Places Visited (May 29, 2022 – June 5, 2022):
- Corn Palace
- Black Hills National Forest
- Custer State Park
- Badlands National Park
- Spearfish
- Deadwood
- Mt. Rushmore
In-state miles hiked: 39.63
Total miles hiked: 79.18
We were finally off on our own. South Dakota is a special place for us because a lot of firsts happened here: first boondocking site, first backpacking trip together, first national park together…all things we will continue to share throughout the trip. A couple of years ago I made this exact route from Illinois through South Dakota with some of my best friends from college. This is one of the few places I had been to already, but Nick had not. He traveled a lot more than me when we were younger. I was excited to share this part of the trip with him because I had been wanting to take him here ever since I visited the first time. However, I couldn’t help but think back on the trip I had with my friends, and I realized I missed them immensely. After graduation, they were both starting graduate school, so I knew for the next year our lives would be very different. As they continued to excel in their careers, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was putting myself behind by choosing to take a gap year for this trip, which I tried not to think about often. I do my best to stay in contact with my college friends and keeping up with social medias like this has made that a lot easier for me.
First boondocking site:
Our first boondocking experience was on BLM land on the banks of the Missouri River. We were excited to give this a try because, at this point, we didn’t know how often we would actually be boondocking. There were a lot of people at this site, but we were able to find a spot near another young couple in a van. We wanted to make friends with them later, but a lightning storm quickly started after we arrived. It stormed all night, and the wind was swaying Winnie back and forth through it all. It was slightly terrifying, to be honest. We survived the night but were not out of trouble yet because the mud was now thick from all the rain. We watched the couple next to us slip and slide out of the site, and we were hoping Winnie could do the same. We escaped the mud quickly and continued on the road. In a strange way, we actually enjoyed the adventure of something going wrong and were not dissuaded from trying boondocking again.
First backpacking trip:
In our opinion, the Black Hills of South Dakota are extremely underrated. There is so much to do and see here, and it’s a great place for those who love the outdoors. Their beauty persuaded us to do a ~40-mile section of the Centennial Trail that runs 123 miles through the state. It passes through the Black Hills, including Mt. Rushmore and Black Elk Peak.
At the time, we didn’t (or at least I didn’t) understand how important this practice backpacking trip was to ensure the success of our 210-mile thru-hike through the Sierras later that month. Not only was it useful for testing our gear and getting used to a thru-hiking schedule (which normally amounts to 12+ miles on my feet a day in all weather conditions), but it helped Nick and I learn how to hike together. And of course, we had day hiked together before, but it’s different when you’re hiking ALL day and actually living out on the trail. The summer before this, Nick had already completed a 350-mile backpacking trip by himself in Alabama called the Pinhoti Trail, so he had his routine down. He also understood his purpose and motivation for backpacking, which I had not figured out yet.
People backpack for many different reasons and can often be divided into categories. The first category Nick and I like to call the Camper. These people enjoy taking it slow with low-mile days and spend a lot of time at camp, soaking up all the beauty around them. There is also the Minimalist, who wants to carry as light as they can, making it their top priority. Another type is the Extrovert, who is there to make friends and meet all kinds of people. And lastly, there is the Miler, like me, who enjoys the challenge of backpacking. I like pushing myself to hike many miles per day and see how fast I can complete them. It’s like a game, a competition with myself. I would say most people are a combination of these types. I won’t complain about a good campsite, but if I have more energy to keep going, I will hike past it. Of course, I want to be as light as possible, but I won’t sacrifice certain comforts. And I love making friends on trail, but I won’t make it a priority to hike and camp with them if their pace is different from mine. I get the most satisfaction from putting in high-mile days. Luckily, Nick’s motivation is very similar to mine, which makes us good partners. It’s important to understand what motivates your partner and how you can support them through the hike because hiking with opposite interests could lead to arguments, stress, or misunderstandings about trip expectations.
This trip was amazing…and hard. We did almost 17 miles on the first day to Mt. Rushmore (we actually hiked into the monument, how cool!). And although the terrain was not super challenging, the distance was. I was proud of myself for going that far on day one, but I was so tired at the end of the day that we decided to pitch our tent on a slope (not ideal) because I didn’t know if I could take one more step. After the first day, I was really confident I could finish this hike, but the next couple of days were extremely difficult for me. We hiked to Black Elk Peak the next morning, which is the highest peak east of the Rockies (7,244’). This day was physically and mentally challenging for me. We were climbing (with 20+ lbs packs) all the way up to this peak and back down. I don’t know how many times I cried and told myself I couldn’t do it. I had multiple panic attacks on the way up, and Nick was getting frustrated with my negativity and lack of confidence. I wasn’t used to being physically challenged like this, and because of that, my mental capacity for enduring pain was essentially nonexistent. Months later, Nick confessed that he didn’t think I would be able to finish the John Muir Trail if I didn’t get things under control. I would like to go back and climb Black Elk Peak again one day to see how much I have improved. The last day was brutal weather-wise. It stormed the whole way back to Winnie, which is mentally taxing. It’s hard to think about anything besides being cold and wet, so as you can imagine, both of our moods were delicate the whole day. By the end, we were still cold and shivering, but we got over it pretty quickly once we changed into dry clothes and drove to the nearest Mexican Restaurant to gorge ourselves.
I truly fell in love with the sport of backpacking here in the Black Hills, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, which is weird to say because writing it down makes it seem like I had a horrible time. But to me, that made the achievement of finishing even more significant, and I am so grateful for all I learned on that trip about backpacking and about myself. I had a lot of improvements to make before we started our thru-hike of the John Muir Trail. One of the most useful things I learned on that trip was something Nick taught me: a concept called your “cookie jar,” where you mentally store your accomplishments and use them as a confidence boost in the future. For example, next time I struggle up a mountain, I can tell myself that I summited Black Elk Peak, the highest mountain east of the Rockies, hopefully encouraging myself to keep going. Completing this backpacking trip was the first cookie in my jar.
First National Park:
We also visited our first National Park together, the Badlands, where the rain followed us. I had already been here, so I showed Nick my favorite trails, and we did new ones together. We wanted to do another backpacking trip here, but rain was forecasted for the next five days, so we decided to leave the area altogether. The weather may be the toughest part about living in Winnie. Not only does the rain trap us inside (imagine if we had a smaller van!), but we also don’t have AC or a heater, so the temperature needs to be pretty ideal wherever we are staying. We tried to follow the weather as best as we could, with “good” temperatures for us being anywhere from 50-80 °F.
First mechanical issue:
We made our way north to Spearfish, which I was so excited for Nick to see, but we didn’t get to explore much of the canyon before we realized we had a problem. One of the improvements we made to Winnie was attaching an extra rack to the back for storage. The bumper could apparently not handle the weight and was starting to bend downward, and we were concerned that if it was left much longer, the whole thing may fall off. After thinking through our options (even considering going back home if it got too bad), we decided to contact a local welder. Luckily, we found one that could get us in the next morning, and he fixed it quickly, only charging us $40 for the reinforcement. We were nervous about Winnie for a minute. We expected to have mechanical issues sure, but for something to happen just a couple of weeks on the road was kind of scary, especially being in a small town like Spearfish where help and supplies may be limited. But, we learned to problem-solve quickly together under pressure.
I remember South Dakota as so gloomy and rainy, yet as a place where I experienced self-growth and boosted confidence. Nick really wants to complete the whole Centennial trail one day. So, I’m sure we will make it back to the Black Hills eventually, but for now, Winnie was now off to Wyoming, the first truly Western state of the trip.