Hiking the Sunday Gulch Trail

 Day 8 of our 9 day challenge


Back to Custer State Park to hike Sunday Gulch trail. It is considered a moderate trail of 4 miles. The climb is about 775 feet and most of that is at the very end of the trail along, over, or in water flowing from Sylvan Lake.

​The start is behind the dam at the lake. The description was pretty accurate.  We did walk among huge towering trees, huge boulders, a creek, meadows,  places where the trail is deep between towering granite rock walls, and steep challenging portions to the trail. Warnings are posted at the trail head.  You will experience rugged terrain, water crossings,  and should bring at least a quart of water per person. 

​From the very start, we had some fantastic views and it started with a waterfall.

​I am still surprised at seeing a gigantic bolder just hanging precariously.  Many of the boulders almost look like they were stacked up.  I still have the impression that a giant's child was playing here.

The views were impressive.

​Of course, there are some nice flowers along the way.  This one is called the Dark Throat Shooting Star.

​We carried our packs.  The trail was a good training hike for tougher longer hikes in the future.  We were warned that Poison Ivy was present along the sides of the path so wore pants instead of shorts to protect our legs.

We have been seeing military planes take flights over the Monument. The President is having a special event at Mount Rushmore on July 3rd.  I think they are practicing to get their position for that.  We have seen AWACS, B2 bombers, and now B52’s.

The views continued to be beautiful in their own way.

​We crossed the brook several times.

As we got close to the last portion of the hike, we started up the mountain back to the lake.  Doing this required climbing in the same ravine that the overflow came down through.

​Much of the time we were walking over the stream of water sometimes on logs or large rocks.  On the more difficult areas there was a pipe handrail. 

In the evening back at the campground, several deer walked across the campground road. They started eating directly across from our 5th wheel.