Hammock Time (Finally!)

We had a nice morning in the campground, talking with our neighbors. One man came for a tour of the Gumby van, and one couple brought their West Highland terrier to play with Molly. We had lots of fun watching the two furry white little dogs chasing each other around and around.

When we finally left, we drove south through the Black Hills and through parts of Custer State Park. We stopped at the beautiful little Sylvan Lake, which is circled by tall rock formations (there are even a few rock islands in the middle of the lake). Molly and I walked a one-mile trail that goes all around the lake, and Molly test-waded nearly every little beachy spot (it was 85 and sunny here today!). The trail went along the lake shore and through narrow gaps in huge rocks. We saw some people climbing up the rocks, and met other walkers, one dog, and several chipmunks and rabbits. Sandeep stayed behind in a nice beach area to sit in his hammock, which he had not yet had a chance to use on the trip. He didn’t get too much hammock time, though – he had some technical difficulties related to attaching the hammock to the trees, and he was just ready to settle in when we came back from our walk. He did finally get to enjoy the hammock for awhile, while Molly barked at chipmunks and I tried to remind her about “quiet!”

We drove on the high and twisty but beautiful Needles Highway through Custer State Park, passing through several tiny tunnels like the one in the photograph (which was about 12 feet high and 8 feet wide) and looking down on rocky hills and far away valleys.

Although we would have liked to spend more time in the Black Hills, we’ve been concerned about how little time we have (six or seven weeks sounds like such a long time until you start looking at ALL the places on a map of the US that you would like to see – and also try to include time for places you don’t yet know that you want to see!), so we headed for Wyoming in the afternoon. We drove through the eastern edge of Wyoming and then up north a bit to see Devil’s Tower. It is wonderful to see such an odd, huge object standing in the landscape. I read a story from the Lakota tribe the other day:
Some children were playing outdoors, and a huge mythical bear came to eat them. They prayed for help, and God responded by lifting the ground they stood on high out of the bear’s reach. The huge bear was angry, though, and scratched his claws on the stone over and over again, frantically trying to reach the children, and his scratches still can be seen today. I read two different endings; in one, eagles rescue the children, and in the other, they rose so high into the sky that they became a constellation.
We’re Kamping again tonight, just below Devil’s Tower. Again, we couldn’t find a state park with an electrical hookup. The campground is nice, and we have wi-fi internet access, again.