And the Adventure Continues...

Yesterday's discoveries...

1) I was still sore from the whole Mt. Rushmore adventure.

2) A beautiful drive with the most enchanted little creek running through the trees beside the road.

3) A gorgeous waterfall that was glorious to see from the observation deck. 

4) I thought things were going quite well till I turned and saw the look in Dan's eye when he gazed up to.the.top....And so...

5) When crossing the raging river toward the falls, only step on the rocks sticking out of the water.

6) Waterfalls are beautiful when viewed up close from the bottom. 

7) When climbing the side of a cliff, don't grab the pine needles, grab the tree trunk.

8) Gravel is slippery. 

9) If you suddenly start to panic, just sit with your back pressed tightly against the rock wall. 

10) Take a paper bag with you in case of hyperventilation. Trust me. (Wild hair...Don't even care!)

11) When going back down, don't look. Just don't. 

12) It's okay to cry on the cliffs. 

13) When some kid runs towards you with no parent in sight, giddy with his freedom, hold your ground and make him step around you.

14) He climbs down, I slide on my bottom. It may not be a pretty descent, but it's effective. 

15) I am not a rock climber.

16) Every natural structure is a challenge for my crazy husband. Oh great, today we're going here, Devil's Tower. My stars.

Our Little Adventure

Here are some discoveries I made on yesterday's Little adventure:

1) When you ask the lady at the concierge desk how far a certain hiking trail is and she says "five miles" don't believe her...It's much, much more.

2) If a hiking trail says difficult, it is...Treacherous, even. 

3) Every tree in South Dakota fell and landed across the Willow Creek trail.

4) If a trail has "creek" in the name, beware, eventually the creek becomes the trail.

5) The wilderness is never an easy place to be.

6) South Dakota has plants that only exist to shred you to pieces.

7) When the guy wearing a fanny pack at Mile 3 says he saw the "back of the Rushmore carvings," he didn't. Those carvings may as well have been another continent away from mile 3. 

8) South Dakota also has a jungle. (We needed a machete.)

9) There are lots of shiny things in the SD wilderness. None of them are gold.

10) A snake you do see scares you twice as much as one you step over without noticing.

11) If a tree falls in the forest and you are there to hear it, it makes a sound...A loud one.

12) Baby pine trees make a great landing spot for a fall. (Except for the little needles that puncture the skin.)

13) Mile 8 is when trail running becomes no fun anymore...not that I ran for 8, but that's when I started disliking it...a lot. Kudos, distance trail runners! 

14) Mt. Rushmore is super cool...Totally worth it to pay ten bucks and park there.

15) There's a really nice guy named Nate who works the entrance and will let you in free when you hike 10 miles to get there. 

Bonus: when showering in an RV, be gentle with the water handles or they will pop off, pelting you with freezing water, causing you to throw clothes on your soaking wet self, run outside and frantically shut off the water to the RV...All while screaming like a crazy woman. Strangely, at the exact same moment, all the water in the RV park stopped working.😳 (Dan was off getting false information about trails from the front office.)

What a crazy day that was...I also learned you can actually go to and from one location uphill both ways. Needless to say, after our 16 mile journey, today I can barely move! Today's adventure must include lots of sitting, for sure.