June 8. Centennial Trail Day 2.
Today is my birthday! There were some light drizzles overnight, but the larger storms missed us. I was able to see lightning just north of our campsite before I fell asleep last night. We both woke up early as there is a lot of commotion and many of the horses are leaving today. My sleeping pad had a slow leak last night. I’m not sure how since it’s almost new. I had to re-inflate it several times during the night. I have to figure it out later.
A backpacker’s birthday gift
Renee surprises me with a birthday marshmallow with a candle. How sweet!! He also gives me a small titanium bottle opener. I put it in my camp pot protector, you never know when it will come in handy! I have service here and I get a lot of nice messages from my friends and family wishing me a happy birthday.
Renee brought this here for me!
We take a final break in the luxury bathroom and leave. Today’s hike immediately takes us to French Creek, where we can hop across without getting our feet wet. We then begin a sometimes steep and rocky climb. Apparently there was a recent detour around here that none of my maps had updates for. Luckily, Renee downloaded the maps from Roamin Around, Rapid City’s provider. We were able to confirm that we were still on the right track with that one!
There are no problems crossing this stream.
Oh! Fortunately, conditions like this were rare on the Centennial Trail.
We’re not done with the buffalo yet
Fittingly, we were still destined to have confrontations with the buffaloes. After all, we were still in Custer State Park. We came across two of them very close to the trail. As we got closer we saw that there was actually a small herd and we didn’t have much room to maneuver around it. We walked very slowly around them as best we could, leaving as much space between us as we could. This one felt dangerous for some reason. Maybe that pack was giving off a vibe. After all, they are wild animals and could take us down in the blink of an eye. We didn’t have as many trees nearby to interpose them as recommended. But the herd let us pass without incident.
Just across from the two buffaloes in this image is a small herd, in the valley.
But we weren’t done with the beasts yet. As we got closer to lunch, there were two more just down the road. Every time we veered off the trail around them, they somehow managed to get ahead of us on the trail. Once, they snuck over a small ridge, only for our trail to circle around it and catch up with them again. It is true that this process is exhausting. As exciting as it is to be around these enormous creatures, only a fool would think it’s not a little stressful. Every year the bison kill tourists and just a few weeks ago they killed a woman here, doing exactly what we are doing.
A break in a historic cabin
Shortly before reaching Legion Lake, we stopped for a quick rest at Badger Clark’s cabin. It is an old, historic cabin maintained by Custer State Park, named after Badger Clark, South Dakota’s first poet laureate. Apparently this guy went a little Thoreau and lived in the woods. I had a nice chat with the teacher there, a nice old man willing to share all his knowledge with me. Under normal circumstances, I would have sat there with him for hours, but I was hungry and had miles to go.
The historic Badger Clark cabin in Custer State Park. Nice place to take a break.
However, I sat with him on the porch for a while and he confirmed my suspicion that prairie dogs are carriers of the Black Death. THE Black Death that killed millions of people during the 14th centuryth century. It is actually prairie dog fleas that will transmit the disease to you if they bite you. So don’t think you’re going to get cute and take a close-up selfie near the prairie dogs’ den. It could be the last thing you do.
Ok, enough pessimism. Bison! Prairie dogs! Fleas! Plague!
A rewarding lunch break
Finally, we arrived at the lodge at Legion Lake and went to lunch. Birthday burger!! The fries were spot on. We had a great idea to use the lake as a giant bathtub to find the leak in my sleeping pad, so after lunch I took it out, inflated it, and submerged it in the water. Bubbles!! I found the leak! I marked the pinhole with a marker to repair it later. Nice!!
Just look at that beautiful view.
This beautiful, clear water was the perfect place to find the leak on my sleeping pad.
Maybe it was the calories, maybe it was the Arnold Palmer I drank, but this afternoon I had the buzzes. My body felt good and it wasn’t too hot outside. The next few kilometers flew by. Poor Renee struggled a little because she slept even worse than me. However, she caught up with me at a break and we continued toward the edge of Custer State Park and the Iron Creek Horse Campground. We decided we were most likely going to end up there because we were a little exhausted. It wasn’t the mileage we were hoping to get, but 13 miles would certainly be enough.
Finally! Now we can let our guard down a little.
Birthday Trail Magic
At a road junction about a half mile before the campground, we saw a sign on a tree that said «Trail Magic» run by a guy named «Mash.» It was offering a cabin, showers and rides. Hey, a cabin sounds nice. Let’s see what this is all about. If I were alone, there was no way I would entertain the idea of being picked up by some rando whose sign was in the woods offering a place to stay. But with another person, of course. I texted the number and waited for a response. Nothing. We decided to just head to the horse camp and get our things ready.
This horse camp was eerily empty. We were the only campers there. It does not have the infrastructure and amenities that French Creek had. As we begin to set up our things, a truck arrives and stops at our site. The man inside asks if we had texted him about a cabin. Mash came out and found us! After chatting with him, we decided he certainly wasn’t a creep! We agreed to go to his house, where he had a completely separate cabin just for hikers, and we could use the bathroom and shower in his main house. Our small cabin was equipped with a large bed, sofa and comfortable chair, and a separate sleeping area in the loft. There was even Wi-Fi and a TV with Netflix. It’s a birthday miracle!! Also, there was a sweet cat named Echo in the basement of the main house, and I gave her some love. What a great end to the day!
One last buffalo sighting, from the safety of Mash’s truck!
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