Wind Cave National Park: Boland Ridge Trail

We woke up in the Elk Mountain campground at Wind Cave National Park yet again. Today, Noelle and I wanted to show Sierra the Boland Ridge part of the park. It's a trail on which we had never failed to see wildlife (especially elk) before. We made the drive out 7-11 Ranch Road, onto NPS 5 and then finally turned onto NPS 6

and soon found the trailhead for today's hike, where we could see distant herds of bison grazing.

We hit the trail,

crossing a shallow stream and make our way through blooms of coneflower

and up a ridge on an old road. midway up our climb, we stopped in the shade of a ponderosa pine so that Sierra could eat a snack.

in the meantime, Noelle scanned the horizon for wildlife.

We eventually continued on our hike, climbing the rest of the road

up to a flat dotted with coneflower

and hoary verbena.

We climbed again before reaching yet another flat area.

It was hear that the sky grew increasingly dark and we could hear the rumble of distant thunder. And so, we turned around to make our way back to the car.

We made it back just before the rains started.