Imagine that you are seeking a hike in a new state. Nothing is familiar. Nothing is 'known' to you. But hey, in this day and age, we 'usually' have the INTERNET. There are dozens if not hundreds of websites talking about hiking. HIKING PRETTY MUCH EVERYWHERE. Such was our thinking when we looked up hikes close to where we were in the state of South Dakota. The lure of exercise, new sights, birds, insects, and species of plants was a powerful draw. Off we went to a marvelous sounding hike called Botany Canyon. And became lost and confused in short order.

This is our tip to seekers of hikes in unfamiliar areas. Verify that the hike is not known by multiple names!

As we stumbled (well, drove) around looking for the trailhead to Botany Canyon it was our good fortune to notice a certain website that mentioned another name, and the original name at that, for Botany Canyon. Better still, multiple ways to get there! The nickname for the Stagebarn Canyon hike had become 'Botany' because of the many varieties of plants growing in the area. Throw in oddly named roads that were called different names on opposing sides of the highway, and no wonder we wandered.

We arrived at A trailhead NOT matching the description, with no trail markers of any kind showing where we were. Done with wandering in frustration, we practically leapt from our truck and proceeded to GO. This trail looked good. There were blooms and plenty of bird songs in the air. As we continued we found new plants, a lovely new butterfly, and surprises. The original 4 miles and over 600' elevation gain became 3 miles and ... surprises.

See more in the captions ... surprise :)