Day 10

Amy and I decided to get up early and do our hike to Harney Peak. This is a 7 mile roundtrip hike we do to the highest point in the Black Hills, Harney’s peak. It is a relatively strenuous hike that climbs up approx 2000 feet and will put a hurting on your hamstrings. The payoff is at the top where the view from the observation post affords views for miles in each direction and the beauty is breathtaking. Since it was a holiday weekend, the trail was a bit more crowded than usual. We left the kids at the trailer with Gramma to do things at the campground, but Amy took baby Harris along and lashed him to her back. This hike is funny because you always question what you were thinking planning such a hike on the way up as your legs burn, but afterwards feel a sense of accomplishment. All in all the hike took us around 6 hours and the weather cooperated. We got back to the trailer to find the children rested and happy so we took our trip to the petting zoo so that they could see the farm animals they had been asking about. It wasn’t a huge petting zoo, but they had fun. After that we went to a place called Storybook Island in Rapid City. Storybook Island is a large playground, where each piece of equipment has a theme from a children’s nursery rhyme. This is all put on free by the local Rotary club. The children played and burned some energy. Another storm began to roll in, so we headed out. On the way back into the hills, we stopped by a place called Bear Country USA. It is a private drive through zoo that features primarily bears and wolves. It was interesting and had tons of bears that are very close to the car, so that the kids got a very good look. At the end there is an exhibit where all the bear cubs live and you can watch them run and frolic. By this time, Amy and I were exhausted so we headed back and crashed out in bed.