Next Step: New friends!

Angostura Reservoir

After our quick morning hike in the badlands on Friday we drove up to Rapid City to meet this guy named Arik who we met on couchsurfing.org (an organization for hooking up travelers with each other... it's a great way to meet cool people and find places to stay). We ended up going camping with him, his daughter, and some of their friends out on the Angostura Reservoir for the weekend. The Reservoir is a big lake created by a dam on the Cheyenne River. It's one of the only large bodies of water in western SD. There were houses on one side of the reservoir and free camping on the other. Even though the only road to the sites was a complicated and twisty gravel road, many campers were already setting up sites for the weekend. Must be a favorite summer spot for the locals.

Arik and his daughter Kiani (13) ended up being really cool. Arik told us about his work as a hydrologist, studying water sources, and it was really interesting. He was just a very easy-going guy. Kiani was a pretty good artist, and she and Remy chatted about art, photography, and writing. They both also really loved Spencer... He's such a great little travelling buddy!

Arik + puppy

Later Friday afternoon, Arik's friend Greg showed up with his daughter Maggie, and her friend Madi (both Kiani's age). Greg was also a pretty cool dude. Arik warned us that everything about Greg is big. He's a big tall guy, he talks in a big voice, and everything he does is big. That was true in a lot of ways, but he was also really mellow too... we got into a conversation about Buddhism and found out he meditates. Later, when Arik and Greg took us climbing near Mount Rushmore, Remy snapped a sweet photo of Greg + pup in an ultra-zen pose. Check it out in my next post.

Greg, Madi, and Arik

Cheyenne, Remy, Maggie, and Kiani

On our second day at Angostura, Greg let us commandeer his canoe for a paddle around the lake. I've been canoeing as a kid, but I've never really actually participated in the paddling and steering and everything, so it was really fun to learn from Remy out on the water! It was a great day for canoeing too, very little wind, not too hot, and not too much sun. I had a really great time! All of this kayaking and canoeing that we've been lucky enough to do really makes me want a small boat of my own!

Once we got the kinks worked out we were a great team. Canoeing wasn't hard at all and before long we had paddled all the way across the lake to the bluffs on the other side! Spencer loved being in the boat, but he didn't like getting knocked in! Spencer jumped in the way of my paddle and got pushed over into the water! Luckily Remy scooped him out as we glided past the poor wet pup, and after a few full body shakes in the canoe, he was back to his old self. After that there were no more mishaps, and by the time we reached the bluffs Spencer didn't even want to get out of the canoe!

Of course after paddling for half an hour, what else is there to do but climb a great big hill and sit down at the top of it! So that's what we did.

Unfortunately, unprepared parents led their baby right into a cactus patch! We discovered the cactus only after Spencer let out a couple of big-time yelps. Luckily the little guy only got one prickle pod stuck in his foot but mommy and daddy both got stuck trying to pull it out.

Spencer was such a tough little guy! He didn't even bark or whimper while we tried to get all the spines out.

After that we were on the lookout... and we avoided our sharp neighbors. Here's another:

After such a long day of friends, fun, canoeing, climbing, and running, little Spencer promptly fell asleep in my arms and had to be carried back down the hill. This guy is certainly living the active (and spoiled) life! Sweet dreams little guy!

Coming up next is our drive through the Needles Highway and Mount Rushmore... as well as our FANTASTIC outdoor climbing experience with Arik near the monument. Stay tuned for some sweet action shots of my super-scarey 50 meter climb!