We are back from our trip to South Dakota and had a great time! I took tons and tons of photos and had a very hard time narrowing it down… so even the narrowed down list is pretty long. If you want to see the larger versions just click on them! Enjoy!

The cabin only had a standup shower, so Emma used this duckie tub. This was after she had taken a bath, got dressed and then decided to get back in the tub.

Emma enjoying another hike.

She wanted to hike on her own.

Another nice view of the Black Hills.

Trying to take a photo with Emma… but she was not cooperating. This is her famous move that we have dubbed “the limp noodle”.

A road went to the top of this mountain. The rocks kept us from driving over the edge.

Every time we would pass by some water, Emma would start pointing. Apparently her new favorite thing is to throw rocks into water.

We drove the “wildlife loop” which was both scenic and offered views of various types of wildlife.

Most of the days of our trip were blue skies and bright white puffy clouds. Perfect weather!

A friendly burro.

There were tons of bison along the drive.

After the drive, we decided to break out the new backpack. She liked it!

Steph was feeling left out so she took this self-photo.

Emma is still riding good in the backpack!

I have already started teaching her to appreciate pine trees. “See Emma, this is a Ponderosa.”

Wednesday I got up at 5:30am and climbed the 7 mile loop to the summit of Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota. Compared to some of the others I’ve done, this was fairly easy.

The sign said to allow 5-6 hours, but after only an hour and 10 minutes I was at the top.

Just below the summit I saw this crazy looking animal.

The early morning view from the top was amazing!

All alone at the top. I didn’t see a single person the entire hike up, and only one on the way back down. Then I saw a second person as I reached the parking long.

A view of “the needles”, the rest of Custer State Park, and beyond.

Just one of the many awesome rock formations in the Black Hills.

After my hike, we all headed into Wyoming to Devils Tower. The rolling green mountains and valleys made for a very nice drive.

Here is Devils Tower.

We broke out the pack again. This time for a mile and a half.

Another self timer family pic after we finished the hike.

Since Emma was so good we gave her a cook-cook (Cookie).

We took the scenic way home up Spearfish Canyon. There are several waterfalls, but it started raining so we were only able to see this one.

The Alpine Inn, where we had dinner in the cool little town of Hill City, SD.

Steph and Emma hiking some more. This time at Jewel Cave.

Another great picnic spot. This time by a lake.

Whee!

Steph and I in the car.

Emma was doing so well in the pack, we just kept doing hikes!

This was an old house the used to belong to a poet back before the park existed and is nicknamed “The Badger Hole”. It was like walking back in time. Very cool!

Another view of the mountains!

Driving along Needles Highway.



More bright skies!

Needles Highway is not a place for large vehicles!

Emma and I enjoying the latest National Geographic.

Our last day we headed out to the Badlands.

Me and Steph at an overlook.

We had a picnic and luckily the picnic tables had shelters since there were no shade trees to be found.

We enjoyed the striped patterns in the soil and rocks.

Steph and Em after lunch.

Once again trying to take a photo with an un-cooperative child.

Em and I checking out some fossils along the trail.

A family photo at the Badlands, courtesy of nice British couple.

A self-shot at the badlands.

I have definitely never hiked a trail that looked like this!

Our last night in South Dakota…hiking around Sylvan Lake.

Sylvan Lake… if you have seen National Treasure 2 you may recognize it.

Hiking through a narrow passage behind the lake.

Our last night….having a cookout by the lake!

Em is quite independent.

A view of Harney Peak on the drive back to the cabin for the last time!

This was how Em spent most of the 14 hour drive home.

Now that Artsfest is done, I am looking forward to the next big thing on the horizon – which is a road trip Steph and I have planned to South Dakota. For whatever reason most people seem to find our choice of destination a bit odd, but I am very excited.

The last time I was in South Dakota was in college when Grant and I weaseled our way into my grandparents trip to Yellowstone and the Black Hills. The four of us took their RV, staying in random small campgrounds along the way where we’d eat Granny’s home cooking and play cards every night. We saw a lot of sights, however most of the time was spent just enjoying each others company as we drifted across 3,000 miles of America’s interstate highway system. Over the course of those 8 days we saw mountains, geysers, and every waterfall between here and Idaho. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

So now here I am preparing for my first family road trip of my own. Needless to say, I am very excited and ready to hit the open road!

Saturday we had originally hoped to head down to Roaring River but the weather ended up being cold and dreary. Instead we decided to make a day trip down to an amish cheese store in Chouteau, OK. As luck would have it, the weather was a bit nicer down there so we stopped by Natural Falls State Park to do a short hike and check out some scenery. It also gave me an excuse to get out the camera and take a few photos…

Steph loading Emma into the stroller.

The waterfall from the bottom of the trail.

The three of us squeezing into a pic.

Em running from Steph across the bridge.

Me and the Lady.

Me and the Little Lady.

It was a great day and I particularly enjoyed the waterfall trail. If you want to check it out for yourself, the park is located in Oklahoma just off hwy 412 a few miles west of Siloam Springs.

Oklahoma’s state parks are operated in the same fashion as their highways, so be prepared to pay a toll to view the waterfall. Also from the few I have visited, Oklahoma state parks seem to be geared more towards recreation, with a dash of conservation, where Missouri parks are more about nature and conservation with a little bit of recreation. Having said that, Oklahoma does have some real gems as far as natural areas go.

Saturday I went hiking with Matt and my cousin Logan. We decided to try and locate the natural bridge in the Mark Twain Natl Forest. If you read this blog regularly you may remember last winter when Matt and I tried to find this without success. This time I came prepared with gps coordinates and a detailed topo map of the area. The natural bridge has no trails leading to it and there are no signs. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s indicated on some topo maps no one would probably know it existed at all. It seems strange that something so big would be hard to find but in the maze of steep hillsides and trees you really don’t even notice the entrance until you are practically right on top of it. Luckily this time the maps and gps allowed us to find this hidden splendor. Click photos for larger versions…

It’s a lot larger than it looks in the photo.

