South Dakota, Mt. Harney, Sylvan Lake
Tues: August 30, 2005
Waking up with the sun streaming through the windows and the ‘Needles’ mountain range in sight was magnificent. Breakfast at Boots up the street from the motel and then up to the Sylvan Lake district. Set off to climb Mt. Harney, the highest peak between the Rockies and the Pyrenees in France/ Spain. 7200 feet. The climb was rated as challenging and one had to register for entering a National Forest. The recommended time for the climb was 4-5 hours. Well worth the effort. Views were spectacular giving one vistas on the way up of the Needles rock formations and the entire Black Hills from many vantages. At the peak there was a stone fire tower with an observation deck. Wind speed was low and the sky cloudless so the view was limitless. Breathtaking didn’t quite capture the emotion of being so high above the other hills. There was a water reservoir sculpted in the rocks just below the tower and although presently empty if would am sure be a valuable resources under specific circumstances. I could see Custer Park in the valley’s below and many of the other notable places on the map. Met Heidi , Jeff, (Mum and Dad) William, Jon and their sister whose name I regret was lost due to altitude sickness or old age. The overall climb, ocializing and lots of stops for pictures on the way down took three hours. May I suggest, dear reader, that keeping in shape pays dividends in terms of what one can do and the comfort level in the execution. Despite this being a notable part of the Black Hills there were very few climbers in relation to the many tourists at lower levels.
Back at Sylvan Lake. The setting of the lake amongst large glacial rocks made it the prettiest small lake I have ever seen. I didn’t swim but there were young people who had just completed some organized running who let out great whoops of ‘joy’ when they went into the water.
I finished the day touring around some unexplored winding roads, just awed by some of the views. I left the Black Hills with the sun setting on both the day and my trip into this enchanted area. Tomorrow Ellsworth Air Base Force.
Waking up with the sun streaming through the windows and the ‘Needles’ mountain range in sight was magnificent. Breakfast at Boots up the street from the motel and then up to the Sylvan Lake district. Set off to climb Mt. Harney, the highest peak between the Rockies and the Pyrenees in France/ Spain. 7200 feet. The climb was rated as challenging and one had to register for entering a National Forest. The recommended time for the climb was 4-5 hours. Well worth the effort. Views were spectacular giving one vistas on the way up of the Needles rock formations and the entire Black Hills from many vantages. At the peak there was a stone fire tower with an observation deck. Wind speed was low and the sky cloudless so the view was limitless. Breathtaking didn’t quite capture the emotion of being so high above the other hills. There was a water reservoir sculpted in the rocks just below the tower and although presently empty if would am sure be a valuable resources under specific circumstances. I could see Custer Park in the valley’s below and many of the other notable places on the map. Met Heidi , Jeff, (Mum and Dad) William, Jon and their sister whose name I regret was lost due to altitude sickness or old age. The overall climb, ocializing and lots of stops for pictures on the way down took three hours. May I suggest, dear reader, that keeping in shape pays dividends in terms of what one can do and the comfort level in the execution. Despite this being a notable part of the Black Hills there were very few climbers in relation to the many tourists at lower levels.
Back at Sylvan Lake. The setting of the lake amongst large glacial rocks made it the prettiest small lake I have ever seen. I didn’t swim but there were young people who had just completed some organized running who let out great whoops of ‘joy’ when they went into the water.
I finished the day touring around some unexplored winding roads, just awed by some of the views. I left the Black Hills with the sun setting on both the day and my trip into this enchanted area. Tomorrow Ellsworth Air Base Force.
posted by Fred Pentney | 5:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home