Our Family went to the mountains... Sometimes "Black Hills" really is somewhat misleading to what lies just to the west of the ranch. But our destination was to be a mountain that we see nearly every day. To us, it is that pointed peak straight west from the ranch called Custer Peak. And truthfully it comes to a point on the horizon that is very noticeable from home. Custer Peak and our "peak" at home which is know as Castello Point have something in common. They were both vantage points along with sixteen other points in and around the Black Hills that were used to map the entire Black Hills. Through surveying and triangulations in the late 1800's on into the early 1900's the process was completed. As with three bronze plates on our ranch at Castello or " The Peak" we found the bronze plates on Custer Peak as well. The bronze plates were placed in cement in 1925.... Over a century before. We found two of the plates quite easily by the fire tower, but I knew there should be a third with a triangle in the middle of it. I found it buried in the midst of wild rose thicket, unbeknownst to the average visitor to the mountain. Of course, I was more than pleased. The journey to the summit of Custer Peak was quite phenomenal. We left the highway and went past a campground or two... past a couple of ranches and then drove a pretty rugged stretch of road where we parked and then we climbed the last leg to our destination... the fire tower on this "pointed" mountain just 31.8 miles from and around 4100 feet higher than home.
The view was amazing... to top it off we watched a fire from the fire tower. A few hours before we had noticed, as we neared Whitewood, smoke from a fire near Spearfish. Now as we stood on the edge of the fire tower, we observed the fire(s) and the activities that were taking place in the sky as the planes that were making drops on the fire made their pattern to and from the incident.
And the views were amazing.. Bear Butte... We could see the breaks and the peak at home... Harney Peak to the south... Terry Peak... Cement Ridge (another favorite)... the Slim Buttes to the North and of course Castle Rock. And the fire on Lookout Moutain as well as the fire that flared up near Belle Fourche. Honesty, we observed in awe and enjoyed our time as family. Good memories...
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"The Rest of The Story..."
Julia asked me on Sunday night about the possibility of doing something on Labor Day. She said we could go on a picnic. Together, we decided we would head to an area south of Deadwood. We shared with the family our idea and the plans were put in motion. I was asked if I remembered many Labor Day activities... Robin shared of labor on Labor Day when Caleb was born. Yes that is a good memory, indeed. Mostly, I remembered that we probably just went on with normal business on most Labor Days, but we always had a fun meal... that I am certain of. I did recall one Labor Day holiday where we picked, husked, prepared and froze sweet corn with our friends... the Stokka family and the Foley Family. I also remembered fighting fire to the south above the breaks one day. But this year... we were going on a picnic...And as you read above and looked at the photos that Robin and Rachel shared... Well... now you know "the rest of the story". A Good Day, Indeed.
