Traveling to South Dakota 2026

Sparky had been a little down in the dumps, so Eldo knew the best medicine was to plan another trip! He quietly and patiently researched best points usage for cheaper stays and threw out some ideas...how would Sparky like to go to Custer State Park and South Dakota? Well, that's a no brainer! SURE! Sparky and Eldo both love nature and looking for wildlife so off we went. We decided at the very last minute after thinking about the southwest, (too hot), Bar Harbor, ME-(too crowded), and a few other places. We decided to drive instead of fly, to see the country along the way.

The first day we drove to Des Moines, Iowa, a distance of 422 miles. We stayed at a Drury's Inn, which has not only free breakfasts, but free dinners AND three free drinks at Happy Hour each day. The drive is beautiful farmland, quite flat all the way, but everything was so green and there were a LOT of wind turbines the closer we got to Des Moines. Sparky finds wind turbines interesting and she enjoys looking up facts while we are driving. Onshore turbines are taller than the Statue of Liberty. The TIPS of the turbines reach speeds of 100-180 mph! Sparky had a hard time wrapping her head around that, because they look like they are turning so slowly! If the wind is too gentle, under 7-9 mph, the blades won't turn. If the wind is over 55 mph, they shut down to prevent equipment damage. If the electrical grid is receiving enough electricity, wind farms will curtail the number of turbines operating. Some of them are shut down even right next to another one due to possible maintenance needed. Many modern wind farms use camera or radar monitoring systems to detect protected or migratory birds and that curtails the number in use as well. Did you know that the fourth largest wind "farm" is in Indiana? And lastly, a typical wind turbine generates enough electricity to power an average home for an entire day in about 46 minutes. WOW!

Day 2, a LONG driving day--we drove to Hill City, SD, a distance of 645 miles. Gas averaged $3.49. The most interesting part of the drive was the amazing and beautiful rest stop at Chamberlain, SD right at the Missouri River. There is an amazing stainless steel sculpture there, 60 feet tall, called "Dignity". She represents the courage and perserverance of the Lakota and Dakota Native Americans and is standing right in front of the Missouri River.

At night, there are LED lights in the quilt panel sections that light up. The grounds and the outside designs of the building were so beautiful as well.

The inside of the rest stop was like a museum. It was wonderful and amazing! That boat hanging from the ceiling is a keel boat-a shallow water, freight boat poled or rowed by early settlers. The boats were the heavy haulers of frontier times. We could have spent a lot of time there, but had to move on. In Hill City, we stayed at the Golden Spike Inn...It was dated, but pleasant and comfortable just the same.

Day 3...Exploring Custer State Park...We drove the wildlife loop, the Wind Cave loop, and the Peter Nordbeck scenic byway. We saw LOTS of bison and LOTS of prairie dogs! Get ready for lots of bison and prairie dog photos, haha.

Bison in the fields....bison by the roadside...

Baby bison....

Some dumb lady reached out her window and tried to pet a bison walking right by her truck. Gr-r-r-rr.....Luckily, nothing happened, except he reared back.

Bison visiting the Visitor's Center...

Sparky has about a 100 photos of buffalo/bison and prairie dogs, be glad she isn't sharing more, says E. You've seen one, you've seen them all...OH! What about the bison nursing? Nah, we will protect the mother and baby's privacy but it was cool to see....

By the way, is it bison or buffalo? Sparky, always the teacher, says bison is the preferred term, scientifically, in North America, you are supposed to call them bison, as true buffalo species are native to Africa and South Asia...but ok...locals said buffalo as well, so Sparky gave up trying to correct Eldo on that one! (She was relentless! laughs E.) But guess what? There really are some differences...Bison have the massive hump over their shoulders, thick shaggy coats for winter, shorter curved horns. Buffalo don't have the prominant shoulder hump, have thinner, flatter horns, and shorter hair. (She just has to have the last word! sighs an exasperated Eldo.) Final word--you can call them either one. HA!

We saw quite a few pronghorn...males and females and a baby fawn! We think this is a male....

By the way, they are not pronghorn sheep but sometimes are referred to as American antelope. They are related to goats and antelope. They are the fastest land mammal in North America. They can reach speeds of up to 60 mph and can maintain speeds of 35 mph for up to 4 miles. They are the second fastest land mammal in the world. Within 5 days of birth, they can outrun a human! They have incredible endurance, and unique shedding horns. The horns have a distinct forward pointing prong or branch. Both the males and females have horns. Males have the bigger, more prominant ones, the female's are much smaller, sometimes only a bump. They can spot moving things from up to 4 miles away! One more thing--they migrate 150 miles one way between Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park each year. 

One more photo/video of a nice looking pronghorn...It was interesting that he dug a hole, then appeared to pee in the hole, then pooped! More than you wanted to know, we're sure.

