Ken goes for a walk - a LOONNG walk! :)

This morning Deb said she wanted to take us for a walk - it wouldn't be far.  (Were those famous last words?)  So off we went and drove as far as the locked gate.   We'd been down this road with D/D looking for deer. There are hundreds of beautiful views in the Hills.

As we left the pickup Ken began to look at the 

trees.  He is still a tree man at heart.  He's been schooling Debbie.  :)

It was a cool day for walking to this old ranch.  Carol V is the one that put them in touch with this old ranch.  She did a photo shoot here.

About a mile down the road we came out into a little valley and saw a small cabin on the left nestled in the trees.    I fell in love with this tree.  Weird trees and outhouses are my things (kind of).  The stories these things could tell us.

Here is what the Meeker Ranch Project is all about.

 What a nice valley for the elk to play in - but where are they?  There is great feed for them here.

 Yep! An outhouse.  Is that a new roof on it?? hmmmm.

Nestled in the big Black Hills rock is a fine house.  This is just made for exploring.

It appears they just left one day.  Dishes in the sink, jacket on the hook, and curtains on the windows.  It really is in good condition - a worthy project to maintain - there are so few left.

That WAS a new roof on the outhouse - however I didn't go down to check it out.  CHICKEN!?

More new roof appearing.  They seem to be preserving it the way they found it.  Good.

The explorers check out all the buildings.

The barn.

TIME OUT!    Give me water, water, water.

More.

Not sure, but I think these may be "new" windows - probably from some house that fell down.

Another awesome tree.  The children from this ranch must have delighted in playing  here.  A lot of places - rocks, trees,  hills to build a fort and play in.

Thanks Deb for showing us this beautiful spot.  You too, Carol.  :)  Ken took a break on the way out - it was a almost too much for him.  Of course he didn't anything - he didn't have much choice but to walk out, he told me later.  I guess he was pretty correct.

Look at the green slime on this water.......  it was in one spot when we went in and another spot when we came out.  Weird.  And it every has ducks and geese on it.

Later that night we took the road that the train crossed and found a logger loading his trailer.  D/D had never seen one before.  Yup!  He knew how to handle that hook!

Then we went to dinner in Custer one night (yes I'm out of sequence - deal with it)  This was the coolest wood carving.  Then I really looked at the board.  Hmmm - I've seen that type of border before on a a a a a

CUTTING BOARD!

Found a rainbow on the way home then went the back, back way to FW and saw some deer.

Perfect end to a great day!

Our time in SD with D/D came to a close and we headed back to Gillette.