05 - CUSTER STATE PARK - SD

Tuesday 5/1, we left Mitchell, SD – still driving I-90 West.  Lots of beautiful scenery – more farm lands, open prairies, Black Hills.

One breathtaking view is at the top of the hill looking down on the Missouri River crossing!

We didn’t have to worry about breaking the speed limit, but we did have a few folks come by pretty fast!

All the South Dakota Rest Areas have these huge concrete teepee structures.  Pretty neat!

Along the way we did see our first Pronghorn Antelope and Prairie Dog.  We also crossed into Mountain Time, so now we’re 2 hours behind the folks at home.

We arrived at the Game Lodge Campground in Custer State Park and got a really good campsite with some trees and a beautiful creek just across the road.

Wednesday was a day of exploring Custer State Park.  First was a drive around the 18-mile Wildlife Loop.   The first thing we noticed was all the damage from a forest fire. We asked a park employee and he said the fire was started on December 10^th of 2017 by a power transformer that exploded.  Due to high winds at that time (up to 50-mph) they couldn’t control it and it burned over 30,000 acres.  They are now trying to get it cleaned up and there are salvage logging and re-seeding operations going on.

A lot of the land around the Wildlife Loop is open grass & prairie land and was not affected much by the fire.  The drive through the loop is still beautiful.

They named it the “Wildlife Loop” for good reason.  One of the main animals that can be seen are the resident Buffalo (bison) – the park supports a herd of around 1400. Also, there are Pronghorn Antelope, Prairie Dogs, Mule & White-tailed deer, and a few Big Horn Sheep.  If a person is lucky (we weren’t) they might also see a Coyote, a Cougar, an Elk, and a few other more recluse species.

One of the popular attractions around the loop is the “Begging Burros”.  The park had a small herd and they had learned to hang around close to the road for handouts. It was a treat once before when we were here to see & feed them.  They would stick their heads right inside the vehicle if the window was down. The park person said that the herd had got down to 9 and they lost 3 of them to the forest fire. They evacuated the rest, but now have recently re-introduced 8 burros back into the park. However, they are a little skittish, and haven’t learned the ‘begging’ routine yet.

Of course, there’s always the birds which we look for.

Another scenic drive in the park is the Needles Highway.  This is a 14-mile drive over a very narrow & curvy road that winds in, around, and through some of the most spectacular rock formations imaginable.  There are a couple of really skinny tunnels, so it’s safe to say no large vehicles make this trip.

Toward the end of the Needles Highway drive we saw this Pine that had suffered a lightning strike – just shows you how powerful lightning is!

Thursday, we played the tourist and went to Mount Rushmore.  The road from Custer State Park is called the Iron Man Highway and it’s another narrow, curvy road that winds 18 miles over the mountain and through a real rocky terrain.  There are a couple of the skinny tunnels and through a couple of them you get a view of the Mount Rushmore monument.

At the monument there was a small herd of 7 of Mountain Goats near the parking deck. The monument is very impressive – just can’t imagine the artistic design, the engineering, and the work that went into it.  Also, the 50 state flags on display on the walkway to the viewing deck were beautiful.  They were in order of when each state was added to the union.  By the way – the FAKE NEWS rumors that Obama is going to be added to Mount Rushmore are all completely false.

So – we’ve been here 3 days and now it’s time to move on.  Headed about 100 miles just over the border into Wyoming.  We plan to spend a few days near Moorcroft and visit the Devil’s Tower Monument.  Until next time ------