West Trip Day 5: Hiking, Horseback riding, and Hot Springs

Friday, June 18, 2010

Day 5: Hiking, Horseback riding, and Hot Springs

In the first morning in Custer State Park, I woke up pretty early and went to grab the camping confirmation to show that we had the site reserved. As I looked at the sheet expecting to see Stockade Lake North, it said Stockade Lake South. I showed it to Jen and we both felt embarrassed and bad that we had intruded on their campsite. I immediately walked over to Gary and Mary Lou and explained that we had goofed and would move off right away. They were very understanding about the whole thing and told us to take our time, not to rush. Mary Lou laughed about the whole thing and said, "These are the camping stories that will get you through Thanksgiving dinners with your family someday."

We hastily started packing everything back up again to move, and in the process, one of the 5 year old twin boys, Carlos, watched intently as we did everything. During each phase of the set up, he would ask questions about how the pop-up worked, and I would talk to him about soccer, skateboarding, and his aunt in Colorado they were visiting. He must have been the social one because Pascal, his twin, seemed content to watch from a distance and play in the grass. Before we left, I asked if I could take a picture of everyone, and they said sure, as long as they could get a picture, too. Here it is:

My new buddy Carlos (middle in green) and his brother Pascal (in red) wearing a stick-on mustache as a disguise.

We moved over to correct site on the other side of the lake and set up camp. This site was very nice. It was the closest to the bathrooms, close to the dumpster, had nice shade and had two nice fire pits. The kids explored around a bit as Jen and I planned what to do for the day.

We made reservation for horseback riding at nearby Bluebell Campground, but decided to get the lay of the land by going on a hike first. There was a 1.5 mile hiking loop around Stockade Lake that sounded like a good warm-up. While looking for the trailhead, we stopped at the lake for the kids to dig in the sand and get their feet wet. The water was extremely cold, but that didn't keep them from getting in it.

See, Tina. There are beaches in South Dakota!

The trailhead was right by the beach so we soon set out on our first adventure of the day. For such a short hike, it was quite challenging as the steep climbs and altitude of the area really take your wind away quickly. We played the famous person name game to pass the time and snapped pictures at scenic spots.

From end of the trail we went back, ate lunch and then headed over for our horseback riding adventure. Now, to provide a little background, horseback riding was Mikah's "must do" activity for the trip. Rogan didn't show much interest in it initially, but seemed excited once we got there. Jen had never ridden a horse so she was really excited. My experiences with horses wasn't vast, but what I did have wasn't good. My dad had taken us on a horseback ride like this when I had gone out west years ago. I always seemed to have a knack for getting the rambunctious horse. My brother would get a horse named "Snowball" while I got "Diablo". When I rode a horse at Camp Storer as a counselor, I got "General", the biggest freakin' horse in the stable. In both cases, they were always wild and didn't seemed to care which way I wanted them to go. So, I wasn't super excited to do this, but I was up for the challenge.

When we were assigned our horses, Jen's was named "Billy", Rogan's was "Trix", Mikah's was "Ralif", and mine was "Popeye." Being the largest one in our riding group, I of course got one of the largest horses in the stable. However, contrary to my previous experiences, Popeye was pretty well-mannered. Mikah's horse, on the other hand, was quite cantankerous. Ralif was always trying to stop for a snack anytime we stopped, and several times Mikah had to jerk his head up with the reins. I was really impressed with how well she handled him, and she seemed quite proud of herself as well. Rogan's horse apparently stayed on the trail most of the time while only biting at the horse in front of him on occasion.

My previous horseback riding experiences were nothing like this one. They were boring, flat trails. This ride took us through the woods, into a river valley, across a small river, up several steep climbs into the mountains, and back down many steep hills. The views from several points were distractingly beautiful, almost causing you to forget you were riding such a powerful animal. That is, until your butt started reminding you of what cowboys call being "saddle sore." The ride ended just as our butts were ready to cry "uncle," and we posed for a picture together in the stable. Rogan said this was the best thing we'd done and wanted to go again the next day. My tush vetoed that idea.

We finished the day by driving 30 miles south to Hot Springs, SD. We were surprised to discover that this route was loaded with animals to see. We saw many, many herds of buffalo - many right beside the road. We also saw a coyote, white-tailed deer, elk, and prong horn deer (Nature geek note, the prong horn deer is the fastest land animal in North America.) It was like one of those jeep safari experiences you pay for.

Many of the buffalo had babies like this one.

In Hot Springs, we stopped in the visitor's center where they recommended a few places to eat. The entire town seems centered around this flowing stream that flows from a hot spring, hence the name Hot Springs. The water in the stream is 90 degrees and is supposedly very drinkable mineral water.

We followed the stream through the town and ate at All Star Grill and Pub, a sports-themed restaurant. The food was okay but nothing special. After dinner we stopped at a gazebo where you could fill your water bottles from the spring. We filled every empty bottle we had and then left.

All of this tinkering around the town meant that it was getting later and later. By the time we left, it was coming on 9:00 with a 45 minute drive home through the wild kingdom we had passed through earlier. As we moved through the winding roads, many of the more nocturnal animals were everywhere, especially the elk. At one point, three elk stood in the middle of the road just staring at our van's headlights. I honked my horn and two of them leapt away. The other stood there staring at the van as if to say, "You lookin' at me?" I moved the van ahead and fortunately the elk ran away.

These animals are really big!

I was feeling a little nervous driving in the dark like this. I was worried we were going to run over something, but we took it slow and made it home okay. Once again, it was very late when we settled in to bed. We had packed in another busy day.