There have been some pretty big events that have occurred since my last blog. I had the opportunity to ride through the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, fly back to USC for the weekend, and then reach Harney Peak for my 8th summit.
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| Sunset in the Badlands |
The whole
way across South Dakota I had been hearing about how amazing the Badlands are
and had gotten really excited to ride through it. I was actually planning on camping in a
section of the Badlands that has a herd of free range Bison. However, I came to find out that in order to
do that I would have to bike in about 12 miles on a gravel road and then bike
out about another 13 miles. So needless
to say I decided against that. But, the
rest of the ride was pretty spectacular.
From the second you go through the gate the scenery drastically changes
from the rolling plains to involve desert cliff faces a couple hundred feet
tall. The rest of the day I spent riding
up and down these cliffs enjoying all the different formations that were
created by the passing of time. I lost
track of time a little bit while riding and by the time the sun was setting I
still had about 8 miles to go before I made it to a town to stay in. Luckily it was mostly downhill and I was able
to get there pretty fast although it got very cold as soon as the sun went
down.
The next
day I rode to Rapid City, SD where I met the Thurston’s. They were a very nice couple that offered to
keep an eye on all my stuff while I flew back to USC for a couple days. The reason I was going back to USC was so
that I could help out the University with their new Capitol Campaign kickoff
event. They wanted me to come back in order to talk a little bit. My short talk with Brent was focused around
our promise to participate in the community as a USC alum.
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| Part of the trail to Harney Peak |
This trip
back to Columbia was great for me both because I was able to help out USC after
they have done so much for me and Cycle for the Summit but it was also
rejuvenating to hang out with all me friends for a couple days. It was also a great break from the cold windy
weather that I had been dealing with up in South Dakota for the last week or
so. But, early Sunday morning it was
time to head back to South Dakota in order to get ready for the next stages of
my journey.
The day
after getting back to Rapid City I hit the road again by making my way into the
heart of the Black hills. This took me to
Mount Rushmore, which was fun to see in person since it is such an iconic
landmark in the United States. After
stopping here for a little bit I continued on to the trailhead of Harney Peak
where I camped for the night. I woke up
early the next morning to a fresh snow covering everywhere. This day turned out to take a lot longer than
I expected due to some logging going on along the trail I first expected to
take. But either way it was a very
peaceful day hiking through the snow towards my 8th summit. I didn’t see another soul all day but I did
see plenty of deer and I also saw a lot of cougar tracks in the snow. Upon reaching the summit I was treated to one
of the greatest views I had seen on this trip yet.
Well now it
is time to hightail it south as fast as I can.
Everyone says I have been lucky that a big storm has not come through
yet but I don’t want to risk it any longer than I need to.
- Michael Hunter
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