Sunday in the Gulch

Sunday, July 19, 2020 – Custer State Park, SD

I have a new hike for my favorite hikes list – Sunday Gulch Trail. It is a four-mile loop with 776 feet of elevation change, which would normally take us a while, but it took even longer this day. It was raining when we started out and most of the elevation change comes straight down the slick rocky gulch in the first 1/4 mile of the trail. There are handrails on both sides, and we needed them. We took it slow and easy and had a few slips, but did just fine. It was stunningly beautiful – one of those places a kid from Florida would see in Western movies and not really believe existed. The first half of the trail follows a creek from where it flows out of Sylvan Lake, through the steep part of the gulch, and along the valley for about two miles. The second half climbs up and out through another canyon with great views of the needle rock formations and it brings you back to Sylvan Lake. A fantastic hike.Custer State Park Trails

It was late morning and we were ready to hike some more, but first we were very hungry. So we drove in to the town of Custer in search of food. We were in the mood for barbeque and the barbeque place had great reviews, but we arrived to find it closed on Sunday. We ended up at the Custer Wolf – a nice restaurant where I had a fish sandwich and Chrissy had chicken alfredo. Since we were in town, we decided we should have our daily vacation ice cream. With bellies full of fish, chicken, and ice cream and a difficult hike already under our belt, the desire for more hiking quickly waned. We spent the rest of the afternoon going to the lookout at Mt. Coolidge and driving the Wildlife Loop Road. We saw burros and got caught in the obligatory bison jam – a traffic jam caused by bison hanging out in the road. We have seen large herds of bison on several trips to Yellowstone. They are still magnificent creatures, but we don’t feel the need to stop, stare, and take tons of pictures. But we used to, and many other people do now, so good for them.

Hiking always gives me time to think and the Sunday Gulch Trail is where I first started to think about creating this blog. I wrote that night that I didn’t know if I would ever really do it, but a few weeks later here I am.

We wrapped up Sunday with a good, hard rainstorm. And the tent did just fine.