Snowshoeing Spearfish Canyon (Black Hills)

Two weekends ago, my colleague T. and Chloe and I drove up Spearfish Canyon, about 80 minutes from Gillette. T. skied and rock climbed. Chloe and I snowshoed. It was fun, but there was a lot of commotion because everything went wrong.

First, tardiness: We took off too late. I think we left Gillette at like
1 p.m. or 2 p.m. Totally my fault. I had slept in and then when we picked up T., Chloe got scared and ran away. So we had to chase her. Good times.

Second, the roads (Well, this wasn't something that went wrong. It's just an observation.) Totally clear in Spearfish Canyon.

The attitude is, "Salt the shit out of everything." It almost looked like a dusting of chalk over the pavement. The road was so white it practically strained the eyes. The salt made the windy, climbing road safe. T. commented that the salt was probably washing into the creek below. That never occurred to me.

Third, the trail: I was looking for an easy-to-moderate trail because I'm lazy. I wanted to get a little bit of exercise, smell the pines, feel the quiet. After doing some research, I decided on Little Spearfish trail.

But when we got there, we saw snowmobiles galore. We turned around and looked for another place.

Fourth, stuck: We decided instead on a pretty area called the Long Valley Picnic Area. I turned my car in, and T. said, "We're going to get stuck. Stop."

I ignored him — I knew my Civic after all, and I have snow tires on my rear wheels, I'm invincible! — and went another 20 feet, then tried to reverse. I was stuck.

We tried reversing my car several times, including driving it forward at a high rate of speed, then throwing it backward and using T's ice pick to carve grooves into the snow/ice. Nothing worked.

A from Cali exited his car and with T. pushed my car a bit but it only helped a little.

Oh, did I mention in the middle of this, Chloe ran way? She ran onto the fairly busy highway in Spearfish Canyon. When I ran after her, she ran faster. So I figured I'd never catch her. I turned back to my car, frustrated and said, "Nice knowing you, you future pancake."

A second later, she came bounding back to the car. I put her leash on and tied her to the seat. 

T. went onto the main road and tried flagging people down.

Finally a guy in a big-ass pickup from North Dakota came to our rescue. I will try never to judge people in big trucks again.

He tried towing me twice. The first time, he reversed his pickup but make a lot of progress. So he finally drove his car forward while my car was being reversed. He got me out. We were so happy. Thanks again, North Dakota man!

Finally, down to business: By that time, we only had about 90 minutes before I had to return my snowshoes to the rental place. So we pulled over at the beautiful Iron Creek and had a lovely time.

I put Chloe is my backpack and proceeded. T. skied ahead. At one point in the trail — I had been following his cross country ski tracks – they veered off the trail. Then the trail ended and the skies had been removed. I looked up, expecting to see T. climbing but we missed each other. He said he had fun going up the mountain.

The Iron Creek trail was so nice, it erases all the other things that happened... pretty much.

Fifth, camera died: There were also birch trees but I didn't capture them.

Sixth, I didn't know what a taproom was: After snowshoeing and skiing we decided to find the local pub in the town of Spearfish. It's called Crow Peak Brewing Co. It had a taproom. Being from Utah, I had no idea what a taproom was. Well, it's a tasting room. You basically buy beer. They have no food, except this frozen pizza that cost 10 bucks and was burnt on the sides. The worst food ever. Like, I could have made a frozen pizza better. Usually beer pubs are a good bet for food. Don't ever go to a taproom.

All in all, even though the tone of this blog posting sounds negative, I had a good time. I'm super happy that T. was there. If I had had all these mishaps by myself, I would have felt defeated. Since I had a friend with me, it was easier to take everything in stride.

This is an oil painting of birch trees. Someday I want to buy an oil like this. (By the way, I found it on etsy.com):