In front of the Harney Peak Tower.
From Rapid City, I took US 16 to where it intersects with SD 87, about 11 miles north of Custer and then took SD 87 (Needles Highway) to the Sylvan Lake day-use area. You can see picture of beautiful Sylvan Lake here.
I didn't arrive at Custer State Park until 1:30 PM from Scottsbluff, NE. I talked to a park volunteer who told me the hike was "straight up" and that the weather would probably be better tomorrow. So, I reluctantly left the park did other things to pass the time. I went to the Crazy Horse Monument, which I had visited in 1994, and they had since finished construction of the face (in 1998). I also visited Mount Rushmore for a second time and saw some buffalo in Wind Cave National Park. I went to the Townhouse Motel in Rapid City to stay for the night.
I knew that Harney Peak was going to be very cold and I wanted to make it to White Butte, ND
the next day, so I would have to start early in the morning when the temperatures were
colder. I got up at 6:30 AM, took a shower, got some gas and by the time I set out to
start the trek to Harney Peak it was almost 9:00 AM. The starting temperature was 22
degrees. I had five layers on top and bottom as I wanted difficulties caused by the cold
and wind to be a minimum. I had two pair of cotton pajama pants, a pair of corduroys and
a lined pair of adidas warm-up pants. On top I had a t-shirt, two long sleeves, a hooded
sweatshirt and my down coat and I must say I was pretty sweaty when I finished the hike.
My first problem on the hike was when I realized that my Camelback was not working properly
since I couldn't pull any water through the hose - my guess is that the cold temperatures
in the car overnight froze whatever water was left from my Oklahoma hike somewhere in the
hose. After that, things were smooth until I took a pretty good spill going up an icy hill.
This was the biggest problem on the trip; the first snow had melted and then froze overnight
and was then covered by another layer of snow. So the ice and snow were not problems
themselves, but the together they were a pain as the new snow covered up the ice, so most
of the time I would have to continually check to see which areas were icy, which became
quite annoying. Fortunately, that fall would be the only one I had on the trip. My last
problem was when I had to register to enter the Black Elk Wilderness area in case there were
any emergencies, I could be found. Well, of course, I left my pen in the car and there were
no writing utensils with the permits, so I threw in a blank one, hoping they wouldn't need
to try to find me. I ending up making it to the top in 1:45, and after a 15 minute stay on
top, I made it back down in a little over an hour, making the entire trip in 3:05.
This was definitely my most difficult highpoint to date due to the frigid temperatures
and snow and ice. If someone were to tell me that I could have hiked Harney Peak with
temperatures somewhere in the 10s and 20s with snow and ice, I would have said you were
crazy. After finishing the hike and changing clothes, I made my way towards SW North Dakota
to summit White Butte.