Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse - Stilp Family Vacation: Part Nine of Who Knows How Many

We had one full day to do tourist stuff in South Dakota.  I would have liked at least two: one for the Badlands and one for the Black Hills.

Since we had been driving so much we opted not to backtrack to the Badlands and to spend our tourist day in the Black Hills visiting Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and the Needles Highway.

Walking into the park 

Mt. Rushmore up close and personal

family shot 

Katie taking it in

Mt. Rushmore exceeded expectations.  I don't think any of us planned to spend a long time there, but we stayed for at least three or four hours.  We did it all.  The gift shops.  Bookstores.  Museum.  Movie of the carving.  Exhibition hall.  Hiking trail around the perimeter.  Picnic lunch and multiple bathroom stops.  Took pictures galore.  It was really, really impressive on all fronts.  You should go!

Different angle at the end of the hiking loop

Curt and I were drawn to the Native American history embedded in this part of the country.  There were post cards, enlargements and posters of actual photographs taken of the prominent Native American leaders in the late 1800's when General Custer tried to take over.  I was fascinated by the costumes and the detail in photographs taken with such old equipment.  We bought an assortment of the photographs in various sizes and when we got home framed them and hung them on the wall as a gallery.  It looks pretty sweet.

The Black Hills were pretty, but Oregon has spoiled us.  We all thought our mountain ranges were more beautiful and majestic, but still loved being out of farmland and back in the mountains again.  We learned the Black Hills are called "black" because the dark evergreen covering looks black at first glance.

Crazy Horse Memorial - a sculpture being carved into the side of the mountain honoring the Native American culture - was just a few miles from Mt. Rushmore so we drove down to see it.  We were exhausted from spending so much time at Mt. Rushmore so we didn't stay as long.  The museum is quite a ways from the sculpture since it's still under construction so it's hard to get a feel for the scale and grandness of the project.  It's not that impressive... YET.

rendering of the sculpture in the museum part.

Crazy Horse was commissioned in 1948 by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski.  Korczak has now died, leaving his  widow and crew of ten children to take over the project.  They are refusing federal assistance which means less funding and slower progress.  When (and if) they ever finish the sculpture it will be the world's largest sculpture and truly amazing.

What it looks like right now.

We took the Needles Highway through Custer State Park home.  It was one 15 mph curve after another and we didn't see any park wildlife except a deer, a turkey and a chipmunk.  And our children who were getting a little wild by that time in the day.  We all thought driving through the tunnels cut out of the rocks was cool.  Overall I think we would have enjoyed meandering down the Needles  Highway more if we weren't coming on the heels of a thirteen hour traveling day with another long driving day facing us.

on the Needles Highway

We saw a deer.  

It was a relief to finally make it back to our little cabin.  The kids played in the pool while Curt and I made dinner.  They came dripping wet from the pool, plopped down at the picnic table, and we ate dinner outside.  It was fun.

The laundromat is the white door.  Curt is standing by our door.

Grant and I capped off a sweet day with a walk around the nature trail by the resort.  I loved getting alone time with him two days in a row and hearing his take on all the cool historical sites we took in that day.

tired boy 

Another banner day in a vacation where every day was as unique and fun as the last.

Green Lakes Loop via Broken Top and Soda Creek Trail Hike Review

Our picnic spot - Green Lake with South Sister 

The second hike Curt and I took when we were in Bend was the Green Lakes hike.  It's an out-and-back, 8.4 mile hike and is rated Moderate.  The nice thing about Green Lakes is that it is part of a giant trail system through the Three Sisters Wilderness.  We easily made this hike a loop by returning via the Broken Top and Soda Creek Trails.

I still get excited every time I see a Wilderness sign.  It's like my whole body starts to relax and the stress melts away.

