Saturday August 15th
Its grey and damp outside and we are holed up in the RV with cups of tea and books. An hour ago the rain was drumming on the roof as thunder crashed over the hillside.
We are all somewhat weary after a big hike this morning. Fortified by a big Saturday morning fry up, we marched off to the Little Devil's Tower up a rocky track that got ever steeper. Tom told us a complicated story the entire way (about an hour and a half - PT said at one point, "my ears are bleeding...") until we got to the rocky peak itself, which we climbed. It was steep and quite challenging in places but when we emerged at the summit, the view was terrific.
We could see the Black Hills surrounding the park and then off across the plains of South Dakota to a horizon which must have been a hundred miles away. Custer really is a very pretty park with lofty granite spires and ridges, trimmed with fir trees. It looks like the backdrop to a Western movie and any moment you expect to see an Indian on horseback at the top of a bluff.
It was windy and cool at the summit and as we had lunch on our peak the clouds gathered and darkened and lowered and generally acted tough so we decided not to chance it any further and started back down. Tom resumed his story and bounded ahead. PT and I failed to keep up with either the narrative or his pace. Still, apart from a few drops it didn't really rain on us and with a few shafts of hesitant sunshine, Tom was inspired enough to want to swim in the lake when we got back. Rather him than us... We gave him his trunks and waved from the shore as his little head bobbed off towards one of the rocky islands fifty yards away...and bobbed back again. Yes it was a bit cold in fact, so back to our cosy little home on wheels. Its actually quite nice to have an excuse to take it easy after a full-on few weeks.
Its really pouring now and looking out at this lush green campsite through a haze of rain it feels like we are a million miles from the arid desert of a few weeks ago. I think another movie is on the cards after supper and we'll see what Mr Custer has in store for us tomorrow.
Its grey and damp outside and we are holed up in the RV with cups of tea and books. An hour ago the rain was drumming on the roof as thunder crashed over the hillside.
We are all somewhat weary after a big hike this morning. Fortified by a big Saturday morning fry up, we marched off to the Little Devil's Tower up a rocky track that got ever steeper. Tom told us a complicated story the entire way (about an hour and a half - PT said at one point, "my ears are bleeding...") until we got to the rocky peak itself, which we climbed. It was steep and quite challenging in places but when we emerged at the summit, the view was terrific.
We could see the Black Hills surrounding the park and then off across the plains of South Dakota to a horizon which must have been a hundred miles away. Custer really is a very pretty park with lofty granite spires and ridges, trimmed with fir trees. It looks like the backdrop to a Western movie and any moment you expect to see an Indian on horseback at the top of a bluff.
It was windy and cool at the summit and as we had lunch on our peak the clouds gathered and darkened and lowered and generally acted tough so we decided not to chance it any further and started back down. Tom resumed his story and bounded ahead. PT and I failed to keep up with either the narrative or his pace. Still, apart from a few drops it didn't really rain on us and with a few shafts of hesitant sunshine, Tom was inspired enough to want to swim in the lake when we got back. Rather him than us... We gave him his trunks and waved from the shore as his little head bobbed off towards one of the rocky islands fifty yards away...and bobbed back again. Yes it was a bit cold in fact, so back to our cosy little home on wheels. Its actually quite nice to have an excuse to take it easy after a full-on few weeks.
Its really pouring now and looking out at this lush green campsite through a haze of rain it feels like we are a million miles from the arid desert of a few weeks ago. I think another movie is on the cards after supper and we'll see what Mr Custer has in store for us tomorrow.
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