Hiking | Secret Waterfall Hike

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Laura Lindblom under hiking, Photography

Too many areas get spoiled by publicity, so a blogger/photographer is in a pickle when she wants to share her find, but doesn’t want to ruin a new favorite spot. So this will remain a secret and I will resist the urge to post the usual GPS map of our hike. If you want to know where and how to find it, you’ll just have to go hiking with me sometime.
Now, one of my favorite parts of the hike was definitely the above sign towards the beginning of the trail. Hang gliders? Really? As Axel pointed out, the sign is only there because someone sometime tried all of those things…I got a laugh out of that. Trails are nice, but hiking where no one else goes, in search of confirmation of a rumor, has a romance all its own. This hike was one such hike, and we took off off-trail in search of a waterfall I had heard existed, but had never confirmed. In total, our hike was about 4.5 miles round trip, most of the distance along an established trail in the Black Elk Wilderness, but the remaining short distance was the hardest part. We bushwhacked up a frozen creekbed, which turned into a very steep boulder field, with huge bedroom-sized boulders, creating what sometimes looked like an impassible wall. And all of this was covered in snow and ice, of course, with beautiful, sheer ravine walls on either side. It all looked like something out of the depths of Middle Earth, and in terrain as gorgeous as that it was hard not to feel like an intrepid explorer. We weren’t disappointed in the least. The search for a single waterfall turned up two. One was a huge, solid ice pillar growing behind a cluster of boulders, and the other was a graceful, tiered formation of ice spanning a good 20 or more feet. And I’m not positive that either one we found was the one I’d read about. Ice builds up over time, creating deceptively massive formations from what normally would have been little more than a trickle of water. My impression from what I’ve read is that the Secret Waterfall really is a waterfall, not a mere trickle. So I’m looking forward to exploring this area after everything thaws, and seeing what these falls look like when they’re flowing, and possibly finding a third, the “real deal.” I got a chance to try out a new pair of ice cleats by Unigear, which were amazing and absolutely indispensable for this hike, much of which was on treacherous footing, scrambling over and under snow- and ice-covered boulders. This must have been one of our more adventurous hikes, in the sense of the very rugged terrain we were in, and the shenanigans we pulled while hiking. I love a hike that includes hands-and-feet scrambling, a little spelunking, and some boulder hopping! But we have a healthy enough sense of caution, probably partly built on the fact that we’re both first responders and if we got in a bad bind we’d be calling people we know. That’s a good deterrent to stupidity. This is the kind of hike that I hate to have end. In this part of the country, there is so much beauty we take for granted every day, and then there are the places that are absolutely breathtaking if you take the trouble to get to them. This Lord of the Rings fairyland is practically in my backyard. What a joy.

Favorite Photos of 2018

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Laura Lindblom under Photography

My, how the time flies. And how sweet it is to look back over the last year and see how God has provided through everything and in ways that were absolutely not His obligation, but His gracious bounty. Pictures are a way for me to remember God’s graciousness, through the beautiful and challenging experiences of life. My photography almost always springs out of joy-giving experiences, so this collection of images from 2018 is essentially a series of joy snapshots, things that jog my memory about the goodness of the LORD over the last year, those experiences and memories that are lodged in my mind, triggered by pictures I’ve taken. Enjoy!

A beautiful drive to Lusk, Wyoming, to pick up a friend on January 2, 2018. The blowing snow was mesmerizing.
A foggy morning south of Hermosa.
Driving the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, mere weeks after the Legion Lake Fire. The snow covered over the black of the burn, but the corral fence was a shambles.
Prairie dogs in Custer State Park after Legion Lake Fire.
Geese in Battle Creek on a cold winter morning.
Timber in Winter Storm Oliver.
My silly dog, Trixie. She’s a snow puppy!
Chickadee during a snow storm, up at Grandma’s house.
My beautiful cat, Ember. Such a sweetie.

