South Dakota camping style: Part 5, Harney Peak

Wednesday we started out early for Harney Peak.  We wanted to be well on our way to the top before the day got too hot.  We knew that hiking with all the kids would make us slower.  Harney Peak is the high point of South Dakota and the highest peek between the Rocky Mountains and the Pyrenees.  It is 3.5 miles to the top, but the elevation gain is only about 1000 feet, so most of the trail is not too steep.

Ben started out carrying Isla in the baby pack; the rest of us had to hike on our own 2 feet.  Right from the get go, Julia did not want to hike.  "My legs are broken," she told me.  Luckily, my trekking pole collapses down to just the right length for Julia.  I told her she could be the leader and she cheered up.

She got frustrated when the other kids refused to hike slowly behind her.  I used Aunt Katie's trick of super powers next.

"Julia, how will we get to the next rock?  Lets use our Super Dinosaur Power/Super Running Power/Super Star Power/Super Butt Wiggle Power/Super Pooh Bear Jumping Power"  That got us a good deal further along the trail.

The views were spectacular along the way.  My photography skills don't do it justice.

Benji offered to carry Julia and she let him for 100-200 yards. Then I produced apples from my pack.

I promised her that if she would walk all the way up, I would carry her all the way down.

She would go for a bit and then say, "Momma I just want you to carry me."

We pretended to be baby ponies. I distracted her by having her tell me what ponies eat.  I told her I knew a story about a pony named Rocket and I told her Grandpa's story of Whitey & Mimi for the first time.  She loved it.  In this way, we got to the marker for 1 1/2 miles.  We had fallen pretty far behind the others, but they were waiting for us there.  She was excited to be caught up and went a bit further on her own.  Then she just stopped in the middle of the trail.

"You just go, Mommy," she said, motioning me on with her hand.  This was different from the whining and fussing of before.

"I won't leave you here all alone," I said encouragingly. "Come on with me."

She sighed and took 2 more steps and then stopped again.  "You just go, Mommy."  That squeezed my heart, so I picked her up and tied her on my back with my baby carrier and carried her the rest of the 2 miles up the Mountain.  She fell asleep almost instantly, so I think she really had walked as far as she could go.

Just before the peak, there is a huge flight of stairs.  We had planned to eat lunch on the summit, but stopped at the base of the stairs instead.  I broke out a package of chips to go with our sandwiches.  Nacho Cheese flavored tortilla chips are good for troop morale.

Lucky for me, Julia was willing to climb up the stairs on her own because I'm not sure I could have carried her up.

She was pretty excited to get to the princess castle at the top. 

When we got to the top, 5 children were miraculously recovered and went scampering about like mountain goats, climbing all over the granite boulders.

 

 I alternately prayed for their deliverance from death by falling off a mountain and begged them to come down.  (I'm not exaggerating.)  I think that maybe on some of the higher peaks, I'll stop just short of the summit.

 I'm not sure the view is enough to compensate for the sharp pain of fear that goes crushing through me when I am up so high. 

I know I look all calm here, but it is only a facade.

Even from the complete safety of the stone walled fire tower, I was only barely able to keep myself from dropping to my hands and knees when I looked out over the Black Hills from 7,242 feet above sea level.

I didn't know this, but chipmunks live at the top of mountains, and there were about 100 running around and climbing the boulders with my kids.

I started to feel better about the whole being higher than anything else I could see feeling and then Ana started balance beam walking along the cliff side edges of the boulders again.   I finally sat down with Isla and leaned against a boulder and covered my eyes and told myself that if they all died, there was nothing I could do about it.

Picture Ben took while I was cowering on the ground

.

I stayed there until Ben was done exploring and ready to take us all down again.

Us at the top of Harney Peak

We switched things up on the way down.  Ben put Julia in the baby pack, and I tied Isla onto me and down we went.  My trekking poles were great.  Besides helping me keep my balance down the mountain, I loaned them to various kids several times to motivate them to keep going.

By the end, all our feet hurt and we were all tired, but it was worth it.   The kids who were sure they couldn't take another step were soon running about again as if they had done nothing all day.  Ben and I took IB Profin and sat in our camp chairs like lumps.

For dinner I warmed up 2 cans of chili and we had Frito Pie.  Gotta love that propane stove. 

South Dakota, Camping Style, Part 4: Crazy Horse

Tuesday was the day we had planned our big hike up to the top of Harney Peak, but Renata came down with flu Monday afternoon, so we postponed the hike for Wednesday and instead we went to see Crazy Horse.  It was very hot, so I was glad we weren't hiking.


