Cathedral Spires is an area where I could camp for days on end, if it were permissible.
Yet, there was something of grandeur lying ahead for me, on Sunday afternoon, July 21: The summit of Black Elk Peak.
The columbine were there to send me forward.
As I ascended, the views of the surrounding Black Hills region underscored the uplifting air.
While the haze was a small bit of a damper, one can look beyond it and be glad for such as this.
The summit was now just a stone’s throw away, once past this little “tunnel”.
Upon reaching the summit, I found several rather hazy views, but there was also this:
and this,
this,
courtesy of this:
It was a beautiful day, in the hawks’ neighbourhood.
Next: Playtime at the summit and someone’s harrowing descent
A Sagittarian Seeker 
incredibly beautiful. I find it sad, however, that the natural state of the place is marred by white man’s catwalks and railings, etc, with a tower at the top. seems rather anticlimactic, to me. still, I’d want to go there and see.
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I seek the top, regardless of stairs and other impediments/ “aids”. I would have scaled the peak, even if there were no stairs or catwalks.
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I’m amazed at the amount of truly beautiful countryside we have — and on a clear day, you can see forever! It looks as if they might have had a pretty serious forest fire in that area — or is it a tree disease like the bark beetle that killed so many trees?
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It’s actually both, Janet. The fires in Montana were sending smoke over the Black Hills, on that day.
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Wow! Beautiful!
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Thank you, Jo. 🙂
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Beautiful! Too bad about the dead trees, but at least they allow access to the views. Sometimes I wish that they would trim some trees so we could see things.
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True, but then it would be a manicured botanic garden, and no longer wilderness.
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