We rectified our forgetfulness by buying a hydration backpack on clearance before we headed out.  It was way too small for Curt and we packed it out so it was bulging, but it was better than lugging our picnic and supplies in the waterproof sack.

bulging backpack and cute footbridge across Fall Creek

The Green Lakes trailhead is located right off the Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway just past Sparks Lake.  This is a popular hike and since we didn't get up at the crack of dawn, the parking lot at the trailhead was full.  We parked across the highway in overflow parking.

A Northwest Forest Park Pass is required to park in the official lot, but not the overflow parking.  There are outhouses at the trailhead, but not potable water anywhere on the trail so bring a lot of water or bring a filtration system in your pack.  It gets hot on the trail.

Selfie starting out

Right out of the gate, the trail was beautiful.  We crossed Fall Creek on a wooden footbridge and then followed a wide trail through the forest.  We climbed gradually through the forest on a trail that paralleled the creek.  The creek moved from docile to one waterfall after another.  Our hiking book put it this way:  "The creek puts on a trailside performance for the next 1.5 miles, tumbling through chutes, juggling over boulders, and falling headlong into pools."  Doesn't that sound inviting?  It was as awesome as it sounds.

Curt taking a picture of one of the many waterfalls that Falls Creek treated us to.

The trail, for being a single track through the woods, was pretty smooth and would have made for an incredible running route.  We saw several runners on the trail and I was salivating at the thought of coming back to run this loop.  Carissa?  Devon?  Dawn?  Ruth?  Tanya?  I think we need a girls running weekend soon.

Eventually the trail cut back into the woods, climbed for a while and then leveled out along Falls Creek again.  A massive lava flow makes a canyon wall on the other side of the creek, with South Sister peeking out the closer we got to Green Lakes.

Falls Creek, South Sister, and the obsidian lava flow

Tidbit of helpful info from our hiking book:  "This wall of blocky obsidian created the Green Lakes Basin thousands of years ago by damming Fall Creek.  Since then, sediment has washed down from the mountains on either side, filling most of the basin and splitting the original single lake into three parts." It was really cool to read about this stuff and then see it emerge as we hiked.

I'm always surprised at how dry and barren mountains are the higher you climb.  And look how little snow South Sister has on it!

The Green Lakes were so picturesque.  We picnicked on the bank of the lake with South Sister looming over us to one side and Broken Top presiding on the other bank.  Middle Sister peeked out from behind South.

Broken Top in the back

Selfie with South Sister 

Selfie with Broken Top

The lake water was (wait for it...) really green.  Imagine that.  We enjoyed watching a family of ducks play just off the shore.  I couldn't help but think they had the sweetest spot ever to live.

Both sides of our picnic spot  

After lunch we headed back to our car via the Broken Top Trail instead of going back the way we came.  It added four miles to our hike, but was well worth it.  We got to see the other side of Green Lake and get up close and personal with Broken Top mountain.  This trail was part of the 23 mile backpack loop we had originally planned to do.  It whet our appetite to do the whole loop next summer.

views as we set out on the Broken Top Trail portion of our hike

We hiked back into the woods and started climbing up, skirting the perimeter of a big black mound.  It would have been a mountain anywhere else, but in the heart of the Cascade Range, it looked like a little toddler.  The trail dipped back down into a vast, desolate prairie and we were treated to views of Mt. Bachelor, more layers of mountains in the horizons, and a great view of Sparks Lake.

Mt. Bachelor and Sparks Lakes in the backdrop

After 3.1 miles on Broken Top Trail, we took the junction for the Soda Creek Trail.  It looped us back to our car through more pretty views of Bachelor, open prairies with wildflowers, and dense woods.

sparse meadow on Soda Creek Trail with South Sister

Mt. Bachelor, Sparks Lakes, and layers of mountains.

The Soda Creek trail was pretty interesting for the first three miles (of the 5.2 miles we were on it), but then it got kind of boring and desolate.  The terrain totally changed and it was dry, colorless, and the trail was lava-sand.  The creek bed was low or dried up and our legs were starting to get a little tired.  (I don't have a picture of this because it was not pretty.)

