Roaming the Black Hills

Jan here, with another virtual hike in the Black Hills!

Last week we hiked the Lover's Leap trail in Custer State Park. The legend is that two Native American lovers leaped to their death from this spot, the highest point in the trail, but legends are legends. You can judge if the story is true or not!

The trail's route has changed since the first time we hiked it several years ago. In November 2017, the Legion Lake fire went through this area, changing the landscape and destroying many of the trees...but not all of them. As part of the clean up after the fire, the park staff rerouted the trail and lengthened it from three miles to four miles.

Now that we know the route, it's time to tie on our hiking boots and set out. Be sure to bring at least a quart of water per person!

We'll start out on the lower part of the trail, along the stream.

These bridges make the many creek crossings easy!

We need to watch out for a couple dangers along the way...

Poison ivy abounds in the undergrowth!

And you always need to look up, too. This windfall branch is right over the trail, and it will come down in a windstorm someday...hopefully when no one is underneath it!

We start climbing up onto the ridge at about the half-way point on the trail. The terrain is drier, steeper, and rockier.

We also see evidence of the Legion Lake fire.

I thought this tree was so interesting, with the bark only covering about half the trunk all the way from the ground to the crown. But it is still alive!

Finally, we reach the top! We've gone about two-thirds of the way, and it's time for a break and a snack while we enjoy the view...and get our sanity back again.

The park has also set these medallions along some of the trails. I think there are about ten of them. The idea is to do a rubbing of the medallions, then turn the set in at the visitor's center for a prize.

We need to remember to take paper and a pencil along with us on our hikes!

From here, we amble along the top of the ridge, and then back down to the trail head. Still a lovely hike!

Some hikers build cairns along the trail. 

If you've been around the Cafe for awhile, you know that I can't get enough of Custer State Park. Since we moved last summer, we're now only a twenty minute drive away. So Friday evening we went for a drive along the wildlife loop.

I didn't get a picture of the baby burros (cute as could be!) but I did get a great photo of this little one. Cinnamon is my favorite color this time of year.

Don't worry - mama bison wasn't very far away!

This time of year, last year's calves also stick close to their mamas, and you'll see trios like this within the larger herd.

But our biggest surprise was when we were on our way out of the park and we came across the tail-end of the park's elusive elk herd.

One even posed for a photo op.

I hope that you'll have the opportunity to visit Custer State Park someday. It's worth the trip! We'll go hiking together. :-)

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

The Lowly Cabbage and Wrinkled Rocks

If you're like me, whenever someone mentions "cooked cabbage," I'm immediately transported to a neighbor's house from my childhood and a steamy winter kitchen reeking of sour, smelly, unappetizing cabbage.

But I do love cabbage, as long as it isn't boiled to death in vinegar water!

Give me some raw cabbage, sauteed cabbage, fried cabbage, roasted cabbage, and I'm in heaven. Add a little butter, some onions, and some cilantro, and it's even better.

So when I ran across this recipe on Pinterest, I had to try it. The original recipe is from the peaceloveandlowcarb blog, but I adjusted it to serve two. I forgot to take pictures, but believe me, it was delicious!

Fried Cabbage with Kielbasa for One or Two

ingredients:

1/2 pound kielbasa (or other precooked sausage), sliced in 1/4" rounds
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
2 Tablespoons onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. malt vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 big handfuls coleslaw mix, or shredded cabbage (enough to fill your frying pan)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
parsley

Melt one Tablespoon butter in a large frying pan, then add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant (I love that part - the garlic smells so good!)

Add the vinegar to the pan and stir.

Add the sliced kielbasa and saute until it is slightly browned.

Add the second Tablespoon of butter, paprika, salt and pepper, and stir. Then pile the shredded cabbage on top until your pan is almost overflowing.

As the cabbage starts cooking down, toss the mixture carefully. Continue to cook and stir until the cabbage is soft and beginning to brown.


So, what's so great about cabbage?

It's full of vitamins and fiber, it's low calorie (1 cup of raw cabbage has 15 calories), and is found in many varieties. If you don't like the flavor of green cabbage, then try red cabbage, or bok choy. Napa cabbage is another variety, and even Brussels sprouts are an option (another veggie that is often boiled to death! Try slicing the sprouts thin and using them in a recipe like this or added to a salad - it will change your Brussel-sprout-loathing mind!)


Now we come to the wrinkled rocks. Have you been wondering about them?

Wrinkled Rocks is the name of the area of the Black Hills that is immediately behind Mt. Rushmore.

It's a popular area for rock climbing because the spires aren't as tall as some other spots (like Cathedral Spires), so they're great for learning how to handle the ropes and carabiners.

When we hike there, we just enjoy exploring the rocks.

It isn't a difficult hike, and it isn't a long one, but it sure is beautiful.
Especially on a fall afternoon.

I have a feeling this was our "goodbye autumn" hike this year, because the weather is changing. Our hike a couple days later was quite different...

Winter is coming!

Back to the cabbage - What is your favorite way to eat it?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Super Easy and Delicious Dressing for All Kinds of Veggies

by Jan Drexler

That title is a mouthful, isn't it? But it's true.

This dressing has been around forever. Generations. Hundreds of years, if not thousands.

Basically, it's a refrigerator pickling dressing, but I have found so many great uses for it.

I'll give you the recipe. I'm almost ashamed to call it a recipe because it's so simple and easy, but here it is:

1 part water
1 part vinegar
1 part sugar


The first way I used this was to make coleslaw.

The way I use it the most is with cucumbers.

I use those English cucumbers because of their milder flavor. If you love cukes, use your favorite kind! Slice the whole thing, along with some onion. The sweet white onions are best!