Note how small Matt is in this photo.

We stopped for a sack lunch inside the cave. Again, this photo makes it look deceptively small.

I am back from the mountain climb with Ian and am happy to report that after 11 tortuous hours we made the 12+ miles to the top and back down. I did pretty good going up, but the way down seemed twice as long and miserable. That was friday and my legs are still excessively sore. Here are some photos…

Here is the elk river wind farm between Joplin and Wichita. I think some of our electricity comes from here.

The first night I met Ian in Salina. Driving north from Wichita on 135 I saw this cool storm. I pulled over on the side of the highway to try and snap a couple pics.

Thursday morning we loaded up into Ian’s mini cooper and took off across the plains!

Normally this is the point where you can first see the outline of the mountains in the distance. But not today. I guess it was hazy or something?

We made a quick stop at the garden of the gods in Manitou Springs. We did some climbing around on the rocks and followed around some hot russian chicks.

Here we are heading down about to cross a really big, empty valley. It seemed like we were headed deep into a part of Colorado that is less visited than the areas right along the front range.

Here is the team ready to head out in the wee hours.

Mt. Yale is obscured by another smaller mountain. This one is Mt. Princeton which is one foot taller.

The sun is just about to come up over the mountains.

Ian checked out the postings on all the various ways we could die or animals that could eat us.

This is me feeling like I’m in heaven.

We followed this small stream for roughly the first mile and a half or so, crossing it several times.

Here we are beginning the steepest part of the climb, right about 13,000 feet.

This was one of the scarier spots along the trail because it was right along a drop off. It wasn’t straight down but it still made me a bit dizzy looking down.

Finally, the summit is within view. At this point we have about 100′ to go! There was no trail at this point… you just had to scramble over the rocks. It was probably my favorite part of the climb. To get the scale, look for the small people near the top.

Almost there! You can see the trail we came up in the distance below me.

Here is the team proudly proclaiming another victory!

Here is the evidence that I have made it up my first 14′er. According to Mr. Garmin we were at 14.2k feet. Unfortunately my model abbreviates once you get above 10,000 feet.

Eventually we started making our way back down. Which for me at least turned out to be much worse than coming up.

Saturday we stopped for lunch in Gunnison and I thought this was funny because I like to call sandwiches “samiches”. The waitress seemed to think I was weird for taking a photo of the menu.

Just a random mountain shot out the car window.

We also stopped at Royal Gorge. Royal Gorge is super cool but annoying because it’s privately owned and they have turned a natural wonder into an amusement park, so it’s $24/person to get in and the canyon rim is lined not with trails and informational displays, but carnival rides, restaurants, a huge sky trapeze thing, and trinket shops. For some reason I have just never been a fan of privately owned tourist attractions. I guess that makes me a socialist.

Ian rode the sky tram thing across the canyon. I was suffering from vertigo and acrophobia so I just took pictures from the edge.

Yeah… long way down. Note the tiny cable car in the upper corner of the photo. This photo really does no justice to the perspective and depth of the situation here.

And finally we start trekking back across the plains… good trip indeed!

This weekend we organized an expedition of sorts to get our kayaks out on a new river (new to me at least). We picked Big Sugar Creek near Pineville because it’s A)close B)scenic and C)void of most of the party scene found further downstream on the Elk River. The first day we floated about 6 miles from near Powell, MO to Cyclone, MO and camped. Then the next day we floated down from camp to a low water bridge near Deep Ford, about 7ish miles. I made a nifty map for those who are interested.

One item of particular excitement for me was seeing a beaver swimming in the river right beneath us. I tried to take a pic but wasn’t quick enough. All in all it was a really great float and a very pretty river. The only issue was that the water was extremely low in some areas, but that was somewhat expected considering it’s the middle of summer, and a dry summer at that.

PS you can click on any of the images for larger versions.

Here is the rustic store at Camp Tilden where we setup tent.

Crossing over a small bridge on the way to the drop off point. I think this spot may have been where we started on the second day.

We put in below a really pretty bluff area. McDonald county is generally very scenic and rural with a lot of winding dirt roads.

Here is the first day’s group getting ready to set out!

Me playing around with a new waterproof digital camera… and almost running into a tree branch.

Poco and Jimmy borrowed mom and dad’s canoe. I really dig Missouri’s über-clear rivers.

A cool bird that flew alongside us for a bit. Made it easy to get a good pic.

Here is poco trying to reach for a rope swing. Not sure what she was going to do if she reached it. Probably get her paddle stuck and then end up tipping the canoe.

Here is the group… just rollin down the river.

Grant fishing and Matt swimming.

Notice all the small fish swimming around Grant’s lure.

Here is a cool view under the water, showing all the little fish swimming around. Kind of looked like an aquarium. I never could get any pics of video of bigger fish!

Grant caught a fish and tossed it in Poco and Jimmy’s canoe. Then Jimmy pretended to eat the fish. Then he tossed it back in the river.

Here I am with my cool straw hat and green kayak. This river had very few rapids, though it might have more if the water level was higher?

Jimmy posing on a rock as a mer-man. Hawt!

The second day Mom and Dad came and joined us. I like dragging my parents along on things like this. Their canoeing skillz were a bit rusty and they tipped numerous times but still had fun. I’m really glad they came!

A really awesome jumping rock. The second day was sunnier and much hotter.

Here is a crawdad grant caught. Looks like a small lobster to me.

Enjoying a nice lunch under a grove of willow trees.

What a great way to spend a weekend!