Off on another adventure July 17

What do TRTs do on their time off? Go exploring! This weekend I am hitting the road to adventure.  I took off early in the morning on Friday and drove up north to Spearfish Canyon.  The temperature dropped as I entered the canyon and the smell of pine was in the air.  This is a scenic route and was wonderful.  It was at the encouragement of fellow rangers that the canyon drive and I thank them for that piece of advice. I hiked up to the waterfall and enjoyed that view.  It was cool and quiet since I went so early in the morning.  I finished my hiking just in time to eat at the Latchstring and sat at the base of the canyon in the sunshine sipping iced tea and feeling like the day was a present.  My room mate had been to Devils Tower, Wyoming on her days off and it was just a couple of more hours of driving so up the road I went.  It is an amazing sight to be at the base of this formation and look up to see people climbing.  I also talked with the TRT at the park and we chatted about what they are doing with their summer assignment.  Very nice people indeed.  What next? I headed south to a little place called Newcastle to spend the night and then into Custer State Park.  Custer is another great place to visit.  In the Black Hills so lots of trees and on the wild life loop I was able to see lots of buffalo and pronghorn.  The scenery was beautiful, I walked along a lake and enjoyed the sights and sounds. Had to wait in a traffic jam for several buffalo cows and calves to cross the road.  At Custer the buffalo know who is actually in charge and they take full advantage of it.  They also have wild burros who have the whole hijack the traffic down pat.  If you slow down to look they come right up to the cars looking for handouts.  It's fun because this is the time of the year they have the babies with them and people interact with them, sometimes too easily.  It is easy to forget with the animals being so close that they are wild. I ended my weekend adventure with a fillup in Rapid and my treat of Sam's pizza:) I know it sounds like a busy weekend but it was very relaxing as well.  I enjoyed my time in the hills.