The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain carving like Mt. Rushmore and was begun about the time Rushmore was being finished up.  (Actually, the artist who planned the sculpture for Rushmore --Gutzon Borglum--planned for the presidents to be carved down to their waists, but the government cut off funding and stopped the project in 1941.


Crazy Horse began because several Lakota Chiefs went to Korczak Ziolkowski and asked him to create a monument in their Sacred Black Hills.  After he began the project, the government offered several times to fund it, but Ziolkowski refused because he believed first that it should be a endeavor by people and second that the government would not finish the project.

"My lands are where my dead lie buried."

Ben took this photo 2 years ago when he was in South Dakota for AT

 It is a much bigger carving than Mt. Rushmore, in fact, all of the Rushmore carving would fit in Crazy Horse's head.


I was so inspired by the history behind the monument, and the video we watch of Korczak speaking about his work moved me to tears.  He said, " "When the legends die, the dreams end; when the dreams end, there is no more greatness."


Here is a good article about the mountain.




Beneath the mountain is also a museum of Native American artifacts.  We spent a good long time seeing everything.  Maybe too long, because when we finally returned to the car, we were all tired and hungry and cranky.  We had lunch (PB&J) and moved to our new campground.  This one was right by the highway, so we were disappointed at first, but then we discovered the beautiful shower house across the street.  Ah to be clean is so good!  

Also, despite being right next to the highway, we saw more wildlife here than anywhere else.  Squirrels kept scolding us from the trees and there were minnows in the little stream running by.  Yellow Jackets kept flying around our table and I became convinced that their nest was in the metal tubing.  Ben and a nice old park worker stuffed paper towels in the ends of the tubing and we had much fewer yellow jackets after that, although Ana did get stung. 

This guy quietly passed by our picnic table as we were eating lunch Wednesday.

After lunch, we took the kids swimming at Sylvan Lake which was much cleaner and prettier than Sheridan Lake.  It was also very much crowded and the water was cold! 

For dinner I warmed roast beef and browned bell peppers & onions and we had hot roast beef sandwiches and watermellon.  When the roast beef ran out, I toasted the remaining bread & cheese.  Another fast and tasty meal that everyone loved. 

South Dakota, camping style, Part 3: In which I will not mention toilets.

Monday morning, we drove the scenic Needles Loop Highway and looked at the beautiful granite outcroppings and pine trees.  On a whim, we stopped at a lookout and saw this:

The Needle's Eye

 The kids had a great time scrambling and climbing on the rocks.

Ana is a fearless climber.

Even Isla got excited about climbing.

Gwenny

Renata

Benji used to be so cautious when he was 2.  What happened?

Rock Monkeys

We had to go through 3 tunnels like this one.  I held my breath for extra skinniness the whole time.  Didn't you know holding your breath makes you skinnier? 

I felt like the Knight Bus in Harry Potter.

We had planned on touring Wind Cave, but we should have checked before driving all the way there, because it was closed due to prairie fires.  Instead we went swimming all afternoon in Sheridan Lake.  The water was pretty green smelling, but the sandy beach was nice and green water is better than no water when you haven't showered in 2 days.

For lunch we had PB&J and pretzels with nutella.  Everybody liked that.  For dinner I made a rice & hamburger & tomatoes & cheese thing all in the frying pan.  It tasted fine, I thought, but the kids hated it.  Can't win em all, I guess.

South Dakota, Camping Style, part 2: Sunday Sunday

We had to overcome some wardrobe malfunctions Sunday morning.  Benji's slacks were missing the main button, and root beer got spilled on my shirt when Ben was ironing it.  (that's right, ladies.  The Man of this House does the ironing.) I don't wear makeup when I'm camping so I didn't bring any, but I wished I had some for church.  We looked a little rag-tag, but the important thing was to go.

 Sunday morning we found a meeting house.  --One nice thing about our church is that all the chapels look about the same and it is a good bet that Sunday meetings will start at 9 a.m. But if you don't like uncertainty, you can find the address and meeting time online.  After Sacrament meeting, where we were treated to an excellent talk about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, we reassured each other that appreciating God's creations with your family was OK for a Sunday activity and we headed for Custer State park to find our campsite.

Dinosaur Park in Rapids City

We set up camp near Sheridan Lake, in the midst of hundreds of Ponderosa Pine Trees.  I've always loved how they seem to be reaching towards Heaven--so straight and tall.

Normally when we camp, I do most of the cooking in a dutch oven.  I like this because I can basically throw all the ingredients in and leave it for 45 minutes-1 hour and viola! Dinner.  However, South Dakota was under a burn ban so we couldn't cook with firewood or charcoal; only gas stoves on a hard surface were allowed.  For lunch we ate Taco Salad.  I precooked the hamburger at home and vacuum sealed it.  So when we got to camp, I broke out the propane stove and we had taco salad in the time it takes to heat a can of refried beans.  There are pros to gas cooking and speed is #1.

