Climbing Harney Peak

Harney Peak is 7,242 feet and is the highest point in South Dakota and east of the Rocky Mountains.  And I am actually going to make an attempt at climbing this.  There is no way in my mind that I was going to be able to climb this.  Especially because it is all uphill.  Being able to say that I accomplished it is worth vbragging about, especially because we will be climbing this in high 80’s and low 90’s in temperature.  I hae heard from different people that making this climb is a willing experience so I am determined to make the difficult climb.
 

A cool breeze greets us at the trail head, numerous people gather around by the steel board looking for the correct trail distance that they were going to climb.  We picked the shortest trail that was possible.  It was 3.6 miles one way. The longest direction possible was over six miles one way, so that was the rout that we wanted to avoid.  As we start making the journey towards the peak I tend to take glances up to see where the peak was.  But the trick was, you could not see it.  Large rock formations blocked it’s presence.

Small twigs and falling leaves covered the path as we made our way toward Harney Peak.  The trail map that we received stated that this trail was not strenuous so a whole lot of effort will not be needed to put into this.  My joints come together and my knees bend as we climb the first hill on the trail.  Good, we all made it up but I bet there will be harder ones coming up.  As we continue along there is a opening between some trees where a lot of people are chatting and snapping photos.  We walk over and see what the reasoning was.  And sure enough there was a large rock formation kind of close in our direction.  I am one person who would take a picture at every chance that I got so obviously I got out my camera and took some photos of the view that lie in front of us.

After the photo opportunities we continued our hike.  We were about one mile in so there is a lot of stress on our legs as we continue to climb.  It is fascinating because when we would stop for a small drink the same people would pass us, and when they would get a drink then we would pass them.  I still cannot see where the top of Harney Peak is but it must be out there somewhere.  There was not a lot of uphill climbing until about the two mile mark.  It was almost like we would go up on very steep hills, and if it was not a hill, then it would be rocks that are set as stairs.  You could certainly tell that you were getting higher and higher because it was slightly getting harder to suck in air. 


We are very close to the top of the peak, people are coming down from the top and saying that it is a beautiful view.  That certainly kept me motivated to keep going up.  It is stair after stair keeping your head down at the ground watching where you are going so you do not trip and fall.  There are numerous areas where there is not tree cover and you can just see blankly out into the country side.

We are almost to the top, the pressure building of us only having to a little over one tenth of a mile.  We can see the top, it is a small building that is made of medal.  We are on what looks to be the final set of rock stairs, one by one we make the way up to what looks like a courtyard that is paved with cement with rocks along the sides replicating benches.  By time we are up to the top it is about 11:30 AM.  We feel that now would be the right time to get out our lunches.  Lunch was very delicious, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with extra peanut butter some chips, grapes and a water.  Once we all finish up, we climb the last set of actual stairs to the top of Harney Peak.

The wind is howling in your face, blowing hats off heads and hair in every direction wrecking today’s style.   It is quite a view from up here, you can look out and see thousands of miles in each direction.  There was a sign that stated that if you look to the east the farthest you can see is Wisconsin.  I never thought that I would get this high in the air without being on a plane.  What was kind of funny was you could not see where we started from when we were at the top.  There are rock formations that you  can walk on and explore.  And with the ok of an adult, I set out onto the rocks.  It is a very jagged surface, you always need to watch your footing so you don’t slip and fall.  Along with falling you would scrape up a knee.  We had our family photo taken several times up there but you cannot stay there forever.  So we started our way down, back to where we started.

In conclusion, we all got up and back from climbing Harney Peak.  Sure there were some sore legs in the end but it was worth it.  I did not believe in myself but I overcame the fear and hiked up it.  Once we got back we went into a gift shop and bought a shirt that said “ I climbed Harney Peak” for all four of us.  So it can be our turn to brag that we climbed it.  It is definitely a challenge but it is worth it in the end.  It is one of the things that you should do when you are out west in South Dakota.  All in all, don’t you want to say that you have climbed Harney Peak.  I can.