Then mix your dressing. Easy ratio - 1:1:1, water, vinegar, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

I use 2/3 cup of each for these long cucumbers.

Stuff the veggies in a jar or bowl (make sure you can cover it!), then pour the dressing over.

You can eat them right away, or stick them in the refrigerator until you're craving that sweet/sour deliciousness. :-)

I'm looking forward to trying this with cauliflower, green beans, zucchini...basically anything you can pickle, you can use with this dressing!

And it's so easy, it's almost - not quite - but almost...sinful.


While you munch on your cucumber slices, I'm going to take you along on a great hike!

I met my word count goal early on Saturday, so my dear husband and I packed a picnic lunch, laced on our hiking shoes, and went to the Hills. We chose a trail I had read about, but we had never tried. Believe me, we'll be hiking this one again!

It's called the Lost Cabin trail, and is one of two National Recreation trails in the Black Hills. It's described as "remote" and "scenic," and I definitely agree!

Before we start, I need to tell you that you're going to see a lot of downed and broken trees in my pictures.

Quite often, this is what the forest looks like ten to fifteen years after a forest fire. But this wasn't caused by fire. Many (too many!) of the trees in this area were victims of the pine beetle and were dead-trees-standing until the big storm in October 2013. In this part of the Hills, the wind was particularly strong (70 mph? I'm just guessing - it might have been more. We had 70 mph winds at our house.), and all those dead trees snapped like twigs.

But the forest is designed to renew itself. Now that the dead trees are out of the way, new growth is appearing.

It will take years for these trees to reach the size of the ones they're replacing, but that's what the forest does. The old passes away, providing space and nutrients for the regeneration of the forest.

So, lace up your hiking boots! We're on our way!

We parked at a trail head and needed to hike along the spur trail to reach the main trail. Let me interpret this sign for you.

The brown sign says that we will access the Lost Cabin Trail, trail number 2, in 1/4 mile straight ahead.

The smaller signs, from top to bottom, tell us that this is a National Forest trail, you can hike, you can ride horses, you can bicycle, but you can't have open fires. (If you want to camp, you can use a backpacker's camp stove.)

The trail was as beautiful as they said. Even from the parking lot, we had a gorgeous view of Harney Peak sorry - Black Elk Peak. They changed the name a few years ago and I tend not to listen (don't get me started on that subject...). But anyway, it's a beautiful mountain, and is the highest point between the Rockies and the Pyrenees. We've climbed it a few times, but with fall coming I'm not sure if we'll make it this year!

Soon after reaching the main trail, we entered the Black Elk Wilderness area, climbing up the entire way.

Yes, we did register!

The trail went up, up, and up.

We wondered if this vulture was waiting for us to
collapse on the trail! :-)

We finally reached the end of our allotted time (thunderstorms were on their way and we wanted to be safely off the mountain before they arrived), and after a well-deserved rest, we started back to our truck.

Signs of early fall were everywhere. The chipmunks were busy harvesting rose hips, but wouldn't stay still for the camera.

And the aspens are just beginning to don their golden frocks.

We were happy to see our truck waiting for us at the end of the trail!

But the afternoon wasn't over yet. We had one more stop to make.

There is something so iconic about Mt. Rushmore.

Iconic and majestic.

Back to the recipe - have you ever made that dressing before? Am I the last to hear about it?

And what would you use it for?

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Touring the Black Hills: Devils Tower

by Jan Drexler

One of the thousands of things we love about living in the Black Hills is that we're only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Wyoming! And of all the wonderful sights in Wyoming, Devils Tower has to be the most curious.

Geologists have four theories of how the Tower was formed. All of them involved an "igneous intrusion," meaning that magma came through the earth's crust at some time, cooling in this shape, and then the surrounding area eroded away. All I know is that the place is fascinating.

Whenever we visit Devils Tower, we like to come into the National Monument area from the north, following South Dakota and Wyoming state roads rather than the interstate. I think the views are better than the main route - but only slightly. You can't beat the West for awesome landscape!

Our most recent trip to the Tower was last Wednesday, on the Fourth of July. Someone had climbed to the top of the tower - no easy feat - to display this flag for visitors. :-)

So, let's talk statistics:

It is 864 feet from the visitor center to the top of the Tower.

The top of the Tower is about 1.25 acres, or the size of a football field.

The rock that forms the Tower is phonolite prophyry, which is similar to granite but doesn't have quartz in it.

Rock climbing is allowed on the Tower, and many people do it. In 2016 there were over 6000 climbers! The first people to climb it (that we know of) were two ranchers who made the climb in 1893. The ladder they used is still visible.

But the best story about the Tower comes from Kiowa legend. According to the story, Devils Tower was formed when seven little girls were attacked by bears. When the bears chased them, the girls climbed onto a rock and prayed to it to save them. The rock began to grow upward, higher and higher, until it pushed the girls into the sky, where they became seven little stars (The Pleiades.) The bears tried to reach them, jumping on the rock and scratching the sides with their claws.

(If you're interested in learning more American Indian Legends about Devils Tower, you can purchase the booklet "First Encounters" here.

Our trip on Wednesday was to celebrate our daughter Carrie's birthday! (Don't these two look cute together?) She wanted to hike around the base of the Tower on the Red Beds Trail. This trail is 2.8 miles long, and circles the base several hundred yards out from the Tower Trail - the one-mile trail most visitors take.

This trail goes through forests and meadows and is a pleasant hike.

And it does go through the red rock beds near the Belle Fourche River.

When we reached the end of the hike, we made our way to the picnic area where we celebrated with a picnic lunch and birthday cake!














Of course, you might be familiar with this reference to the Tower, too:

Have you ever been to Devils Tower? Would you like to go?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.