A side trail to see some famous faces

June 9. Centennial Trail Day 3

Our little cabin stay was great last night. I know we had only been on the trail for two days, but any time you can get cleaned up and sleep in a real bed off the ground is nice. Last night I was also able to repair my sleeping pad without having to fight the elements. Mash drove us back to the Iron Creek TH at 7:00 am. He’s a really nice guy, a real track angel. He will also leave us a gallon of water at Samelius Peak TH. Depending on our mileage today, this could be a game changer for us across a slightly dry stretch of trail.

Mount Rushmore National Monument

The day started with a nice walk through the beginning of the Black Elk Wilderness. There are options around here for some interesting excursions. Today we plan to hike to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. There’s a secret spot just up the road where you can technically see the faces, well, outlines of Washington and Lincoln, but Renee has never been to Mount Rushmore and there are services there. We had about 4.5 miles to get to the trail leading to the monument. The spur is 0.5 mile of mostly uphill but well-maintained trail that takes you directly to the entrance. There is no fee here except for parking a vehicle, so entry is free for us.

You can make out the skylines of Washington and Lincoln from the Centennial Trail.

We were very hungry, so before taking photos we went directly to eat. The food facilities are really nice. I ordered biscuits and gravy and an affogato. Very good food in the shadow of four legendary presidents. Yes, I defiled Thomas Jefferson’s personal vanilla ice cream recipe by pouring espresso on top😂

After eating we took our photos and continued on our way. We spent about an hour and a half there, enjoying the air conditioning, charging electronics, and eating and drinking. The descent back to the trail proper didn’t take any time now that it was downhill and I’m excited about the espresso.

I loved the patriotism on display here, especially as we approach America 250!

Running out of gas

The rest of the day was spent making our way through the rest of the Black Elk Wilderness. Near the end of the day, we crossed a tunnel under a road to reach the Samelius Peak trailhead, where our kind trail angel Mash hid a gallon of water for us. At the TH we located the cache and took a short break. We were hoping to maybe do 20 miles today and end up at Sheridan Lake, but it would be another 7 miles almost uphill, it’s already 5:00 and Renee has some nasty blisters bothering her.

Most road crossings on the Centennial Trail have tunnels underneath.

We found a suitable campsite about a mile past the TH and called it a day. When looking for a suitable campsite, we need to find a place that can accommodate both a tent and a hammock, since Renee is a hammocker. So while I need a flat spot for a tent, she needs trees to hang the hammock on. This never proved to be a problem on this trail.

We have too much mileage left to get to our resupply tomorrow, so we’ve decided to split it into two days. We’re on a pleasure cruise, not breaking speed records! We both love to push ourselves but we also want to enjoy this. Since we’ve been lucky enough to have so much hot food from the city along the way, we both have enough food to last us. We did about 15 miles today, including unofficial mileage on the spur to and from Mount Rushmore. Finally we also saw other backpackers today (3 shirtless brothers) and three horses with riders.

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