Black Hills

We recently took a road trip down to the Black Hills. The plan was to climb, although I was worried whether the weather would cooperate. As it turned out the weather wasn't the problem. Shelley hurt her back just before the trip. She thought she'd be able to climb, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Of course, the weather was perfect!

We did manage to hike up Harney Peak (the high point in South Dakota) and visit Wind Cave. I've always avoided the caves because I thought they be too touristy, but this one is a national park and was quite interesting.

We haven't been down here for a few years and never this late in the fall. We were surprised how much stuff was closed for the season. And two of our favorite places in Custer - The Songbird Cafe and the Bank Coffee House were not only closed, but up for sale. We did find a couple of good coffee shops (Common Ground and Green Bean) and a nice restaurant (Bay Leaf Cafe) in Spearfish.

The Mickelson Trail (by bike) and the Centennial Trail (on foot) looked interesting. Might have to go back and do those one day.

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