Black Hills Hike Suggestion

I was looking over a map of Black Hills National Forest and came up with a possability for our hike. I thought the Centennial Trail would be a good option, specifically around Black Elk Wilderness. Lot's of opportunities for hiking, out and back, point to point, or just hiking around. We good break off the trail and check out Harney Peak, I've herd good things. It also passes within a mile of Mt Rushmore. There are self registration permits for the wilderness at Trail Heads. What do you think?

Info on Centennial Trail

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Centennial+Trail+%2B+Black+Hills&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgorp.away.com%2Fgorp%2Fresource%2Fus_national_forest%2Fsd%2Fhik_bcen.htm

Info on Black Elk Wilderness

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Black+Elk+Wilderness+%2B+Black+Hills&page=1&qsrc=2417&ab=5&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wilderness.net%2Fnwps%2Fwild_view.cfm%3Fwname%3DBlack%2520Elk

Black Hills 09

For the annual T42 Turkey Day trip, we will be breaking bread in the glorious black hills of South Dakota.

Here's the info thus far:

We are not forsure where we are hiking yet. I've got maps. Chad and I went through them and a loop in the alloted time looks near impossible. We can either do a there and back or a shuttle cars. Wtih Jim out west and the rest of us in MN, we'll have two cars.

Thus far Chad, Dave, Jim and Cory are confirmed. No word on anyone else yet.

Jim will bring pies and carry them on the trail.

I'm going to look into permits, find out about trail conditions for that time of the year, camping and water.

We are going to arrive on the trailhead at 11:00am on Thanksgiving and do the usual short hike to prepare our feast! The MN team will leave Wednesday afternoon and camp somewhere along the way.

The original plan was to do a complete drive home on Sunday, but I am all for staying out Sunday night and driving back on Monday, and I know Chad doesn't work Mondays. What are school/work schedules looking like?

That's the good news so far, more to come!

Gobble, Gobble.

Check it Out

The T.E.A.M. 42 Flag at the Keyhole of Long's Peak (13,150 feet). I thought you guys would like it.

205! I finally did it, just about two months after I set out to get it done. I finished the missing 8 mile stretch at about 1130 this morning. :)

Google Earth app thing

For those that are interested, below is a link to a site where you can download an app type deal for Google Earth called DDS Map Finder. It basically lays out an index of all the USGS 1:24000 quad maps but it also gives info on the quad and there is a link to where you can download the map as a tif image, for FREE. Like I said, for those that are interested.

http://www.usgsquads.com/mapfinder.html

Hike over 20 miles today and still fell short. I'm 2 mi from my food drop, so breakfast will be late. My knee hurts, otherwise strong. Sleep will do me well.

"Those who wonder are not always lost."

It's Brenda and I am making the first entry for Dave, since he is currently too far North to post.  

I took Dave up to the trailhead today to begin his thru-hike.  We left his car at the southernmost point of the trail near Two Harbors for him to retrieve in 10 days or so.  Then we headed towardsCanada, where the trail begins.  On the way, he strung up two bear bags filled with food along the trail.  This way he doesn't have to carry that weight the entire way.  We reached the trailhead outside of Grand Portage around 5:30pm and Dave was all sorts of ready to go by 6pm, when he hit the trail.  He only had to hike a few miles in today to reach his campsite. 

Dave always talks about how you string up the food bags in the trees in order to keep the food away from 'mini-bears' (racoons) but today I found out that they really do call them bear bags for a reason.  On the way in, right near the trailhead, we passed a great big bear, who was on the side of the road!!!  

On that note, good luck DW and Godspeed!