Bear Country USA Scrapbook Page

Our very last stop in South Dakota was to drive through Bear Country USA in Rapid City on our way toward the interstate. It was something we had planned to do, as we had driven past it last year but didn't have time to stop, so it was on the list for things to see this year. Unfortunately Mother Nature had her own plans for the last day of our vacation, and we ended up cutting the day short and heading home due to poor weather. But we swung through Bear Country first.

As we entered the park, we began the drive-thru portion and saw elk, wolves, mountain goats, and big horn sheep. As we continued further, we entered the bear section and couldn't believe how many bears there were. Since we arrived pretty early in the morning, it was feeding time! We watched the truck toss out the food to the bears and were able to watch them eat. All of the bears were clustered really close to the road since that is there the food was. After the drive, there is another section of the park where you can walk through and see other animals.

I created 2 layouts for Bear Country and wanted to include photos of as many animals as I could, but also include the map of the park. I ended up doing a collage of the small animal photos to fit in as many as I could. I also created one bear page since we spent the majority of our time there looking at the bears. 

This is the final scrapbook layout from our South Dakota trip. Please click here to see the complete album. Thanks for looking!

Iron Mountain Road Scenic Drive Scrapbook Page

As we left Custer State Park early in the morning, we decided to take an hour detour before we hit the interstate to head home to drive some of the Iron Mountain Road. This scenic drive includes several tunnels and wooden bridges that are pretty fun to navigate. Several of the tunnels also were designed to line up directly with Mount Rushmore, so as you're driving through you can see Rushmore right in front of you.

It was a fun drive and since we were there so early in the morning (before 8am) there was no traffic and we were able to get out and walk through some the tunnels. The kids thought it was fun to run through the tunnels. It was really nice to be there so early in the morning and not have to contend with any traffic.

I only created one layout for this drive. Although I had a lot more photos, they were all really very similar and so I only chose the ones that were the best representation of what we saw and decided to keep it to one layout. To include more photos, I cut down several to 2x2 and 2x4 sizes and created a center strip for those little ones.

After driving the Iron Mountain Road, we headed toward Rapid City, where we would connect with the interstate for our long drive home. But we made one last stop before leaving, a spur-of-the-moment drive through Bear Country USA.

Wildlife Loop Scenic Drive Scrapbook Page

The Wildlife Loop in Cuter State Park is known for it's wildlife viewing, and the day we drove the Loop we saw quite a bit. We drove this loop on our last afternoon in Custer, even though it is recommended to do it in the early morning or evening. There was some rain headed our way in the afternoon and we wanted to get it in while we could. 

Along the road we saw elk, pronghorn, burrows, and bison, and even got stuck in a buffalo jam.

I created 2 layouts for the Wildlife Loop and really just wanted to highlight the animals we saw on the drive.

Thanks for looking! This wraps up the Custer State Park album - please click here to view the entire album!

Harney Peak Trail Scrapbook Page

We saw a lot of great stuff in South Dakota last summer, but our best experience was hiking the Harney Peak Trail in Custer State Park. It was the most challenging hike we've ever completed as a family, and it was an amazing experience. I loved Harney Peak so much I made 11 2-page layouts for it in the scrapbook. Yes, 22 pages of just this hike. There's a lot to talk about and look at!

We made the decision the day before that we would hike Harney Peak. It was a question mark up until then, but after we easily hiked the 3 mile Sunday Gulch Trail which had a fair amount of uphill terrain, we decided we could do the 6 to 7 mile hike up the mountain. We planned to leave early the next morning, as they were calling for rain in the afternoon and we didn't want to risk getting stuck up there in a thunderstorm.

We hit the trail at 7:30am, it was a crisp and clear morning, and very quiet on the trail. Admittedly I was a little worried about this hike - how we would all feel, how strenuous it would be, and if we'd make it to the top. From the trailhead, we could not see the peak and we really didn't know where it was. So we just started hiking, and followed the signs for Trail #9.

After hiking for about 30 minutes and gradually gaining a little elevation, we rounded a bend and off in the distance we could see it. What looked like a little stone hut on the top of a mountain REALLY FAR AWAY and REALLY HIGH UP. My heart sank a little and I really started to have my doubts. But we kept hiking onward.

It was very still and quiet on the trail, we all spread out and didn't talk much. The boys trailed behind us, picking up pine cones from the Ponderosa Pines and peeling them apart - they made up some kind of game doing this and entertained themselves for quite a while.

The main section of the hike was very easy, the uphills were very gradual and you didn't really feel the elevation changing. There was always so much to look at that we just kept hiking without really noticing how high we were getting. As we started to near the peak, we could feel the terrain changing and the inclines becoming more steep. We knew we were getting closer. From here, the real hike began. A lot of uphill, and a lot of stone stairs. There were some rest areas and overlooks along the way that we pulled off into to catch our breath. It just seemed to keep going and going upward, and we still couldn't see the top or the lookout tower. 