After lunch we drove through the beautiful Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore. 

Benji wants his face carved on a mountain someday.

It was fun to go through the little museum and learn how rock was removed from the mountain.  There was also a slide show of pictures of the mountain taken at different times of day and in different seasons.  George Washington looks especially distinguished with snow in his hair.

As you can see, we had plenty of cheese.

Also, plenty of energy.  (And don't miss Benji's shuffle-step in the background.)

For dinner we had parmesan pasta (with chicken I had precooked and vacuum packed) and fresh fried zucchini.  The kids loved it!

All the kiddie pies begged to go swimming, but that's definitely not on my Sunday appropriate activities list, so  we went for a family walk along the lake shore instead.  It was beautiful and peaceful. 

I tried out the new trekking poles that the Man of the House had insisted on buying for me.  I was skeptical about carrying something extra around to trip myself with, but when I tried them, I could quickly tell that they were improving my balance.  It was a lovely walk.  After it got too dark to see, we went to bed-- with no showers because there was no plumbing at this campground.  Only pit toilets for bathrooms and a spigot down the path for getting water.  The girls made the mistake of being curious about what is in a pit toilet and looking down there.  I think they learned the valuable lesson that ignorance is bliss.  Holy Cow! I just realized I'm talking about toilets on my blog again. 

South Dakota, camping style, part 1 cause if I don't post what I've written, it might never get posted!

**I've been trying to decide whether to give you a highlights version or the every single detail version.  Couldn't decide so I'm going to do both.  I'll put the main things in bolder font so you can skim through fast. I'll put in all the other details too, which will make me happy and you can read them if you want/have time.

Our trip began with a 14 hour drive.    

We got started by 7:00--only 1/2 hour later than our planned time!  That was the best start ever for a family trip. For food in the car, we had granola & strawberry yogurt parfaits for breakfast & chicken salad with Ritz crackers for lunch--so tasty.  For snacks we had, carrot sticks, grapes, and animal crackers. There were also so sour gummy worms and gummy bears for when car sickness threatened.

I was so busy planning food and clothing for 6 days, our longest camping trip ever, that I planned nothing to entertain the kids in the car.  That could have been disasterous, but lucky for me, it wasn't. 

Benji and Ana both brought a book to read.  Somehow they kept busy and happy with not too much fighting.  I think it is because of how much space we have in the Death Star.  

We did play the license plate game and kept a list to see if we could see all 50 states.  By the end of the trip, we had seen 42, including Alaska & Hawaii! We found every state west of the Mississippi River, except Louisiana.  I guess Louisiana-ians weren't visiting South Dakota this year.

On our way to Rapids City, We drove through Sioux Falls.  For 20 minutes as we approached the city and then drove through it, we got to see some pretty neat aerial stunts that turned out to be none other than the Blue Angels in their F-18's.  That is the definition of serendipity, readers!

I also found out that South Dakota natives pronounce their capital city "Peer" not "Pierre." That seems a little weird to me, but I guess it's their state capital so they can say it how they want.

 

The drive was shorter than it could have been because the Man of the House rigged a  ...lou....  for the van. We are pretty sure we saved about 4 hours of stopping to take kids to the bathroom.

 I'm sure he is planning on telling all the details on his blog, so I'll leave that for him.  Besides I don't know if I want to talk about a toilet on my blog.  I'll just say that my initial reaction to his idea was, "You've got to be kidding."  But it turned out to be genius because we didn't have to stop every time a little kid needed to pee.  Also we used kitty litter instead of RV chemicals in the lou. They were cheaper and smelled better.  In fact we only had to open the windows once, the first time it was used, because we didn't have the foresight to put some of the kitty litter in to start with.  Perhaps you cat owners are shaking your heads at our ignorance right now.  Go on, laugh it up. 

For dinner we bought hamburgers at Burger King and I added homemade chocolate chip cookies and Mug root beer.  Everyone got their very own can of soda.  How exciting! 

We got to Rapids City at about 8:30 p.m. and stayed in a motel overnight  so we could clean up and go to church in the morning.

Saturday night I realized that Isla was dehydrated--no wet diapers all day and none I could remember from yesterday.  That worried me.  I realized I'd probably been giving her too many crackers and not enough milk the last few days while I tried to get everything ready for the trip.  I pretty much stayed up most of the night feeding her and she seemed better in the morning.  By Monday, she was much better.  Phew! 

