Reptiles and Hiking

Jesse and I spent part of Saturday morning attempting to find an enclosed cargo trailer to transport our stuff. It will just be so much easier to pack plus it is a mobile storage unit in case we end up in a really tiny place. We found two we liked but lo and behold the trailer stores have bankers hours, M-F 9-5. Oh well, we found two we liked and since I am off Aug 3^rd through the 7^th because of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally I can see if I can get in and talk money to some of the trailer guys. I am very excited about having one. I want to get bumper stickers from everywhere we go and decorate the trailer with them.

After our trailer shopping was not as productive as we had hoped we decided to finally visit the Reptile Gardens. It supposedly is the largest collection of reptiles in one location. They did have an impressive amount. Lots of snakes and alligators that just kept getting bigger as you went down the hallway where they were penned up, with the biggest one named Maniac. He was huge, 15 feet 7 inches long, a very terrifying creature. We watched the snake show where this poor young man kept getting snapped at by some very angry snakes; one was a large albino python and the other being a rattlesnake. He also had a cobra in a big plexiglass box that didn’t look too thrilled to be there either. We also watched the alligator show where the same young man demonstrated how to sit on and hold the jaws shut on an alligator that he pulled out of the water. I am not sure I would ever want his job. There was a bird show as well with talking parrots and a beautiful owl with orange eyes. We walked over to see the giant tortoises (which I touched!) and some other smaller tortoises. They had three giant ones and they were ages 109, 54 and 49. They were very impressive to look at and huge. When I went over by the smaller tortoises I watched as one of the bigger ones tried to bite the head of a smaller one! I had no idea they were so violent! The smaller one took off faster than I had even seen a tortoise move. Jesse was also very surprised and the girl working in the area said for some reason the bigger ones with the pointy shells were not very nice. We then walked over to the bald eagle. They are so majestic it is sad to see one in captivity but the one here can no longer fly. They think she was shot so she will be kept safe there at the Reptile Gardens. This ended up being a great place to visit! Very informative and fun with the shows, and the grounds were beautiful with dozens of different kinds of plants. It was a great way to end the day.

Sunday we decided to try another hike. While Jesse’s mom was here we went to Rushmore Cave and picked up this great water proof book of different hikes, many of which we had not done yet. We decided to do the Flume Trail. It is actually part of the 111 mile long centennial trail that goes from Bear Butte to down near Hot Springs. The Flume trail follows the flume bed of an old mining area. There are still two tunnels there that have been in place since the 1880s. The entrances have been restored to make them safer but the insides are still the same. Our little book said it was moderately difficult an about a 4.7 mile round trip. The trailhead was in Sheridan Campground by Sheridan Lake. It is a beautiful, heavily wooded campground right by the lake. If I was into that I would definitely stay there. It looked like it would be awesome. When we found the info by the trailhead we learned that the trail was actually 11+ miles long and went to a different town called Rockerville. We decided we would at least make it to both tunnels. There were some steep parts but it was a well-marked trail and it followed the edge of the lake for a while so that was wonderful. There were a few sharp drop offs along the trail as it went over old rock slides and that was a bit unnerving for me since I am not a big fan of heights. We eventually made it to the first tunnel and Jesse was all ready to walk all the way through until he stepped in an ankle deep puddle. I was not going to go in there because it was very dark and very low. Way too creepy for me so I was excited that you could go up and over. Jesse was too since now his foot was all wet. We kept hiking along taking in the sights when we finally made it to the second tunnel. This one had no way around but it was very short and you could stand comfortably. It was perched on the side of this cliff and it is just mind numbing to think that it has been around since the 1880s. It is amazing what man can do when he puts his mind to it. We walked a little bit past the second tunnel to sit and have lunch before heading back.

Sheridan lake is a good size dammed lake. We could hear the water rushed down from the dam and we walked until we could get close to it. It was very beautiful and surprisingly clear. We walked around by the small river for a little while and then headed back up towards the dam. There were steps made of stone leading to the other side where people were jumping off the cliffs into the water. Jesse wanted to join in the fun but we did not have our bathing suits with us. Maybe next time…

We of course ended this hike with a trip to Prairie Berry Winery. I love the Red Ass Rhubarb wine they make. It is chilled and blush in color and a bit tart. Very refreshing after a long hike. We sat and enjoyed our wine while listening to dozens of motorcycles drive by. I can’t believe how many were already in town since the rally doesn’t really start until Monday August 3^rd. It took a little while but we made our way to back into Rapid where we went to Murphy’s Pub for dinner since we didn’t have the energy to grocery shop, plus their food is awesome. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.

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