This was the last good view on the Soda Creek trail before we descended into thick forest.

We made this part of the hike interesting by seeing how fast we could hike without running.   I let the Garmin run non-stop when we are hiking (with the exception of our lunch break) so we can get an accurate gauge of how long it actually takes us to hike with stop for pictures and water breaks.  Our goal was to get our average pace down to 20 minute miles.  We booked it the last few miles of this hike since the mountain views and jaw-dropping scenery had already passed.  Plus we were trying to make it back in time for the Ducks game.  We were motivated.  We got our average down to 20 minute miles and made it back in time for the game.  Win-Win!

Only a few miles left.

We packed in over 100 ounces of water and still ran out a half mile before we finished the hike.  I recommend bringing a water filtration system with you so you can refill your water bottles along the trail.  This hike was totally kid friendly - nothing dangerous about it - and it had lots of fun things to see and do along the trail.

Overall we clocked just under 13 miles of really fun, moderately easy, super scenic hiking.  We will definitely be taking our kids back to do the Green Lakes portion of this hike.

Happy hiking!

Getting Away - Canyon Creek Meadows Hike by Three Fingered Jack

My husband Curt is a gem.  I'm pretty sure it's obvious how smitten I am with him. Once we started having kids, we had to create time to be together - alone - to remember all over again the thousands of reasons why we love each other.

We try to get away at least once a year for a weekend just to be together.  No friends.  Limited agenda.  Just us - alone - to reconnect emotionally, mentally and romantically. If you are married, can I encourage you to get away with your spouse?  You will NEVER regret it.

This summer we set aside a weekend to go backpacking, but digging out from our epic family road trip took its toll and we couldn't pull it together. Our weekend away was approaching and we were still discombobulated. To top it all off, Curt was battling a nasty virus.  It ended up turning into a sinus infection and pneumonia, knocking him out of commission for almost a month.  Backpacking got set on the back burner.

We moved our trip back by a month and secured childcare. We were two days away from leaving and Curt was still not feeling good.  With great reluctance we shelved backpacking for another year.

Plan C was to rent a condo in Bend and choose day hikes from our Central Oregon hiking book based on how Curt was feeling each day.  It was a compromise we both felt peace about and another way God answered our prayers.  It's not often a condo is available to rent with one day notice!

The morning we left was the first time in four weeks that Curt woke up feeling like himself again.  Isn't that just like the Lord to give us an unexpected treat?  We were so excited to actually be going that our ability to think rationally flew right out the window.  We both packed big duffle bags full of stuff but pretty much none of it was what we needed for a hiking weekend.

It was until we were on the road that we began to realize how much we forgot to bring.  The most obvious faux pax was our backpacks.  We BOTH forgot to bring our hiking backpacks stocked full of hiking essentials, including our water filter.  Seriously?  Who does that?  We forgot shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and pajamas.  We packed snacks, but forgot to pack a picnic lunch for the hike we planned to take on the way to Bend. We laughed about our forgetfulness all weekend.

Our first hike was Canyon Creek Meadows (hike number 27 in our Central Oregon hiking book - 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades by William L. Sullivan).  Curt and Grant did this hike two years ago as part of a backpacking loop around Three Fingered Jack and came home raving about how awesome it was.  The road to the trailhead was right off Highway 20, the route we were taking to get to Bend, so it was a logical choice for Curt to show me this trail.

We pulled into the parking lot by the trailhead and dug around for any kind of bag we could use on the hike to replace our backpack.  The only containing device (aside from our giant duffle bags) was my Sea To Summit waterproof bag that I carry in my camera bag.  We crammed it full of granola bars - in lieu of lunch - and extra layers to put on at the summit.  I grabbed my giant 48 ounce water bottle, filled out our wilderness permit, and we hit the trail.