Camping in Lost Valley

Lost Valley, Arkansas, is an AWESOME place to visit!

Following my handy camping checklist that I made last time, we had a lovely time and didn't lack for any cooking/first aid tools.

The camping sites were a little close, so it was noisier and not as restful as some of our trips. The kids all helped set up the tent this time.



Our neighbor to the left had about six 11-13 year-old kids. What we heard from their direction all evening was: " You guys come help me." "I could use some help here." "come ON, guys!"



Hopefully, with a little more experience, that Dad will learn to give specific job assignments/requests. Then he'll have help.




Building blocks are provided at each campsite for your rich entertainment.





But we did have the opportunity to share our over-abundance of delicious dinner with the tent on the right, saving them from a disastrous dinner of hot dogs. **shudder**

I was tired of dutch oven recipes that featured Cream of *whatever* Soup and searched around until I found this baby. In one word, it was *mouthwatering*. We've made it at home since then--it'll be a regular on the menu.



Dutch Oven Cheesy Chicken Italian-o
the recipe says that it serves 16. I think it accurately serves 8 hungry adults. I was too tired when I packed to do any math, so I made the entire recipe. My husband thought I was crazy, but it all got eaten :) It was that good.

Ingredients:

1 lb bacon (you KNOW this is gonna be good)
8 chicken breasts, cut into chunks-- or do like me and just throw the frozen bag in the cooler for worry- free car travel. Even if they are still frozen when you dump them in the dutch oven, you can chop up with your spoon later in the process.
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 29 oz can diced tomatoes or 6 tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 cups Minute Rice

**
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp ground oregano
2 tsp basil
1 1/2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
**

1 cup Mozzerella cheese
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Parmesan Cheese



I mixed up the sauce part (tomato paste through black pepper) at home and put it in a tupperware to save some space in the cooler and preptime at the campsite



Bubba and magpie helped with chopping veg.



The recipe directions included lots of steps--cook A, take it out, cook B, put in C and A, yadda yadda. That was way too much work for a camp meal. And before you raz me about the amount of cheese, I'll have you know that is 1/3 what the recipe actually called for. That's right the origional was 3 cups mozzerella, 3 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup parmesan. Can you believe it? We tried it that way and this way and there is no taste sacrificed by reducing the cheese.

Here are the lazy camper instructions:

Heat a 12" dutch oven using 30 charcoal briquettes on the bottom. Chop bacon into 1" chunks and add to hot oven. Fry until brown. Remove bacon from oven. and hide it between 2 paper plates. Try not to eat it all.

Pour out some of the bacon fat--reserving at least 2 Tblsp. in oven. Layer in all ingredients, except the cheese: onion, chicken, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, rice, and sauce mix.

Put lid on dutch oven and transfer 15 briquettes to the top. Take family on a hike to wait for food to cook--sort of like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.


Find the Bear's Toilet.

After 30-45 minutes, return to camp and the heavenly smells calling you. Lift the lid and stir in the cheese and the reserved bacon. Put the lid back on for five minutes to melt the cheese while everyone washes their hands.

Enjoy the most tasty meal you ever ate on a camping trip!



The next morning we set out on our hike to see the waterfalls and caves of Lost Valley.



We packed sandwiches, water bottles, and granola bars



None of the pictures I have capture the scale or beauty of the things we saw.













My favorite part of the hike happened when we stopped to eat our sandwiches




We stopped to eat our sandwiches in Cobb Cave (so named for the ancient corn cobs and other indian relics found there. We were happily eating our lunch, when suddenly we heard singing. A beautiful hillbilly love ballad, ringing through the cave--which was shaped like a natural amphitheater. I looked around and saw, clear across the cave on a heap of rock, a man, singing to his lovely lady. It was so sweet. They were far enough away that I couldn't even really see their faces clearly, but the cave amplified the sound, so I could hear perfectly.

After teasing my DH a bit for not serenading me, we went back to our lunch. The song ended and then to the delight of the lovely lady and everyone else, our bold singer went down on one knee and asked her to marry him for all the world to hear--at least all the hikers at Lost Valley that day heard-- because of that natural amphitheater effect I mentioned.

Happy Sigh.

The lovely lady was suitably ecstatic and after laughing, crying, jumping up and down and clapping her hands, she kissed her bold singer very enthusiastically several times. I went back to my sandwich in order to give them as much privacy as one can expect when one proposes in the presence of a family of 7, a large boy scout troup, and 3-4 senior citizens who got on the wrong OATS bus and ended up hiking Lost Valley instead of going to water aerobics at the YMCA.

Happy Sigh.