Kylie and I have been together for many years, but I always recognized that she was the beautiful young lady that I wanted to one day marry. When I finally decided that it was the right time, I proceeded to pick out a ring and devise a way to ask the question that she was so patiently waiting to hear. I wanted it to be a surprise and I wanted it to be in a place that holds a lot of memories for the both of us. I concluded that atop a peak in the Black Hills was the perfect place.

My next hurdle was to craft a believable scenario as to why we needed to head that direction in early April. Then I decided that I "needed" some truck parts at a salvage yard in Rapid City. I knew she wouldn't question it as I'd be the one foolish enough to drive all that way for some crusty truck parts. The cover up worked and I had convinced her to come with me.

Fast forward to the early evening of the day we got engaged, we left from Savoy in Spearfish Canyon on the forest service roads heading towards Cement Ridge on the Wyoming side. We ran into a roadblock before long stating "no wheeled vehicles beyond this point," placed there thanks to a big snow storm that was about to start the following morning. My plans of asking atop of Cement Ridge were spoiled and I was pretty disappointed. Cement Ridge was my first pick almost as a joke because on a previous spring break trip, it was my idea to take the truck up to Cement Ridge in early March. We were dashing through the unplowed forest service roads keeping momentum to avoid getting stuck. We made it all the way to the trail that starts the ascent towards Cement Ridge but this is where I was eventually forced, by Kylie, to turn around. Kylie makes it sound like we were nearly stranded in the middle of nowhere without cell service when she tells the story, although I don't like to admit it.

We turned around at the roadblock and I quickly determined that Terry Peak was the next best place we could make it to before the sun set. We made the ascent up to Terry Peak and hiked the rest of the way up to the lookout tower. We both admired the sunset spanning out over the hills to the West. I got on one knee and asked Kylie if she would be my wife, and with no hesitation, she said yes.

~Daemon

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