But the higher we climbed the more excited we got - we could see for miles and knew we were getting up there, we knew it was close. We finally reached a sign for a trail that branched off that said "Harney Peak Lookout" and made our way down that trail. As we rounded a bend, we could begin to see the top of the stone tower emerge from the trees. After lots of stone steps upward, we reached the tower...we had made it! 

At the peak it was extremely windy, and there was no one else at the tower with us. We explored the tower a bit, took some photos and video, and ate some granola bars we brought along. The kids ran around and explored the tower, while I mostly took pictures and tried to capture it all on camera. We hung out at the tower for about a half hour, then decided to start making our way back down. It took us just under 2 hours to hike up, so we figured the hike down would be a little shorter. We were all a little sad to leave the peak. 

The hike down went quickly and the trail was getting much busier, we probably passed over 60 people heading up. We were the 4th group to make it up that morning, as we passed only 3 others coming down on our way up. It was great to see so many people out there hiking  - people of all ages and abilities. We practically raced down the mountain, as the kids needed to use the bathroom, and we made it back down in a little over an hour. Our full hike was 3.5 hours to cover the almost 7 miles.

I took a lot of photos on this hike and decided early on that I wasn't going to skimp on the scrapbook pages for this one - all the photos I wanted were going in! So I ended up with what might be considered an exorbitant amount of scrapbook pages for this hike, but I know we'll look back at this hike often. So here they are, all 11 layouts:

Thanks for looking! If you are ever in Custer State Park - do this hike! You won't regret it.

Mount Coolidge Lookout Tower Scrapbook Page

The Mount Coolidge Lookout Tower is the highest point you can reach by vehicle in Custer State Park. The only other higher point with a lookout is Harney Peak, which you have to hike to. The drive up Mount Coolidge is a little scary as the dirt road hugs the curvy mountainside, but once at the top the views are great!

The the top there is an active lookout station with a viewing platform, as well as other areas for you to take in the views.

From the viewing platform, you can see about 80 miles away, and the scopes on the platorm can help you identify features in the lasdscape - we could see the Badlands, Crazy Horse Monument, and Harney Peak (the highest point in the US east of the Rockies, which we would hike to the next day.)

This was a quick stop for us and took us less than an hour to drive up, look around, and drive back down. The road to the lookout is easily accessible from the main road in Custer, and well marked with signs.

I created 2 layouts for this stop, which had such great views that it was hard to narrow down the photos, but I ended up with these: 

Thanks for looking!

Sylvan Lake Trail Scrapbook Page

Our first hike in Custer State Park was the 1 mile loop around Sylvan Lake. This beautiful lake offers amazing scenery and a fun and interesting hike over, around, and through some unique rock formations. 

As you begin the trail, it borders Sylvan Lake which you immediately notice for it's rock formations along the back side of the lake. The rocks seem to hold the lake water in.

As you approach the rocks, you can hop over some stones to an overlook on the lake. Back on the path the other direction, you will go through a narrow rock tunnel.

Once through the tunnel, you are on the back side of the lake and the big rocks, and the path continues over to the other side of the lake, where you can climb up on the rocks and get some amazing views of the lake. We took our best photos of the lake from up here.

As you follow the trail, you'll return back to your starting point by the parking lot and general store. This easy trail took us about an hour to walk, but we also stopped often to climb the rocks and take photos.

I created 5 layouts for this short hike, as it was so picturesque and we enjoyed it so much. 

Thanks for looking!

Needles Highway Scenic Drive Scrapbook Page

Once in Custer State Park, we drove the Needles Highway through part of the park on the way to our hotel. This very famous scenic drive offers some great scenery, and is known for it's attraction the Needles Eye. Our first drive past the Needles Eye was in the afternoon, and the high traffic and lack of parking prevented us from stopping. The next evening we drove the road again, after most of the day traffic was gone, and easily got a spot to park to check out the Needles Eye.

The vertical rock formations in this area are called Needles, and the Needles Eye is a rock formation with a split down the rock so that it looks like a needle standing up.

We looked around at the Needles Eye, and also checked out the Needles Eye Tunnel. Since there was so little traffic that evening, we could walk into the tunnel and take some photos in it. As we drove through the tunnel and came out the other side, there was a family of mountain goats on the side of the road! We stopped and watched them graze for a bit which was really fun as they were the only mountain goats that we saw in Custer.

The Needles Highway is a fun, curvy scenic drive and to reach certain areas of the park it is your only option. It's best to go in the early morning or evening if you want to stop and look around. There are about 6 tight parking spots and a lot of traffic in this area during the day.

I created 3 layouts for the Needles Highway:

Thanks for looking!