If you’ve spent time in national forests or state parks, you’ve probably heard or read the phrase “Leave No Trace.” Oftentimes, there is little or no explanation of what that means to you as a hiker, picnicker, camper, hunter, fisher, etc. In actuality, Leave No Trace isn’t just a phrase; it’s also an organization.

 

The program is self-described as “a national and international program designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts.” Leave No Trace tries to educate people about impacts on the outdoors and also how to mitigate them with easy-to-understand-and-implement techniques.

 

Leave No Trace has seven basic principles: Plan Ahead and Prepare, Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces, Dispose of Waste Properly, Leave What You Find, Minimize Campfire Impacts, Respect Wildlife, Be Considerate of Other Visitors. Basically, it’s common sense.

 

Plan Ahead and Prepare: You should know the regulations of the area before you start your hike, etc. For example, campfires may be banned due to fire danger; mountain bikes are not allowed in wilderness areas.

 

Travel and Camp Durable Surfaces: Don’t make new trails – use the ones that are there for human use. When camping, look for a good site rather than radically altering the land to pitch your tent, and camp at least 200 feet from lakes and streams.

 

Dispose of Waste Properly: This is a big one, and the one that most people violate. Pack out your trash! It’s a rare hike that I don’t end up picking up at least some type of wrapper left behind by another hiker. Teach children to do the same. Also, to minimize trash, pack appropriate foods; the forest isn’t where you should eat your Big Mac® with fries and Big Gulp drink. (Better yet, don’t eat them at all!)

 

Leave What You Find: Don’t haul away the forest with you, and don’t introduce non-native plant or animal species. Those flowers might look lovely in your yard, but they may be toxic to wildlife or so prolific that they eventually choke out other plants.

 

Minimize Campfire Impacts: Remember what Smokey says “only YOU can prevent forest fires.” Make sure campfires are allowed in the area before you start one, and then be sure to use a fire ring made from rocks; use only wood you can find lying on the ground and be sure to put it out completely before leaving.

 

Respect Wildlife: Don’t chase animals or try to sit children on the backs of elk or buffalo. Be especially considerate of animals with young ones; you don’t want strangers chasing your kids, right?

 

Be Considerate of Other Visitors: Remember that you’re not the only person out there. Please yield to others on the trail, and say “excuse me” when passing other hikers. Turn down the volume – hikers who are a quarter-mile away shouldn’t be able to hear your conversation. And lovebirds, if you must hold hands while hiking, please be aware of when people come up behind you on the trail and let them go by.

 

For more details on Leave No Trace, visit their website at www.lnt.org

Even if the “snowbirds” haven’t yet fired up their RV’s to head to Arizona’s desert for the winter, the birds have started their long journey to their winter homes. Fall migration can last throughout the next couple of months, and migration is a great time to feed the birds. A feeder can attract migrating birds to your backyard by providing them with a food source for their trip.

 

Let me clarify, not all birds are migrating right now. For example, there are still robins, swallows, finches, crossbills, and bluebirds (among many others) in the area. However, some birds are already gone, such as the Red-Wing Blackbirds that live near my house. One day they were still here eating at the feeder and singing occasionally, the next day, not one remained.

 

Some birds remain year-round, such as many sparrows, woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches where I live. Many of you may have robins all winter. However, the bulk of our songbirds will fly south. Throughout fall, we will start to see waterfowl such as ducks and geese moving south. Now you won’t attract ducks and geese to your yard with a birdfeeder, but it is thrilling to watch great “V’s” of birds tracking against the sky.

 

Birdfeeders are inexpensive and a fun way for children to learn about birds. They will see new varieties and be able to watch their behavior as they peck at the seed. Not all birds will perch on the feeder to eat; some are ground feeders, such the junco. Many stores sell birdseed, including most grocery stores. Try to avoid the generic mix of birdseed and focus on specific seed types such as Nyger thistle and sunflower seeds. Those little squares of suet are a great way to attract woodpeckers, but other birds, like blue jays, enjoy them as well.

 

If you’re putting up a birdfeeder, you could also consider a birdbath. Birds need water for their journey as well, and clean water from a safe supply can be hard to find. Birdbaths keep birds safe from predators (cats) that catch them if they are forced to land for their water. Since birdbaths are considered a summer item in many stores, you can probably even find one on sale. Filling the birdbath is a good job for children since it’s easy to do and they will see the rewards of their work very quickly. As I write this, a pair of mountain bluebirds is using mine.

 

You don’t always have to out into the woods to get a glimpse of wildlife. Sometimes it flies right into your own backyard.

 

For an up-close view of the spires along the Needles Highway, there is no better trail than the Cathedral Spires Trail in Custer State Park. Rather than a more distant all-encompassing view of the granite formations, this trail leads you about the bases of them. Glancing upward at these giants gives you a much better sense of scale as to their spectacular size. Compared to hiking Harney or Little Devil’s Tower, where you feel on top of the world, hiking this trail humbles you.