We were the only hikers in a very remote area that didn't have backpacks.  It was embarrassingly funny and made for an easy conversation starter with other hikers on the trail who were no doubt wondering if these City Slickers knew what they were getting themselves into.

The Canyon Creek Meadows hike rates in the top five hikes I've done thus far.  It truly was an experience to remember for a lifetime.  7.8 miles round trip, this hike was rated Moderate overall.  (The first part and the end were easy and the middle part was strenuous.) The trailhead starts at Jack Lake - a quaint and tiny lake in the middle of a burnout from a 2003 forest fire.  The first several miles of the loop were a relatively easy, gradual climb to the meadows.

burnout from 2003 fire, but the forest is already regenerating beautifully.

We hiked through the burnout, into the forest, and finally emerged in a beautiful mountain meadow with a creek running through it. Three Fingered Jack loomed ominously in the background.

first meadow

oh the sound of a mountain creek rolling down the hillside

The trail from the meadow got much steeper, gaining elevation quickly over a short distance.  We hiked out of the first meadow, back into the woods, and emerged at another mountain meadow much higher up and closer to the summit of Three Fingered Jack.

second meadow selfie

pretty amazing right?

handsome guy carrying our stuff in a waterproof sack!

The trail at this point became less defined with loose, rocky soil under our feet.  We picked our way through the terrain - called a glacial moraine -  up to an obvious view point.  It was worth the effort.  Sitting in a bowl at the base of Three Fingered Jack's spires was a beautiful, green glacial lake called Cirque Lake.

Cirque Lake with the Three Fingered Jack spires in the backdrop - that's my big water bottle hiding behind my leg!

Grazing on the steep bank of the spire was a mountain goat!  The mountain goats have recently been reintroduced to this terrain and seeing one in the wild was an unusual and giant privilege.  It was first for both Curt and I and we watched the goat for a long time, even though he was just a tiny speck of white on a canvas of dark brown.

Can you find the mountain goat? I circled it with a ring of added exposure.

The next .8 miles were TOUGH.  We picked our way along the spine of the mountain.  It was slow going - steep and slippery without an obvious trail.  We took breaks as needed and eventually hiked all the way to the top of the spine.

Curt picking his way up the spine of the ridge.  All of that terrain was loose and slippery, sliding around under our feet.

We stood on top of the world and soaked in the view.  Mt. Jefferson - which wasn't visible from the second mountain meadow - loomed large and in charge.

Mt. Jefferson

GAH!!!!!  Mighty Creator God - WOW!

The Three Sisters towered in the other direction.  We seriously couldn't believe how awe inspiring it was.

Three Sisters and other Cascade Mountains.  WINDY!

It was REALLY windy at the top.  We added our jackets, hats and gloves quickly and found a picnic spot behind a rock that was tucked out of the way of non-stop winds.

I'm in this picture.  This is the summit of the trail.  The only thing left of Three Fingered Jack are the spires and we'd need to be rock climbers to get to the top.

Curt exploring at our lunch spot.  It was such a beautiful day.

I love the majesty and power of the mountains. Being in the mountains revives me and I especially love the sound of the wind in the trees.  The higher we climbed the more constant the wind was.  It made a beautiful summer day cold, but I loved the power, unpredictably and musicality of the whipping winds at the summit.  I don't know that I've loved a mountain summit-lunch spot more, other than the South Sister summit.

Ahhh...

The hike back down the glacial moraine was almost as tricky as the climb up.  The rocky shale slipped under our feet and we did a controlled fall back to the second mountain meadow.  Once we got off the moraine, hiking was easy.  We booked it back to our car, making up a ton of time on the return trip.

The Canyon Creek Meadows hike felt like an epic adventure - one I'd pay a ton of money to experience - and all it cost us was a park pass and gas to get to the trailhead.  If you live locally, put this hike on your Bucket List.  It's only open from mid-July through October so plan accordingly.   Oh- and remember your backpack!

Happy hiking!