I decided to use some Annual Leave before things get busy at work over the next few months. Since I've been itching to go for a longer hike lately, I decided to head up to the Chadron area to go for a hike on the Pine Ridge Trail.
Rosie and I made the drive north. Passed through Chadron State Park and parked in a grassy area at the edge of the park and forest near a sign for the Pine Ridge Trail. I haven't been able to find a lot of information online about the section of the Pine Ridge Trail between the state park and Dead Horse Road, so the hike would be a complete surprise. We hit the trail on a cold, the clear morning.
The first section of trail follows an administrative road. There were nice views off the road to the surrounding forest. The forest here shows signs of having been burned.
Once we reached the Nebraska National Forest boundary, I let Rosie off leash. She really seemed to enjoy her freedom, running like a crazy dog in a state of what can only be described as "pure joy!"
The trail descended into a small canyon where it made an abrupt turn to avoid a section of private property.
The canyon was shady and cool. The muddy ground frozen solid.
After a short while in the canyon, we started to climb out to the prairie above.
We soon made our way past a windmill,
then continued along the prairie, occasionally dropping into and out of small canyons. We went through a gate and into the Chadron Creek Wildlife Managment Area.
Inside the WMA, the trail closely paralleled a fence. We dropped into one more small canyon,
then hit another gate. At this point we had hiked about 4 miles. A sign at the gate stated that Dead Horse Road would be another 2.5 miles.
I decided against continuing any further, as I didn't want to wear Rosie (or her paws) out too much. We stopped for a break at the gate and then retraced our steps to the car. With clouds building in the sky, the scenery was a bit better on the way back.
No comments:
Post a Comment