 

The trail is fairly short, 1.5 miles one way, and does not connect to any other trails. While rated as a strenuous trail by the park, it truly doesn’t seem that difficult. There are a couple of steep spots, but there is also a fair amount of trail that is quite level. A nice feature of this trail is the level, open ground at the end where you can enjoy a picnic amongst the spires.

 

While hiking, remember to look upward once in awhile. This is a unique view of the spires, so take advantage of it. Furthermore, you may very well see climbers scaling the granite walls. Rather than appearing as specks from afar, you can clearly see them and watch their progress. Who knows, it may inspire you take up rock climbing yourself!

 

The Cathedral Spires Trail is located 2.5 miles east of Sylvan Lake on the Needles Highway.

Want a great view of Harney Peak and the Cathedral Spires? Then hike Little Devil’s Tower in Custer State Park. This unusual granite formation offers spectacular 360-degree views of the surrounding area, giving you the best view of the spires from above. (Another close-up view of the spires is available from the Cathedral Spires trail, but we’ll leave that discussion for another day.)

 

There are two options for starting your hike depending on how much time you want to spend. Since the tower is on Trail 4 in the Harney system, you can start at Sylvan Lake. Make sure you’re on Trail 4 and not Trail 9 though! Starting from the lake adds some mileage and time to your hike, probably about half an hour. Another trailhead is located one mile east of Sylvan Lake on Needles Highway; this shorter route leads you straight up to the spur trail to Little Devil’s Tower. Remember that this trail is located on Trail 4 to Harney, so watch for the sign telling you which fork to take up to Little Devil’s Tower.

 

Most of the trail is rated as moderate, steady climbs but not too steep, until the end. The last part of the trail to the summit is quite strenuous. To gain the summit, you must climb rock, which is steep and can be a little slippery. Good shoes are very important to keep your footing at this point!

 

Binoculars are fun to have on this hike since you are afforded such a birds-eye view of the spires, you can watch climbers ascend and descend. Take plenty of water since the last part of the trail is tough, you’ll need to rehydrate. And the summit is often windy, so it will feel cooler up there, a sweatshirt will feel good.

We are failing our daughters. While we may be teaching them that they should expect an equal education and can have their choice of careers with pay equal to men, we’re allowing them to adopt an attitude of fragility. I am the mother of a teenage girl whom I am trying to bring up as a well-rounded person. While she is exposed to pop culture as anyone her age is, she is also quite comfortable in the outdoors. Imagine my angst in reading one of her teen magazines and seeing an article entitled “Nightmares in Nature.”*

 

The article profiled three teenage girls who were seriously injured in the outdoors, but lacked any advice on how the girls could have avoided trouble. Basically, the article served to scare teenage girls back inside their houses and malls where it’s safe; thus leaving them feeling that they’re not up to the challenge of the outdoors. It’s time we wildmoms take matters into our own hands.

 

The first girl, 18 years old, was working away from home and decided to hike alone to an area with better cell phone service so she could call her family. Her mistakes – she told no one where she was going, went alone, took no water, and sat down too close to the edge of a ravine. The hour-long hike left her hot and thirsty, so when she sat down at the ravine’s edge and quickly stood up after no one answered at her parents’ home, she toppled over the 50-foot cliff. Luckily, she was found the next day by a search team and eventually recovered, though doctors weren’t sure she’d ever walk again. I give her credit for being strong enough to overcome her obstacles, but her accident was completely unnecessary. A few simple precautions could have made a huge difference.

 

The second girl was bitten by a brown recluse spider on a camping trip. Most brown recluse bites occur in the home, so this isn’t always an outdoor occurrence. What’s more, everyone on the trip saw the spider, including the adults, but no one could identify it. She ended up not going to the doctor until she had a tennis ball-sized lump on her leg, required surgery and nearly needed her leg amputated. Had they been able to identify it, the campers could have been on the lookout for bites, and when hers became noticeable, she could have received medical attention much more quickly.

 

The third girl was trapped in a waterfall after floating down a river on inflatable mattresses and going over a waterfall. Yes, a waterfall. Would you let your 15-year-old float down a river with a 120-foot fall? How is that no one knew it was there? The teens were by themselves, no adults. She was floating along and boom! the current became strong and over she went. There is simply no excuse for it — someone should have checked the river, it’s not that hard to spot a waterfall! The lack of knowledge about their surroundings is appalling — that accident was 100 percent preventable. As it was, she went over the cliff, broke her ankle and remained trapped against the wall behind the fall. Fortunately, her friends stayed with her while they waited for emergency personnel. Not surprisingly, she now has an abject fear of rivers.

 

The bottom line is that as parents, we must give all of our kids the basic skills and knowledge they need to safely enjoy the outdoors. They need to understand that there are risks be prepared. We shouldn’t allow our girls to be scared into becoming “hothouse” flowers that evolve into that stereotypical female wearing high heels in the woods and screaming at the sight of a chipmunk.

 

*Cosmo Girl!, June/July 2008

This week, my family and I visited Jewel Cave for the first time. While not exactly hiking, though there are over 700 steps to traverse, a cave provides an important outdoor experience. This is only the third cave I have ever visited, but so far it’s the best. Jewel Cave hosts the most spectacular rock and crystal formations I have ever seen, thus illustrating the phenomenal geology of the Black Hills.

