This is a little late, but last Sunday Kelly and I did an overnight backpacking trip into Shank’s Canyon, just west of Rapid City. The total round trip was only around 6.8 miles, with 3.3 miles on Sunday afternoon and 3.5 on Monday. The weather was beautiful, around 55 with light winds, and after our mini snow storm the week before, there were patches of snow and some yellow color on the trees. The trail/road was muddy from all the moisture this year, but we finally got off onto a trail that provided a nice path until we found a great place to setup camp. We enjoyed some Pack-it Gourmet Texas Chili and after that it was getting chilly out, so we decided to get into our tent and just talk and relax. It was quiet but every once in a while, we could here an ATV or people talking across the canyon. We had a full moon and it kept the area lite up most of the night. Temps dropped to around 40 overnight but we were very comfortable in our quilts and gear. We got up around 6:30 the next morning, had some coffee and a couple of bacon muffins with cheese. Then all packed up we started the hike out around 8:30 and had about a 500ft climb out of the area. We leisurely took our time and just enjoyed the quiet and peaceful area we were in and nature. We got back to the truck around 10:30 and made our 15-minute drive back home. Overall a great day, first backpacking trip since my shingles and it felt good to get back out. Hopefully we can get one or two more in before the end of the year, but once snow settles into the hills it makes it more challenging to get into the higher hills. Thanks for reading and enjoy the few pics I took.

Hiking/Backpacking

Pennington County, South Dakota, United States

time : Oct 13, 2019 12:36 PM

duration : 21h 40m 34s

distance : 6.4 mi

total_ascent : 2067 ft

highest_point : 4612 ft

avg_speed : 1.8 mi/h

user_id : Tleon14

user_firstname : Tom

user_lastname : Leonard

This is a little late, but last Sunday Kelly and I did an overnight backpacking trip into Shank’s Canyon, just west of Rapid City. The total round trip was only around 6.8 miles, with 3.3 miles on Sunday afternoon and 3.5 on Monday. The weather was beautiful, around 55 with light winds, and after our mini snow storm the week before, there were patches of snow and some yellow color on the trees. The trail/road was muddy from all the moisture this year, but we finally got off onto a trail that provided a nice path until we found a great place to setup camp. We enjoyed some Pack-it Gourmet Texas Chili and after that it was getting chilly out, so we decided to get into our tent and just talk and relax. It was quiet but every once in a while, we could here an ATV or people talking across the canyon. We had a full moon and it kept the area lite up most of the night. Temps dropped to around 40 overnight but we were very comfortable in our quilts and gear. We got up around 6:30 the next morning, had some coffee and a couple of bacon muffins with cheese. Then all packed up we started the hike out around 8:30 and had about a 500ft climb out of the area. We leisurely took our time and just enjoyed the quiet and peaceful area we were in and nature. We got back to the truck around 10:30 and made our 15-minute drive back home. Overall a great day, first backpacking trip since my shingles and it felt good to get back out. Hopefully we can get one or two more in before the end of the year, but once snow settles into the hills it makes it more challenging to get into the higher hills. Thanks for reading and enjoy the few pics I took.