Today was the big day: Our hike to the top of Harney Peak (now known as Black Elk Peak), which is the tallest point in the U.S east of the Rockies.
We'd been looking forward to this ever since we planned the trip! Todd and I got an early start (Mom and Shirley stayed in the cabin area and went to the lodge) and arrived at the Cathedral Spires trailhead right at 7am - we were the only ones in the parking lot and the first ones up the trail.
The trail from Cathedral Spires to the peak and back is 7+ miles, and the elevation at the peak is 7,242 feet with an elevation gain from our starting point of about 1500 feet. Harney Peak is the tallest At the summit is an abandoned fire tower that is open to hikers.
Wildlife spotted along the way: chipmunks (so many chipmunks), deer, woodpeckers, squirrels, hawks, various other birds. There are no bears here, but there are mountain lions; luckily we didn't come across any.
There's a lot of pics for this day, so I've broken it up into three separate posts: Ascent, Summit, and The Rest (of the day). I'll try to keep the text brief.
Let's start with the ascent.
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| The car's done a great job so far on this trip. Time for the wheels to have a rest while we put our legs to work. |
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| Wish us luck - in case we don't make it back |
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| Onward and upward! |
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| We're taking the 4A, to 4, to 9 |
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| This is the start of the trail |
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| One of the few signs along the way |
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| Tree chunks (see sign in previous photo) |
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| Going down |
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| Just a giant spill of rocks we had to climb up. Note the blue diamond trail marker on the tree - it would be easy to get lost or miss a turnoff up here. |
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| To Trail 4 |
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| Cathedral Spires |
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| That-a-way |
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| We'll need to look for this sign on the way back |
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| Spotting our destination for the first time, and our jaws dropped. See it? |
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| Let me zoom in a little. |
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| See it now? That's the old fire station waaaaaaaaaaaay over there. We press on. |
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| Another view of the fire tower. Are we getting any closer? And why are we walking away and downhill? Ok, the trail's curving and climbing up again - whew. |
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| Zoomed in |
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| We're at the intersection of green and orange near where trails 4 and 3 meet |
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| Info board |
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| Hiker registration. You have to fill out a card and drop it in the box, then you keep a copy on you. Todd's pointing to the horse, because there were sections before and after this where we didn't think a horse would be able to make it. |
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| To Harney Peak |
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| Bird in flight |
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| Soon |
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| Little Devil's Tower (center), Cathedral Spires (left) |
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| Taking pictures in a flat clearing |
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| Stock only hitchrail sign - again, find it hard to believe anyone would get a horse up here |
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| The lookout tower comes into view again - thankfully nearer this time |
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| Going up |
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| There's the hitchin' post |
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| And we have stairs leading into a cave |
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| This is so cool! |
Almost to the top - coming up in the next post: The Summit!
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