Day 23: On the Road Again (Wyoming)

May 7, 2014

“North To Alaska” – and we are off again. We left Storm Mountain Center this morning at about 8:50. Fortunately the early morning rain had stopped – at least for a while. Rapid City was under a winter storm warning for tonight – 1-3 inches of snow predicted. We decided it was time for us to be on our way! It was with mixed emotions we left those beautiful Black Hills. We made wonderful friends in the 10 short days we were at Storm Mountain Center. They are such genuine and fun people to work along side. And such a beautiful camp! It was sad to say goodbye, but we are hopeful that our paths will cross again. When John and Kathy Huggins, full time RV'ers of Living The RV Dream, returned to Hart Ranch here in the Black Hills for several summers and we always thought – “The same place again?” Now that we have been to the Black Hills, we totally understand their love for the place. There are so many hiking trails, bike trails, so much beauty all around. And the people we met were wonderful! This is definitely a place we hope to visit again. (Also, if anyone is ever looking for a place to have a family reunion or corporate meeting - Storm Mountain Center is a great place.)

But... this year our goal is to really see and experience Alaska, so on we go. We have many more miles to travel. The storm front had to get from west to east (Rockies to Rapid City) and as we headed west – well the pictures below show to story - rain, to ice forming on the windshield, to snow.

Our Welcome to Wyoming

 

 
Fortunately, there were no problems on the road and traffic was light making for a good day. It was bitter cold when we stopped for a break at the Wyoming Welcome Center – one of the nicest we have ever visited. We saw many Pronghorn in the fields along Interstate 90. Also sheep and cattle. Something you don't see along the interstate in Alabama were the many feet high snow fences to help keep the snow drifts off the road.

We were able to see a little of the Bighorn Mountains under the clouds.

We arrived in Sheridan, Wyoming about 3:00 and decided to stay in a campground close to the interstate and visit a nice local restaurant for dinner. This is the first commercial campground we have every used and the first night Fred has spent in Wyoming. We have been in Wyoming before and for those of you who might be interested – our old blogs are also still available – Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Alaska. We never completed the Hawaii one – oops.

By this time tomorrow we plan to be about Great Falls Montana, making preparations for our border crossing into Canada on Friday or Saturday.

Day 22: Finishing Up and Getting Ready

Today we finished a few projects here at Storm Mountain Center, visited with the great folks here a while and worked on getting ready to head on north tomorrow. Still keeping an eye on the weather. Snow is predicted again for this part of the country.

Sorry, no pictures today.

Day 21: Hiking Boulder Hill

May 5, 2014

Today we spent the morning working on a safety border for the main sidewalk in camp. Its purpose is to keep gravel where it is needed to prevent someone from stepping off the sidewalk and twisting an ankle or falling.

Right after lunch Steve took us and Ashley up to Boulder Hill. This is a high rock formation just a few miles from the camp. It is said that on a clear day you can see Nebraska from the top. It was bright and sunny but a little hazy and we really don't know if we could see Nebraska or not because there is no big sign showing the state lines. Anyway – it was a great hike and the views were wonderful! We really appreciate Steve taking us there, and Scott letting us all be away from our projects for a few hours. What fun we had!

 

Looking toward Storm Mountain and Rapid City

The trail up

360 degree panorama from Boulder Hill (click to enlarge)

We worked some more on the border later in the afternoon and then went with the group to “Shipwreck Lee's” for supper. It is a small bar and grill about 15min from the camp – toward Rapid. We had a “The Shipwreck” which was a hand-made burger with everything including grilled onions and peppers. Very good. Thanks, Scott! We will be trying to complete our work here tomorrow and getting Fred ready for travel. We have been here long enough that we have gotten a lot of “stuff” out so we will have some repacking up to do.We are also watching the weather to our north. Snow is predicted again.

Day 20: More Hiking and More Camp Pictures

May 4, 2014

Today was a nice day – sunny and cool enough for hiking without getting too hot. This morning a little red squirrel teased Scout on his first walk of the day.

Look where Scout is looking

We helped with breakfast and didn't get everything done until a little after 10:00 so couldn't make a 10:30 service in town. Instead, we listened to a recorded message from our home church that we had missed when we were on the NOMADS week at SIFAT in March. We love that we can download and listen to both messages (Tyler's and Barry's - pastors at Lester Memorial UMC) as we travel. We are missing our friends at Lester but are thankful for the new friends we are making as we travel. After our private church service we hiked another part of the Flume Trail as it crosses the National Park Land here at the Camp. Some of the rock walls and timbers are even more visible here than over at Sheridan Lake.

