[at-l] Centennial Trail - Part 2

[Mark Hudson]

8/21: Lake Sheridan Southside Campground -

I think the appropriate cowboy term for today is "rode hard and put away
wet". More on that later...

The morning opened cool, with blue skies and sunshine, and a hawk climbing
through the trees above my campsite while I was having breakfast – pretty
good opening for the day. Fairly good climb for a starter – nice warm up. AT
the top I caught up with Mark and Karen again. Last night they said they
were going for more miles, but they couldn't have camped much beyond me.

>From there it was a pretty fast downhill run, and I reached the turnoff for
Mt Rushmore much sooner than I expected. Early in the morning on a Tuesday
is a good time to be there, I got to enjoy the view and visit the museum at
a pretty uncrowded time. Being too early for ice cream I had to settle for a
second breakfast, the egg skillet special went down very nicely. Tried to
call home but the call wouldn't go through after multiple attempts. Don't
know where I'll find the next pay phone.

Headed back out to the trail and caught M+K chatting with two women out with
their dogs and one young daughter.

Most of an hour later I reached the trail head where I could turn off for
the Horsethief Lake Campground. As it was already past noon I stopped for a
light lunch and to peruse my hiking options. I should have stayed there...
but when I looked at the options water (supply) started looking funky. The
next trail head would have been the perfect distance, but there was no water
there (M+K were stopping there since their kids were brining supplies and
H2O). That meant I had to make an extra file miles from there to here. The
trail to the first trail head was a romp, very fast walking. Now, Stacy's
notes do say that the new map changes to metric. The notes don't say that
the contour lines are so far apart as to be useless, and that the dotted
line that represents the trail ignores a (being polite) "boatload" of
switchbacks. Add the fact that I was running low on water... I'm sure I
would have enjoyed that section more in the morning rested and tanked up.
For now all I'll say is that the deathmarch ended when I reached the trail
head just before 5 pm. The good news is that the campsite is right over the
hill, and I found a spot right between the bathrooms, water spigot, and
garbage can. NO more walking today!

The bad news; $18 for a site and the toilets are pit privies. And no pay
phones either. Last note – tomorrow WILL be a shorter day!