 

The main crystal formations seen in Jewel Cave are nail spar and dog tooth, as well as several other calcite formations. Frankly, walking through the cave is rather like walking through a large geode.

 

Jewel Cave is the world’s second-longest cave with 143.03 mapped miles. Thanks to dedicated volunteer explorers, two-to-four new miles of cave are mapped each year. The Scenic Tour that most visitors take is 1 hour and 20 minutes long, exploring a tiny fraction of what’s actually mapped. The elevator entrance for cave tours is over four hours, in cave-walking time, from the natural cave entrance. However, the Lantern Tour uses the natural entrance.

 

Jewel Cave is also home to nine species of bats; however, they enter and leave via the natural entrance so you won’t see any on the Scenic Tour. The cave is a significant hibernation spot for bats in the winter, during which time the natural entrance is fitted with a special “bat gate” allowing the animals passage, but not humans.

 

Jewel Cave National Monument is located 13 miles west of Custer on Highway 16. It’s open year round, with the exceptions of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days. Check http://www.nps.gov/jeca/index.htm for detailed information on hours of operation, tour schedule and ticket prices.

 

Take some time to see Jewel Cave. Aptly named; it’s truly a gem of geologic display.

That being said, I recently did just the opposite and have paid dearly for my hubris. While I hike with a nifty little kit, and so does my daughter, we hiked the short distance (little more than a mile) to Bismarck Lake for a picnic and swim on Sunday. Since it’s so close to our home, we just took the picnic basket and left the Camelbaks.

 

The hike and picnic were great. However, we wanted to swim a bit, but Bismarck doesn’t really have a beach. We decided to enter the water from a large boulder on the shore, upon which I immediately gashed open my right foot. And I do mean “gashed.” In trying to heave myself back out of the water, I cleverly managed to cut the bottoms of both feet, but I didn’t notice that until the blood stopped running out of the big slice.

 

Luckily, we had bottles of water to rinse it with and a towel to apply pressure. After sitting lizard-like on the rock for about 20 minutes, I felt I was ready to brave the walk home. Fortunately, the cuts didn’t bleed much on the way back, but the ones on the bottoms of my feet hurt by the time we finally reached the house.

 

While having the first aid kit along wouldn’t have prevented the cut, I would at least have had bandages and gauze to better protect the cuts on the way home, which may have saved me some pain. They wouldn’t have been rubbing against my sock either, and I could have covered them with antibacterial ointment.

 

After getting home, I thoroughly cleansed and bandaged them. They’re better now, and I’ll certainly live, but I won’t let a hike “close” to home give me false security again. Always take the first aid kit.

The Black Elk Wilderness is South Dakota’s only designated wilderness area; it’s surrounded by Custer State Park as well as the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. Because of its remote location, you can enjoy some of the quietest hiking in the Black Hills. Furthermore, it’s not open to mountain bikes or any type of mechanized travel, so it’s just hikers and horseback riders.

 

The area is named for Black Elk, a Lakota holy man, whose story is told through John Neihardt in the luminous book Black Elk Speaks. This area of the Black Hills held special significance for Black Elk since he was taken to the summit of Harney Peak in his great vision. This vision was a sign that he was to be a medicine man for his people. So please know that when you spend time here, it is a very special place.

 

The 13,426 acre area hosts 12 trails within its boundaries. Other trails within Custer State Park and the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve will give hikers great views of the wilderness as well. The U.S. Forest Service has an excellent trail map available at any information station; I would highly recommend one if you intend to spend time here since several of the trailheads aren’t where most people are used to going.

 

The wilderness has too many trails to adequately cover in one piece, so I’m only focusing on the Lost Cabin #2 and Iron Creek #15 trails today. The Lost Cabin trail can be accessed either via the Harney Peak Trail #9 at Sylvan Lake or via the Palmer Creek trailhead on County Road T357, which branches off Highway 244 (this is the road that leads to Mt. Rushmore off Highway 16). If you start at either trailhead and hike to the end, then turn around and go back, you will have a hearty 10-mile hike. There are some steep hills on this trail, so it can be strenuous. I would recommend it for older children. You’ll get some stunning views of Harney and a great deal of solitude along the way. Compared to the Harney trails, this one is very quiet. We met only three other parties during the whole 10 miles.

 

The Iron Creek Trail is much less rigorous, but a little less accessible. The trailheads are on the Iron Mountain Road and at the very end of Forest Service Road 345. The trail is 2.4 miles long between the trailheads and is mostly level; however there are 11 water crossings as it runs along Iron Creek. The crossings aren’t difficult, but you might get your feet a bit wet. We met no one else along this trail, and hiking alongside the creek was delightful.

 

Because this is a designated wilderness area, there is self-registration at major trailheads. This provides the USFS with usage information. Only primitive forms of travel are allowed: no mountain bikes or strollers. To prevent congestion, group size should be limited to 25 people and animals combined. As always, leave no trace from your visit.