Sea Lion is moving to Austin Texas for the summer and taking the car so Montana is on the way, right? After a hectic month and a half back in Baltimore jam packed full of mini-roadtrips and visiting friends and family we finally hit the road. An hour before leaving I learned that Glacier NP, in fact, does not require bear canisters for food storage. That saves me two pounds of weight in my pack! Things were off to a good start. We blasted to Cincinnati to visit my mom and I also had the chance to catch up with some old friends, including Flatfoot from the 4 State Challenge on the AT.
Indiana Dunes National Park
Sea Lion and I pieced together a route to visit a few National Parks on the way out and the first in line was this gem on the sandy shores of Lake Superior. We set the tent at Dunewood Campgrounds (5/5 for facilities but 2/5 for location since it is sandwiched between an active railroad and a highway) then grabbed a delicious dinner at Shoreline Brewery. We finished just in time to make it to the beach for an almost spectacular sunset. There were just enough storm clouds to the West to block the sun rays from getting underneath and lighting up the sky. However, it was still beautiful and peaceful since we had the beach all to ourselves.
I was taking a time lapse and had my fingers crossed that the clouds would part and the sky would explode with color. My camera battery was about to die and I decided to literally run back down to the car to grab my spare. Sea Lion had a suspicion I was grabbing an engagement ring but then thought it was a false alarm when I returned with a battery and switched it out. I had the ring in my pocket the whole time. After some more moments of bliss, reminiscing about our adventures, memories, and favorite sunsets from the PCT, I decided it was time. I proposed to Sea Lion! After a few minutes of OMGs and tears of disbelief she said yes and we celebrated with some Loose Cannons, our favorite beer from Baltimore.
Freshly ENGAGED!
Wow. Still feels amazing as I write this a few days later. After returning back to camp and getting mediocre sleep we returned to the calm shores to enjoy breakfast before heading into the hustling metropolis of Chicago. Flatfoot had recommended deep dish pizza from Pizanos which is conveniently only one block away from The Bean and Millennium Park. We walked through the Park's garden which was in full bloom and then watched an orchestra warming up for a free show that night at the Pritzker Pavilion. A quick two hours were all we needed in the city before racking up some big miles westward.
'Brookside' Cranesbill.
Pincushion.
Coneflower.
Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park.
The Bean.
Inside of the Bean.
Badlands National Park
We tried to crush as many miles as possible and made through Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota before pulling into a rest stop just West of Sioux Falls. One of the things we love about Patsy (our Prius) is we can fold the back seats down and sleep in the back, barely, being tall folks. We woke up to pouring rain and managed to swap all our gear from the front seat to the trunk without stepping outside. We cruised all morning and made it to the Badlands National Park around noon when Sea Lion had to get on a conference call for work and I finally got around to practicing pitching my hammocks rainfly as a ground shelter.
We departed the Ben Reifel Visitor Center and rode along the ??? road to the Saddle Trail which is a steep quarter mile up to meet the Medicine Root Loop. We hiked a short out and back on each side and then returned to Patsy since we also decided to book it to the Devil's Tower for sunset. We stopped at most of the ??? overlooks for a few quick photos before moving onto the next one. We decided to take the extra loop at the end of the park to visit the Roberts Prairie Dog Town which had little mounds as far as you could see.
Sign says it all.
Brittle Prickly Pear.
Sea Lion.
Endless cloud puffs.
Smokey Mariposa.
Pinnacles overlook.
The Three Wisemen.
Devil's Tower National Monument
First off, I will return here one day and rock climb to the summit. Along the drive the clouds were looking amazing and we thought there would be another phenomenal sunset so we (mostly me) wanted to find a viewpoint on the East side to watch the sun set behind it. There is a short 1.6 mile loop trail around the tower but it wouldn't make for a good sunset with a massive rock in your way. Luckily we found a restaurant with a perfect, West-facing view of the Devil's Tower and we were hungry anyway. I set a time lapse outside to capture to ominous clouds rolling by and before the colorful sunset lightshow began, it started to pour. We booked it another two hours West to a rest stop and again slept in the back of our Prius.
Devil's Tower.
Devil's Tower at sunset after a storm rolled in and out.