Day 5: Sunday (“Day of Rest!”)

We have been enjoying not setting wakeup alarms for the mornings as much as possible, which feels very restorative. With all the adventuring, we decided to have a big refueling breakfast of potatoes and eggs at the campground. (Thank you Jerry for lending us your wonderful and very helpful camp stove!) We then packed up and said goodbye to the beautiful, peaceful Rushmore campground where you can smell the trees! 

Back at Custer State Park we hiked Little Devil’s Tower, where we tested out our hiking shoes, thinking about hiking the Enchantments with friends in a couple weeks! We thought about going to Elks Peak too, but Cassie felt the 10mile trek would be a lot for our rest day right before Devil’s tower. 

Before heading out of Custer we took a dip in Sylvan Lake, which was mighty! cold! Glenn felt about the water how Cassie feels about crack climbing. There’s discomfort and some pain in both activities but you get used to it with time! (Or so the other person says 😂) In any case, it was certainly refreshing! 

We then drove Al (Cassie’s car) from South Dakota -> Wyoming. From afar we saw Bears Lodge/Devil’s Tower and felt the awe. Once upon it, we scoped out our approach trail for the morning and settled into our camping arrangements a few minutes from the tower, courtesy of lovely Devil’s Tower Climbing folks!