Today, Kelly and I backpacked Shank’s Trail, about 10 minutes from our home. We have done some of this trail before, but today we started at a different location, not the trailhead. When we left our home, it was 17 degrees and foggy. Driving up in elevation by the time we started our hike we had cleared out of the fog and the temperature rose to 27 degrees with no wind. The total distance we backpacked today was 6.5 miles, with a total time of 5 hours and 20 minutes (40 minutes of that was a stop for lunch). The first mile of the hike was uphill and very slow going. Some of the trail was icy and snow covered in spots and slowed us down. After we reached the top, there was really no map for this area, so there were a few trails to choose from. One took us almost into the backyard of a house. We finally got onto a motorbike trail that took us away from civilization into the woods. After hiking for about 2 miles, the temperature started to rise and we got into the upper 30’s and lower 40’s. By the time we were about 3 hours into our trip the temp has raised up into the upper 40’s with no breeze. A little sun came but only for around ½ hour. From the top of the hill we could see out over Rapid City and the fog was still present. Around 11am we stopped for lunch. We tried out our new hiking chairs and they were comfortable, lightweight and better than sitting on the ground. I had Pack-it Gourmet All American Works Burger on tortilla shells and Kelly had Pack-it Gourmet Texas Ranch Chicken Salad on tortilla shells. The winds started to pick up from the east (for info, Rapid City was east of us), and it started to get foggy and a very cutting cold wind. I made a hot chocolate and Kelly had a cup of coffee (Maxpresso) and as we ate tried to warm up. The temperature cooled down from the upper 40’s to the mid 30’s in about 15 minutes and it was starting to get damp and cold. When we finished and packed up, we figured we had at least an hour hike to get back to the truck, so we started moving and the road we were on was muddy in places and other times very icy and snow packed. Slow going and it took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get back to the truck. Near the end of the hike the winds calmed down and the last ½ mile of the hike was not bad. Got back into Rapid City and the fog was still present and temp was around 18 degrees. We finished up before the projected storm for tonight got here and overall was a very enjoyable backpacking trip for our first backpacking trip of the 2019. Thanks for reading, enjoy the few pics I took and for more trip info you can go to www.ramblr.com and explore for tleon14

Hiking/Backpacking

Pennington County, South Dakota, United States

time : Jan 21, 2019 7:34 AM

duration : 5h 20m 14s

distance : 6.5 mi

total_ascent : 1129 ft

highest_point : 4656 ft

avg_speed : 1.3 mi/h

user_id : Tleon14

user_firstname : Tom

user_lastname : Leonard

Today, Kelly and I backpacked Shank’s Trail, about 10 minutes from our home. We have done some of this trail before, but today we started at a different location, not the trailhead. When we left our home, it was 17 degrees and foggy. Driving up in elevation by the time we started our hike we had cleared out of the fog and the temperature rose to 27 degrees with no wind. The total distance we backpacked today was 6.5 miles, with a total time of 5 hours and 20 minutes (40 minutes of that was a stop for lunch). The first mile of the hike was uphill and very slow going. Some of the trail was icy and snow covered in spots and slowed us down. After we reached the top, there was really no map for this area, so there were a few trails to choose from. One took us almost into the backyard of a house. We finally got onto a motorbike trail that took us away from civilization into the woods. After hiking for about 2 miles, the temperature started to rise and we got into the upper 30’s and lower 40’s. By the time we were about 3 hours into our trip the temp has raised up into the upper 40’s with no breeze. A little sun came but only for around ½ hour. From the top of the hill we could see out over Rapid City and the fog was still present. Around 11am we stopped for lunch. We tried out our new hiking chairs and they were comfortable, lightweight and better than sitting on the ground. I had Pack-it Gourmet All American Works Burger on tortilla shells and Kelly had Pack-it Gourmet Texas Ranch Chicken Salad on tortilla shells. The winds started to pick up from the east (for info, Rapid City was east of us), and it started to get foggy and a very cutting cold wind. I made a hot chocolate and Kelly had a cup of coffee (Maxpresso) and as we ate tried to warm up. The temperature cooled down from the upper 40’s to the mid 30’s in about 15 minutes and it was starting to get damp and cold. When we finished and packed up, we figured we had at least an hour hike to get back to the truck, so we started moving and the road we were on was muddy in places and other times very icy and snow packed. Slow going and it took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get back to the truck. Near the end of the hike the winds calmed down and the last ½ mile of the hike was not bad. Got back into Rapid City and the fog was still present and temp was around 18 degrees. We finished up before the projected storm for tonight got here and overall was a very enjoyable backpacking trip for our first backpacking trip of the 2019. Thanks for reading, enjoy the few pics I took and for more trip info you can go to www.ramblr.com and explore for tleon14