early 60s).
Our first hike was a 2.5 mile hike to Buzzard’s Roost. The elevation change wasn’t much (~450 ft) but it was a bit tough with the elevation in 4500’ versus Florida’s elevation 20 feet above sea level. Plus, the smoke from the Canadian fires was quite apparent and made it look like we were in the Smoky Mountains. I wore a mask for part of this hike and my eyes watered some. Luckily, the smoke was better for the rest of the week.
The 2nd hike was a bit shorter (2.1 miles) on Prairie Trail in Custer State Park.
Our 3rd hike was to Cathedral Spires in Custer State Park (4 miles) and our longest. This one had about the same elevation change as the others but was ~7,000 feet above sea level. Wonderful views on this trail plus we had a clear day.
Along the trail was a mine. The tour guide thought is was a tin mine but google seems to think it was a mica mine. I saw plenty of mica on the short trail to the mine so I’ll agree with google this time.
We did a ridiculously easy 9 mile bike ride on Michelson Trail. The first 5 miles was slightly downhill so I was on the brake more than I pedaled. The last few miles I had to pedal but it was mostly flat. The views were excellent, however.
The horseback ride was also very easy. The horses just walked along a trail. The biggest issue was keeping them from eating grass or following too closely to the next horse in line. Crossing the creek and seeing deer along the trail was the highlight. The picture shows me just before the creek. The horse ahead of me decided to spend time drinking and we had to hold them inline. So the challenge wasn’t the creek, it was trying to hold the horse in place for that time.
The kayak trip was the most exciting. It was thundering and sprinkling before we were to start so we had to wait 30 minutes after the thunder. At that point half of us got out on the water but then it started to rain. We continued to kayak the lake for about a half-an-hour with the rain stopping and starting.
The next group went out while we switched to hiking around the lake (just a mile). However, it started to hail after we went half-way so we finished the hike. Luckily the hail stopped fairly soon. I used my rain coat a lot that day. Exciting and the lake was gorgeous.
Road Scholar trips are always educational. We had someone talking about geology and another discuss natural resources. The area is interesting with igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks all within a fairly small area. My favorites were mica and the tourmaline gemstone. I didn’t realize but pink tourmaline is my birthstone (but the tourmaline is black in this area).
One evening, two Native Americans told us about their life and performed a dance.
I plan to do more Road Scholar trips but I’m going to be more careful on the activity level.
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