Pasque flowers – the first signs of spring!
Custer State Park Wildlife Loop, greening up in the spring after Legion Lake Fire.
Wind Cave National Park, greening up after Legion Lake Fire. This photo and the above were taken on a sunrise drive with my dad.
Kinnikinnik. Also known as bearberry. Found on an April hike up Mt. Baldy, near Mt. Rushmore.
Wind Cave National Park – the grass came back like velvet in the burn areas!
Wildflowers in Wind Cave National Park.
Blue columbine, a rare find on a hike in Hell Canyon.
Prairie phlox, found while agate hunting near Fairburn.
Honey bee on dame’s rocket, on a walk with my sister and our dogs down by Battle Creek. We had gotten a lot of rain, and went to check how high the creek had gotten. Evening walks and hikes are such a highlight. A wild rose along the trail up to the Bear Mountain fire lookout, on an afternoon with my sisters.
Sego lilies are always fun to find. I found this one along Iron Mountain Road on a picnic with my family.
Even walking the half mile down the driveway from my Grandma’s adds a little spark of joy to my day.
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, on our way home from a Biblical Counseling Conference in Bozeman, MT.
My cat, Cinders, another kitten gifted to me by Anna. One of many fleabanes, on a hike on the Iron Mountain Loop Trail.
A signpost on the Iron Mountain Loop Trail. This picture speaks to me, somehow.
A beautiful fall sunset along the Rockerville Road.
The golden beauty of the autumn.
A favorite shot of Spearfish Falls.
Hiking boots and hiking pants. Kind of a summary of the highlights of my year!
Crow Peak, one of the best views in the Black Hills!

An attempted still life project turned into a cat photoshoot. Silly critter!
Trying to hike Mount Baldy turned into a comical misadventure when a freak snowstorm blew in!

Subtle winter beauty. The old year leaves and the new year comes in the time of the quietest beauty.

With the new year already well on its way (three weeks into January?!), I’m excited to see what God has in store for this year. And what joy snapshots will impress themselves on my heart and mind.

Winter Could Last Forever

Posted on December 28, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under country life, Photography, Writing

Something about winter’s subtle beauty always tugs at my heart. There is a beauty present that is otherworldly, and almost invisible, often somehow entirely other from the object being admired. It doesn’t draw attention to itself, and maybe it is the very fact that it doesn’t that makes it so alluring to me.

Delicately-striped fungus on a decaying log. Sunlight filtering through the paper-thin sepals of a dried seed-pod or flower head. Ripples in dunes of snow. A cat’s warm fur when the thermometer is reading about 15 degrees. Sunlight. The sunlight itself is different.Winter is a wonderful time of year. There is a peace, yet an anticipation. There is a rest and a sleep, a slumbering, and yet the cold brings out a quiet energy that everything seems ready to burst into peals of laughter at any moment. There is the warmth, strange warmth, of sunlight on my face, and yet the chattering of my wet-now-frozen hair rattling against itself. There is the frigid cold of face and too-warm warmth of body that comes from overzealous layering. There are the billows of steam when our front door opens, tiny cat prints in the snow, sleeping cats in the cabin, reluctant to go outside. There’s the sparkle of fresh snow, the hush of falling snow, the crunch of snow underfoot. Flowers of frost on windows, glassy lakes, and white-drifted roads.

On beautiful days like today, winter could last forever.

“Adventures” Page

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under hiking

After nearly four years of writing this blog, I’ve accumulated a number of “hiking review” type articles. I thought it would be nice to consolidate those, so here’s the “Adventures” page! Any suggestions as to content would be very appreciated, as right now it is in the early stages of development. I intend to flesh out the page itself with additional overview-type info on the hikes, and may perhaps add information to the articles, though for now I have no plans to do so.If there are any hikes I haven’t covered that you’re interested in, comment on the page and let me know! I always love suggestions for new hikes, and there are some I’ve done that for one reason and another never got published as blog articles.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Hiking | Little Elk Creek Trail