 

Old board from the flume

Click to enlarge

We took some additional pictures of the different lodges and cabins here at the Storm Mountain Center, in the sun. We also tried to get some additional pictures of the pasque, in the sun. 

Allison Hall

Gist Lodge

Inside Gist Lodge

Sander Lodge

Inside Sander Lodge

Utah, Montana and Tupper Inn

Director's Residence

Staff Houses

Pasque

This evening we enjoyed a fun time in Hill City with our new friends from camp. We had an excellent buffalo burger at the "Bumpin Buffalo".

We hear the weather in Alabama was nice for hiking today as well. Hope you all had a wonderful day! We are making preparations to move on toward Canada – probably Wednesday. In case you are wondering, we are 1542 miles away from home and about another 765 miles to the Canadian border.

Day 19: More Cleanup and Camp Pictures

May 3, 2014

Today started with a temp of 36 degrees and sunny but it quickly became overcast and remained that way all day, with very little wind.  We had wanted to show you some pictures of the camp facilities today but would be so much better with sunny sky.  We do have a few pics and maybe tomorrow will be a nicer day.  Today we completed our task of debris removal at the Agape Outdoor Worship Center.  It is now ready for the upcoming wedding and summer camping season.  Otherwise we worked to clear other downed trees, helped with kitchen duties and feeding the weekend campers, did a little hiking to take some pictures around camp and enjoyed spending time with the staff.

Old cook's quarters and kitchen - now summer staff quaters

Old dining hall - now summer staff quarters

Chapel

Shop

Rustic cabins on Spring Creek

One of several outdoor worship centers

Old gold mine

One of many "slash" piles we have made during cleanup. Good wood is used for firewood.

Pasque (pronounced "pask"), South Dakota State Flower

Last night a good friend sent us pictures of the tornado damage back home. We were both struck by the irony of our being here doing volunteer storm cleanup work while other people were doing volunteer cleanup work in our county.  God does work in ways that seem strange to us who can't see the big picture.  We encourage you all to be about helping someone else with something – anything.  Just listen to that nudge of your spirit and you will see a need you can fill.

Day 18: Mending Fences and Clearing

May 2, 2014

Today was a nice day.  Sunny, high of about 62, and no rain although it was predicted, and just a little breezy.  We helped in the kitchen all three meals for the guests this weekend.  After breakfast we rode around with Steve as he showed us areas of the camp we had not seen.  The camp is about 240 acres.  We also hiked some of the other, shorter trails, continuing to assess damage from the storm and prioritize clean up and repairs.  Spring Creek, that we saw yesterday on our hike, runs through the camp – a beautiful, clear mountain stream with some rustic cabins close to the banks.  Beautiful setting.  We also helped repair a few fences around camp. After lunch we made some calls to family and worked on the Agape trail and outside worship center.  There is a wedding scheduled here the end of the month and there is still lots of cleanup work to be done.  We didn't get before pictures but here is one of Max and Steve hard at work after cutting away a lot of the debris.  

A nice day at camp!  In case we haven't said it before - we really like this place and the people here. 

Day 17: Hiking the Flume Trail

May 1, 2014



Today was mostly an off day from the camp.  We worked a little this morning helping get ready for a group coming in this evening and then spent some time working on our plans for the first 3 weeks in Alaska when Donna and Barry are with us.  After that we went hiking.  It was much warmer today, sunny but continued to be quite windy.  We drove over to Sheridan Lake (about 12 miles from the camp) which is said to be the best lake for fishing in South Dakota.  It is a really pretty lake – water so clear and COLD.  Scout went swimming and came out shivering.  I doubt that water is warm enough for us to swim in by August. 

We hiked a portion of the Flume Trail that begins at Sheridan Lake and ends at Rockerville. "The Flume Trail has been designated a National Recreation Trail because of its historical significance to the local people.

The historic Flume Trail takes you back in time to the mining boom of the 1880s. The Rockerville Flume carried water 20 miles, from Spring Creek west of present day Sheridan Lake, east to the placer diggings near Rockerville.  The flume operated until 1885, and enabled miners to take over $20 million in gold.
The trail follows the actual flume bed for much of its length. Along the way you will see historic artifacts and parts of the flume itself." (US Forest Service)

Trail section with part of the original rock work showing.

We hiked to the first tunnel which was quite interesting.

We then retraced our steps back to the truck – about 3.5 miles total. It was a beautiful afternoon and a really fun hike. 

Oh, by the way. Here is a picture we forgot to include from Custer State Park.  

It's of the tail gate of the pickup.  This swirlly dark areas were made by a buffalo licking the back of the pickup.  It came up behind us when we were stopped for other buffalo in front of us and started licking the truck.  Yes, the tail gate did get a bath.