South Dakota: Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake was like a one-stop-shop destination for us on this Friday. We parked the car and hiked, climbed and swam all day long in an incredibly picturesque locale.

We started the day off on the Sunday Gulch Trail, a 4 mile trek along the valley behind Sylvan Lake. Parts of it go fairly near the Needles Highway, so there was road noise from time to time, but the most annoying sound was the Thump, Thump, Thump from sightseeing helicopters flying by way more often than I thought necessary.

Eventually most of the noise faded and the trail took us through boulder fields, into the forest and then scrambling back up boulders as we followed a creek back up to the trailhead. It was hot from time to time, but overall a really enjoyable couple of hours in the woods. Maybe the craziest thing was coming upon multiple swaths of hail that had fallen the day before.

After we made it back to the trailhead, we had a picnic lunch with a perfect view of the lake and the throngs of people who were boating and swimming in this beautiful spot.

Once we rested up a bit, Nate pulled out the climbing gear and we made our way to some climbing spots just on the other side of the lake. Eventually we settled on a spot next to a small waterfall that fell from between two giant slabs of granite that bordered the lake.

This climbing spot was along a very popular trail, so there were lots of onlookers, especially when they saw E up on the wall. A few groups of kids cheered for him and one older man and his companion stopped and chatted with us for a while as they watched Everett climb.

As the guys were climbing, we heard thunder in the distance and the skies started to cloud up a bit. I was afraid a downpour would start at any moment, but the storm stayed far enough away. We packed up the climbing gear and headed back to the lake. We had promised the boys swimming at the end of the day, but wanted to wait a bit longer to make sure the storm wasn't headed our way. This was also a good excuse to get some more ice cream.

The perk of the threatening weather was that folks really cleared out of the lake, so by the time the weather calmed and we were ready to swim, only a fraction of the people were there than when we arrived earlier in the day. Nate and I were pretty worn out from the rest of the day, so we stayed on the shore while the boys suited up in their life vests. Holden's first move was to jump off a big rock from a popular spot. Much to our surprise, Everett was really hesitant to jump. But as Holden launched himself off the top a second time, E gathered his courage and made the leap. The boys swam for almost an hour, then we headed back to Custer to grab dinner.

After a full day of hiking, climbing and swimming, we all turned in early that night. Tired and happy.Read more