Sparky found out a few new things about prairie dogs...She knew that they were social and have an extensive underground system divided into "neighborhoods", but she didn't know how sophisticated their communications are. They have warning calls that describe a specific predator, a different bark for coyotes, humans or hawks and even the color of a person's clothing! WHA-A-T??!! They greet each other by touching noses--it looks like they are kissing!

Their "bunkers" have different "rooms" for sleeping, using the bathroom, and having babies. The largest colony was in Texas, spanned over 25,000 miles and contained 400 million prairie dogs. 

We were sorry to see Custer State Park sustained a LOT of damage from a very bad winter storm this past December, where winds sometimes reached speeds of over 90-122 mph. The wind snapped off thousands of pine trees right in half and twisted other trees around to the ground. There was really extensive damage to the trees in the Black Hills area. The massive pine trees were snapped off just like matchsticks, twisted, or completely uprooted and slammed to the ground. This photo doesn't even begin to show the extent and severity of the damage. We were shocked at the magnitude of the damage. The damage was caused by high winds shifting opposite directions in 24 hours, loosening the trees and then whipping them back. Sixty to ninety mile an hour winds lasted for 4-8 hours. Glad we weren't in the area then!

We headed back to town (Rapid City) and found a wonderful restaurant right next door to our hotel, called the Wild Sage. It was terrific!  Most beautiful salad I have ever seen and the rest of dinner was just as great! 

A great way to end a great day, with a wonderful meal. And with that, we will see you later...Up and coming....The Needles scenic drive, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, more Custer wildlife, the begging burros and the Badlands!

Day5 Custer State Park Final Day

 Well, you'd think we have seen it all at Custer State Park, and we thought we had, too! But nope! Here comes the wildlife again...

You can see bison far away, or closer if you are patient....and not the worrying type....Yikes!

We saw pronghorn antelope (South Dakota antelope).....One was a bachelor....But the women are around this handsome fellow. The females numbered about eight in his company. They are around, believe you me!

And then, a beautiful little bluebird...(they always look a little mad to Sparky)...

The bluebirds were flying all around the prairie dog mounds. If you look for little grayish, whiteish mounds in a grassy area, and there are many such mounds/areas in the park, you can find the prairie dogs. Here are a cute couple grooming each other....

We had a wonderful time on our last day in Custer State Park. Always something to see...Sparky and Eldo love these wildlife nature drives. We've seen many people just rush right through the drive, not paying attention to what's happening right under their noses!  Twenty bucks entry fee for one day up to seven days...a bargain! See you next time on some beautiful hikes in Spearfish Canyon...

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Custer State Park Day 2

 We love Custer so much, we headed back for day 2 to see what we could see. Our park is a little far from Custer State Park (about 60 miles) but the drive is so beautiful and oh, my gosh! We saw the biggest bison jam ever! We found out later, that the herd numbered about 500 that day in this location. Be sure to ask at the ranger station when you buy your pass (20.00 for 1-7 days) where the herd was last seen. They are VERY accurate in their reported sightings advice and we have seen the herds every time where they said they would be.

The thicker black line is the park wildlife loop around the park. On day 1, they were on the inside park gravel roads, the skinnier lighter reddish brown lines. We were glad we had the truck to go down these dusty gravel roads.

On day 2, they were on the main wildlife loop road, and how! It was nuts! Picture a herd of about 400 in all, spread out on both sides of the main wildlife loop road, all heading for a different side of the road, but the cars kept interfering with the cross over to the other pasture. The cows, bulls, and babies kept coming and the cars kept coming.

It's hard to picture the enormity if the herd with this photo, but the bison are EVERYWHERE! Sparky has a video of the bison coming and coming, while the cars try to keep moving forward. It's hilarious because as the cars pass in front of our truck, (there is a fork in the road), you see people sticking up out of their moon roofs, trying to take photos. (Sparky has not figured out how to incorporate a video into the blog. She did it ten years ago, but things have changed. She will have to relearn!)

Sparky is in the bed of the truck, Eldo is worrying

Sparky decided to get into the bed of the truck (when it was safe, reports Eldo) and take photos from there. 

We saw pronghorns...people call them pronghorn antelope, but another name is the South Dakota antelope. They are the fastest land animal in North America. They can run up to 60 mph for great distances. A two day old fawn can outrun a man. At 4 days, it can out sprint a horse! They can wander up to 10 miles a day looking for food, so they are all over the park, you just have to look in the grassy areas. They blend in extremely well! They have cool markings on their throats, and the horns can be up to 15".

We were fortunate to see a small herd of them. Most of the time, we have seen them solo....

As we were heading towards the end of the loop, we saw prairie dogs!

Bunches of them! But here is just one...He just sat and sat right beside the truck. We think he was waiting for us to throw some kind of food at him. Nope, not these travelers! Sorry, dog.

We continued out of the park and saw deer after deer after deer. You don't see those as often where we used to live in Florida, but boy, are they abundant here! You have to watch the road very carefully at all times of the day. 

And that's all for today, folks...The End. Until next time....