Author: Erika Saunders

I have been a technical editor for over 10 years working in aerospace along with editing academic works for publication. I am a mother of three school aged children and have lived in Brookings, South Dakota since 2012. We have grown to love our vibrant, little community and plan to work tirelessly to enjoy what South Dakota offers and to give back within the community. When the snow flies, we ski; when it is warm, we bike and skate; when it is breezy, we fly kites; and I am learning where the hiking and fishing sweet spots are around the area. My blog chronicles my travels and hiking adventures. When I get a moment, I try my hand at poetry.

Trail Pillow

So one of my trail comfort items is my Nemo pillow. It inflates, you can stuff extra clothes in it for more cushion if you want and it folds up to a reasonable size and is pretty fluffy on the weight. My husband was so impressed with my pillow he decided to order himself one, but instead of taking the time to look closely I think he made a bit of an impulse buy; the results showed up in the mail today as the bright red Thermarest Compressible Pillow.

 

Green is her’s while the red is his.

 

Granted his was $20 while mine was half again as expensive at $30. But I was really surprised at the size difference. He did order a large but I think the bigger (puny) fact is that mine inflates and his doesn’t. The label on his reads:

 

What makes my pillow awesom is that it deflates down to such a smaller size, is customizable based being able to stuff extra clothes into it, and is much firmer with air rather than the squishy feel of my husbands. I will be curious to see if he decides to keep it or ship it back.

Inflated and unfolded.

 

If you are curious about the full specs here are the respective links where we purchased.

(The REI link wouldn’t show so here is the company that produces the Nemo site.)

Nemo Pillow

Therm a rest

The Start of Taming the Mile Monster

I currently live in South Dakota where I am trying to balance a family of five, two large lab/shepherd mixes, an editing career and an active lifestyle which includes as much travel as possible and as much physical fitness as I can squeeze in. My husband and spent countless weekends pre-kiddos hiking and exploring the parks of Northern California (under grad) and Central Kentucky (grad school). Now that the kids are old enough to be mobile, I am determined to get as much hiking done as possible both in short trips with the whole fam and longer outing solo with the babysitting mightiest of the grandparents at work. My hope is to record many fine adventures out on the trail hiking.

 

Big Flatts, Lost Coast, CA


Running became my favorite activity after becoming a mom. It satisfies many of my needs simultaneously, I get a fit, I get out of the house and into the fresh sunshiny air, and I get an hour inside my own head without any external demands. I only came to running/walking/hiking as an adult and struggled at first with getting miles under my belt. They do add up if you take the time to put one foot forward at a time. Much of it is a mental game. The body is physically built to move and with a gradual building of time and distance, can accomplish any distance you challenge it to. My mental game is simple, I set a mileage goal and then tell myself that I won’t stop until I get to the end. I might slow way down, but I don’t stop. And it works. I remind myself that my body was designed to move, and once I can walk a distance it is only kicking it into the next gear to jog and then run. 

 

Running the Dakota Nature Park, Brookings, SD


Going into our first long hike in years, my husband prepared by working like a madman to ensure he could take the time off, and I completed my first full marathon. You can imagine the fitness disparity. Not having been an integral part of trip planning before, I approached the trails lengths in relationship to the miles I knew I was capable of from running. If I could run 12 miles in a few hours in the morning to start the day then I reasoned we could do that in the course of an entire day weighted down by packs. Also, it felt like a real challenge and we could see so much more from say 30 miles rather than 20. Things I underestimated: terrain, switchbacks and mountains don’t eat the miles up like a city paved park; my husbands need to pack for every known contingency, leading to him carrying way more weight than he should have; blisters on his feet; the need to stop and soak it all in. We made 10-12 miles a day, but it took from early morning to dark each day, and the pace was not enjoyable for half of our team. This thought led to the my title. I am both driven by the mile monster in me who thrives on the challenge of seeing how many miles I can eat up, and understand the need to tame the monster, relax and enjoy the journey. Here’s to balance. 

 

Husband taking a well earned rest, Lost Coast, CA


Sheyenne National Grassland

Sheyenne National Grassland

Portion of the North Country Trail 

  


Loaded up the family (including the 4, 6 and 8 year old as well as the two dogs) and headed 3 hours north up Interstate 29 to the Sheyenne National Grasslands. We got a bit lost as we hadn’t planned out the exact trailhead, instead relying on memory and google maps, but eventually headed down a fun to drive dirt road where we crossed over the trail. The road was a fun off road bonus to the day but would be a mess of mud if it had been a wet spring this year. We ended up parking on the back side of a dirt bike course where we saw several off road vehicles out for some Saturday fun. We didn’t have time to drive further and see what was ahead but I am curious and will have to go further up the road next time. 

  

To get there: Hwy 18 to 27 to County Rd. 4 to 64th St (left)

Difficulty: Easy

Distance: up to you!


I had expected the Sheyenne National Grasslands to be a wide open expanse of prairie grasses with horizon as far as the eye can see. It was a pleasant surprise to see mounds, hills and hollows. The trail snakes around bends, over hills, and through stands of trees; making you excited to see what is just over that ridge or around that next corner. It was early April so the plants were just starting to bud out, there is no doubt the vegetation will be a blossoming blaze of beauty in a month; however, our experience with the region is that you will trade being tick bait to witness that blooming. 

We hopped out of the car and headed down the trail as far as we could manage. We hiked in for an hour and then found a nice flat grassy area to have a picnic. I had packed in a simple loaf of bread, some peanut butter and snack bar goodness. Instead of resting, the kids found a nice sized hill and practiced running down in with gleeful lopsided grins as big as the tongue dangling happiness the dogs exuded while chasing them along. Once we gave everyone a significant drink, (the dogs could easily consume a liter each time they drink) we heading back on the trail. The trail is very well worn, with two grooves about the size of an ATV, it does intersect with several other trails and dirt roads but it is also ridiculously well marked; you can often see the next trail marker while standing at the current one. There are also mile markers we were hiking around mile markers 22-24. We yo-yoed nearly 5 miles spending 4 hours total including frequent kid breaks and our picnic. This was the first hike that our 4 year old had to hoof it the whole way as she out grew her kid carry pack. She whined a bit and passed out as soon as she got in the car at the end, but she made it!

   

   


It was a nice easy trail with a decent variety of scenery and terrain to keep everyone entertained. There was a broken down windmill fairly early on, as well as a water pond that must be the new well as it had solar panels. This could easily be a watering hole if you needed a fill though it would need to be treated. With a little planning you could hit a dirt road and make a loop out of it. I look forward to heading back to this trail and exploring more sections in the future and I think this could easily be a great weekend camp option. I believe it is a camp at large park but will need to do some research. Dogs are allowed off leash and ours had a blast.