Author Archives: scottluria

Chadron to Alliance, Nebraska Monday, August 9, 2021 OK, this is the first time this has happened in the 115 days of this trip. I really have nothing to report. 54 miles across the featureless Nebraska Panhandle prairie, there was 1000 foot climb out of the White River Valley, and then just gently rolling, withContinue reading “I got nothing”

Hot Springs, South Dakota to Chadron, Nebraska Sunday, August 8, 2021 Decision made, it was time to get going. Another scorcher today. I left as early as I could, left the last trace of the Black Hills behind and re-entered the rolling prairie. I passed a sign that symbolized my difficult choice. and found comfort,Continue reading “40 pounds and five large”

Custer to Hot Springs, South Dakota Saturday, August 7, 2021 Today couldn’t have been easier, 34 miles down the Mickelson rail trail and good roads, almost all downhill, and with a tailwind. So why didn’t I feel better? For weeks I have been talking about, and apprehensive about, visiting the site of the Wounded KneeContinue reading “Wind Cave, Wounded Knee, and wounded pride”

Sylvan Lake Lodge to Custer, South Dakota Friday, August 6, 2021 The backside of Mount Rushmore, seen yesterday from the top of Black Elk Peak, was all I cared to see of that monument. I’ve seen it twice before, there are always huge crowds, and as much as I admire those four men, one couldContinue reading “Faces in stone”

Sylvan Lake Lodge, South Dakota. Thursday August 5, 2021 The plural is intentional, a play on Black Elk Speaks, the definitive work on the Oglala medicine man. Until 2016, South Dakota’s highpoint was named Harney Peak, which I climbed in 1977. The name was a great insult to the Lakota people, General William Harney wasContinue reading “Black Elk Peaks”

Carstens Cottages to Sylvan Lake Lodge, South Dakota Wednesday, August 4, 2021 So today I started at almost 6000 feet, and finished at 6300. Why did I have to climb over 2000 feet? The elevation profile tells the tale. On two occasions I dropped about 1000 feet only to have to climb it again. IContinue reading “Where’s a zip-line when you need it?”

Belle Fourche to Carstens Cottages, South Dakota. Tuesday, August 3, 2021 How great that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first musical is coming to the silver screen. I found myself in my own heights today, the Black Hills. My hoped-for distant view of them rising from the plains never materialized, it was too hazy or smoky. Their hulkContinue reading “In the Heights”

Buffalo to Belle Fourche, South Dakota Monday, August 2, 2021 I stayed at the Tipperary Motel last night and was on the road before 6 AM. At White Butte I had noticed my first sagebrush, a real sign I was in the West. I picked off a leaf and crushed it, just love that smell.Continue reading “It’s a long way from Tipperary”

Bowman, North Dakota to Buffalo, South Dakota Sunday, August 1, 2021 This entry is going to be short, I need to get to bed early, tomorrow is a huge day. Today was just 47 miles due south, recrossing back into South Dakota, en route to the Black Hills. I was just as happy to sayContinue reading “Before we came”

Amidon to Bowman, North Dakota Saturday, July 31, 2021 OK, today I climbed the highpoint of North Dakota, my eighth highpoint on this trip, exactly 12 weeks after the first one, Campbell Hill in Ohio. On that day, I promised to explain why I was so fixated on highpoints. As today’s is the last newContinue reading “This whole highpoint deal”