Stairs, So Many Stairs Today

We went up and down stairs at Jewel Cave, the walking path at Mt. Rushmore and a steepish stairish “trail” at Custer State Park.

We started off with a lovely morning, warmer than it has been. That meant I could last outside for two sips of coffee.

We traveled to Jewel Cave for a 9 a.m. tour. It was an 80 minute tour that had us going up and down 734 stairs. The volunteer leading the group, Brad was amazing. My favorite feature was the cave bacon.

After that we drove through Hill City and I popped in a few shops, most were closed though as it is the off season.

We headed to Mt. Rushmore. It was lovely being there without the crowds. We did the Presidential trail that had 422 stairs. That trail had been closed earlier in the week due to the snow and ice. Today it was open, clear of all that. If you go, do that loop, the perspective is unbelievable.

Once we left there, Mike checked the SD Dept. of Transportation website to find out if Iron Mountain road had opened yet. It had, as of yesterday the DOT listed it as closed. Hint if traveling to an area that has seasonal road closures, bookmark that state’s DOT site to find our information on the roads. Mike was fascinated that through some of the tunnels you could see Mt. Rushmore.

We stopped and had lunch at a little spot, the sky was beautiful, birds were singing and the wind was whipping.

We wound our way back to the rental through Custer State Park and took the Wildlife Loop Road again. Lots more bison today, but still no burros.

In the park we heard about a newly built trail, the Wildlife Loop HIking Trail, yup more stairs, sort of. We didn’t do the full trail as the wind was horrible up on the hills.

Our legs are tired from all those stairs, our eyes hurt for looking being in awe of our surroundings, but we are looking forward to tomorrow, a day of hiking in The Badlands.