The TrailBlazers Hiking Club is a group based in Fort Smith, Arkansas, dedicated to enjoying the outdoors in the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. THCFS schedules several hikes a month, some long and some short, some difficult and some more laid-back. Some of us have hiked for years and some just started, but we all enjoy the outdoors. If this describes you and you're in the area, you're welcome in our group!

Hike Report

2013-06-08 Black Hills SD Trip
Photo Link: click here

Headed to the Black Hills, 29 TrailBlazers on a rainy Saturday checked out the Corn Palace in Mitchell, The Badlands complete with juvenile and female Bighorn sheep as well as prairie dogs, and hokey Wall Drug en route to our great digs in Lead. Trip trivia: great weather and food, miles and miles of open skies and emerald hills, fluffy white clouds, a medical emergency that ended well, first light shining in the windows by 4:30 am – groan!, springtime with lilacs galore, and many wine-tasting and photo ops. Sunday found us at Spearfish, Roughlock, and Bridal Veil Falls and later hiking at Bear Butte, a sacred Indian shrine, or the Rim Trail. Monday we drove the scenic Needles Highway with its rock tunnels and great views in Custer Park and the Wildlife Loop featuring lots of bison and pronghorns. One trio hiked the Prairie Loop Trail and encountered a rattler.

Tuesday featured visits to Mt. Rushmore to say hi to George, Tom, Abe, and Teddy courtesy of sculptor Borglum and a tour of Crazy Horse where progress is slow but steady; it may be completed in a century or more, but don’t hold your breath! Wednesday we headed to the Devils Tower in WY, a massive, towering rock formation with a unique geological and cultural history. Next, the 120-year-old General Store at Aladdin and the Vore Buffalo Jump, an interesting archaeological site where Indians drove bison off a cliff before they had horses for hunting, were well visited. Some went to Deadwood to see a reenacted gunfight in the street and the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane in Mt. Moriah Cemetery. (Click on “more” below to read the rest in Pt. 2.)

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Thoughts

2/1/2012 2:07:25 PM      Subject: Newsletter
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