Sunday, May 27th, we had done well in the Wyoming Marathon, west of Cheyenne in the Medicine Bow National Forest (I was 2nd male, while Laila was first female)--this was my 24th marathon state, and Laila's 20th. Now we had other goals in mind...bagging a couple more state high points.
A strange hobby some might say--attempting to not only run a marathon in each of the fifty states and 13 provinces of Canada, but also to scale the highest point of each of them. Though many have done either all the high points or all the marathons, I haven't heard of anyone doing both...
Following the advice of Paul Zumwalt from his "Fifty State Summits" guidebook, we entered Custer State Park near Sylvan Lake. Zumwalt spoke of a $6 entry fee to the park--our experience was a rather exorbitant $10. Since one can access the high point via an alternate route that adds an extra two miles, but costs nothing, I have to recommend that route. Laila and I are assuredly not shy to log a few extra miles in pursuit of our high points...I add this note for your information so if you choose to do this high point you might learn from our mistake.
The route we chose was decidedly <easy>. If we had not run a marathon the day before, this would have been a moderate trail run for us. As it was it turned out to be a pleasant three-mile hike. Sam the wolfdog enjoyed the exercise as well.
The fastest way to the summit is via trail "9". We found it after a little bit of scouting around the parking area near Sylvan Lake. On the right side of the lot we found trail "4", a route that also leads to the summit of Harney, albeit by a more round-about method. We found trail "9" on the left side of the parking lot.
Trail "9" ascends for a mile and half to magnificent viewpoint that includes the Harney summit tower far off in the distance. From there you lose all the elevation you've gained thus far as you now descend to reach the final approach to the summit. Climbing steeply, after another half a mile the trail turns into stone stairs, goes through a short tunnel, and rounds a corner where the tower comes into view. The view from the tower includes the nice granite of Harney's summit area and vistas of the Black Hills and the granite spires arising from their midst.
Our next destination was Ellsworth AFB, near Rapid City. I joked to Laila that we were continuing with our tour of Air Force Bases of the midwest. At $13 a night for a two room immaculate suite it was great for budget travel. Since we had paid the $10 fee for access to Custer State Park we continued through it. The road winds up and down the mountains, in places narrowing to one lane, with incredible granite formations everywhere. There are even buffaloes running wild in the park.
Next on our agenda for the week was a 200 mile drive north to North Dakota's highest point, White Butte.