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under hiking, Photography

Oh, back when the weather was warmer…However, warmer doesn’t mean warm. On this particular hike, Axel, Katie, and I all were a bit chilly for the first while, having not considered the morning shade in the canyon. We were treated to some of the first glimpses of winter, with persistent ice over parts of Little Elk Creek, beautiful frozen, frosted, filigreed leaves, and the nipping of the crisp, morning air at our cheeks and noses. Autumn was still hanging on by a thread, and not all the trees had dropped their leaves, but the crispness and the frost let us know that winter was on its way.
Little Elk Creek Trail is a well-maintained trail, approximately 5 miles out-and-back, used by hikers, bikers, and trail runners. It is mostly level, with very little elevation gain, and though it is rated as moderate according to All Trails, I would definitely rate it as easy. Perhaps the length is where the moderate rating comes in. I don’t know.The trail follows along or above Little Elk Creek, though some beautiful rock formations and canyon areas, boasting many beautiful views. Across the creek from the trail, shaded north slopes were green with moss, steep and rocky, and very different from the brown, sunlit slopes the trail followed. We met a few other hikers, but it was a quiet trail. It is a ways off the beaten path, and likely not a lively tourist destination, since most tourists would probably hike around Sylvan Lake and Custer State Park, the crown jewels of the Black Hills. But this lovely hike is worth the time to get there.
And as always in the Black Hills, if you can tear your gaze from the soaring beauty of the trees, spires, canyons, and blue, blue sky, there are other things to marvel at as well. Things like friendship, for one. What a gift God gave when He created people, plural. He meant for us to live in community and fellowship with one another, and hiking with my brothers and sisters in Christ is one of my greatest joys at this time of my life. And then there are the tiny, almost-trodden on things, like abandoned bird nests and rushes growing green along the creek. It is so easy to focus so intently on the big picture that a million priceless glimpses of joy are lost.

Hiking | Lover’s Leap

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under hiking, Photography

It has been a few years since I hiked Lover’s Leap, and on a free morning last week we managed to get out there for a beautiful quick hike in our beautiful autumn weather. I love short hikes with some good hill climbing, and Lover’s Leap fits the bill. It is an easy to moderate 4.4 mile loop, best hiked clockwise, with a steady uphill climb for the first mile and a half, and then a gentle downhill or level trail for the rest of the hike. The trail name refers to legend of two Native American lovers who were fleeing from the United States Cavalry and jumped to their deaths from what we now know as Lover’s Leap. The trailhead is located near the Game Lodge in Custer State Park. After about a half mile, maybe less, the trail splits. We took the left hand trail and hiked it clockwise. The trail features diversity of landscape, with beautifully maintained ponderosa pine forest, sweeping views of the Hills glimpsed between the trees, colorful hardwoods along the creek in the lower elevations of the hike, and of course the glorious views from the top of Lover’s Leap. A good part of this area was also burned during the Legion Lake Fire, adding to the diversity of the sights. Stark black tree trunks give evidence to the ferocity of the fire in those areas. Although it may look ugly now, as the trees either naturally fall or are felled over the next years, and the grass and plant life returns, those areas will be transformed and beautiful. A sign at the base of the short scramble to the top of Lover’s Leap reads:

Custer State Park is a place where one can still be an unworried and unregimented individual and wear any old clothes and sit on a log and get his sanity back again.Notice the scratch markings in the bottom left corner of the sign before the word “sanity.” That used to read “his.” What occurs to me as I read this sign with the word “his” scratched out is that whoever it was that defaced this sign clearly hadn’t taken advantage of sitting on a log and getting his–sorry, her (probably, right?) sanity back.
This is the kind of hike I hate to finish. The trail was so peaceful and beautiful, the sunlight filtering through the trees was magical, and the sense of autumn was glorious. Definitely a day for stomping through the woods and getting one’s sanity back again. I guess that’s one of the things I love about hiking. Cares of the world tumble away and cease to matter, and worries cease to plague me, the craziness of our current culture and politics and worldview battles disappear for a time, and a sense of perspective returns in the vastness and beauty of God’s creation, in the rhythm of footfall and breath.