Day 5 - Hiking

The snow was still on the ground when we left this morning.  The plan was to visit Jewel Cave and to do some hiking.  When we got to the cave, the wait for the next tour was 2 hours.  So we went for a quick hike and must have missed the turn off because it turned into a 90 minute hike that ended with a series of switch backs that took us up a very steep mountain side.  Dave went on the cave tour and I decided to do some more hiking.  I took the canyon trail as far as I could go and had to turn back so that Dave would not send out the National Park Service if I wasn't at the jeep when his tour was done. There is a lot of damage from a fire last year.

We then returned to Custer and checked out the downtown.  Not much open yet.  We then had a late lunch at the restaurant just across the street.  Tired and extremely full, we returned to our hotel rooms to relax.  Sleeping in, hiking in National Forests, eating chocolate, and then reading until all hours of the night - this is a vacation.

Tomorrow the plan is to drive the scenic Needles road that takes us past Mount Rushmore.  There is also a hiking trail around a lake we would like to try, or should I say I would like to try.  Dave's knee may not be able to handle another hike. I also found out they estimate the park is home to about 130 mountain lions.  How am I going to find one in 2 days?  I still want to see a badger, elk (found lots of tracks), ferrets, big horn sheep and now a mountain lion.  Perhaps if I put some bacon in Dave's backpack.  That should attract a few animals.  I also want to see the burros close up.  Every time we see them they are off in the distance.