South Dakota with Beth, Day 2

Day 2 began with a drive on the Needles Highway and a hike to Cathedral Spires. The spires draw rock-climbers too...do you see the one on top?

Through the tunnel...

One way traffic only...he had to back up to let us through.

At out trailhead there was another rock-climber...almost to the top of a spire.

So we watched him frm the parking lot before we hiked.

Will he make it?

Closer...

Getting advice from his helper below.

Look at that grin!

So that's not on my bucket list, but the trail should be fun.

Ours is the red trail. There are other, longer ones here.

Peaches and Thistle like the trail too.

Crossing a stream...getting a drink. Thistle waited until Peaches was finished. Such a gentleman!

I promised Beth to try not to get too many butt shots, so you will notice Beth's butt is strategically cropped in some photos, lol.

We come to the strenuous part of the trail, which requires scrambling over rocks. Peaches thought it was easy.

Looking back at the view.

Climbing...

The view...

More climbing...

At last we come to the Cathedral Spires, a wide area surrounded by rock spires.

Our trail appears to go through that cleft.

Beth and Peaches approach the cleft.

Peaches tried, but even she decided we couldn't do it.

So we went around...

We made it through that one.

The Cathedral Spires

Thistle posing on the way back.

And then we noticed the mountain goat! 

It's amazing how they get up there without ropes and other gear.

They have talented toes...

And perfect balance.

A flower I didn't recognize. 

Sharing a drink on the way back.

Back to the parking lot. We toured some more in Custer State Park,

Then we drove by Crazy Horse again.

Still don't see any change in 10 years.

Back at my RV, it was time to rest before going to the Brule concert.

The stage. VIP ticket-holders sat down by the stage...and paid a lot more. Our seats at picnic tables in front of the bleachers gave us a good view.

Painted Buffalo....one of many in the area.

We had pizza while we waited.

The band...

Each song was a story illustrated by native dancers.

Looks like the dancer is having fun.

On the keyboard is the leader of the band, Paul LaRoche. Adopted into a white family as a baby, it wasn't until his adoptive parents died that he learned of his heritage, and he brought his family back to SD to live on the reservation. He uses his music to try to unite the two cultures.

This drummer plays traditional drums.

The flutist, Nicole is Paul's daughter.

Her costume has jingles for every day of the year.

This dancer makes shapes with the hoops.

The eagle dance.

The wounded warrior dance recognizes veterans.

The eagle comes to help the warrior home.

And that was the end of another fun day. It was time for me to move on eastward, but we sure packed in a lot in two days.