Custer State Park Day 1

not too bad a road, a little washboardy in places

We headed to Custer State Park, one of our all time favorite parks, national or otherwise, located about 60 miles from the RV park we are staying in, Elkhorn Ridge RV park. We LOVE Custer State Park...it's beautiful, and there is lots of wildlife to see every time. The ranger station has very knowledgeable people working there, and they tell you where the latest sightings of the buffalo herds can be found.  

Today, they said, you have to go off the park loop road onto some gravel roads, and that's where you will find them. We have a four wheel drive truck, and that would be easy peasy to take a truck on those kind of roads. They are just dusty and dirty, usually, but not a problem for cars, either, so off we went.

We hadn't gone just a few miles, when WHAM! There were two big boys off to the side, grazing and lounging around by themselves. Guess they could have been big girls, too, who knows? Here's the bigger one of the two.

A little further down the road, and here comes the herd....

We just love seeing these big bison out in nature, and they just mosey along wherever they feel like it, cross the road whenever they feel like it, and just do their thing. We saw them laying down dirt holes that they've scraped out, and rolling around in the dirt. We saw babies walking dutifully along behind their mothers trying to keep up. 

And then, a trip to Custer State Park is not complete without seeing the begging burros. They are definitely NOT following safe distancing!

There are quite a few of them, at least half a dozen and they are used to being fed as you can see....

And then there are some, who are like, meh....

Here's something you don't see very often in the rest of the country!

We haven't seen any bighorns-yet! We will keep watching!

On our way out of the state park, we traveled the Peter Norbeck Scenic Highway. It's got several tunnels that you wouldn't want to take an RV through--of any size. Sparky wasn't sure we would be able to take the Dodge Ram dually thru, but we made it ok.

There's another tunnel you go through, and on a beautifully clear day, you can see Mt. Rushmore thru the tunnel. We couldn't see it today...some people actually lie down on the middle of the line in the roadway to get the best shot of Rushmore in front of that tunnel! Sparky did that years ago, but today, it was hazy, and Eldo wasn't having any of that!

Here is another one of the tunnels....They are all one lane, so watch out, here we come! Or there you go!

Until next time, see you later! Don't let the world get you down!

Sparky in Pursuit!

We woke up to a beautiful morning this  morning after two days of dense fog and highs of only 38 degrees! It quickly warmed up and turned out to be a balmy 72 degrees, a great day to be out exploring Custer State Park. This is our second visit to the park, we were here last year in October. This time more things were open even though the season is winding down.

We saw LOTS of wildlife today on the wildlife loop drive through the park....bison close to the road, pronghorn antelope, begging burros and we saw our friend, Pete, the fat and sassy prairie dog. This time last year when we came through the park, the prairie dogs were popping in and out of their holes like one of my favorite arcade games, "Whack-A-Mole"--where you whack the pop up gophers on the top of the head with a mallet as fast as you can. (And I thought my Sparky was a tenderhearted soul, laments E.) The bison were all spread out as the mating season is pretty much over....a single one here, a big guy over there.....The burros are quite bold, coming right up to your window for handouts but we know better! Park rules say,"DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE!" (At least that's one rule Sparky follows, says a relieved E.) SOMEBODY must have fed them or why would they come right to your window and attempt to stick their heads in?

Pronghorn antelope are interesting creatures...a sign said they are the fastest land animal and can run up to 70 m.p.h. (Au contraire, Sparky, CHEETAHS are the fastest land animal they say.) Well, I just read the sign, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. They can sustain those speeds longer than a cheetah, I also read..They have supersized lungs and heart to be able to take in more oxygen to run that fast. Females have horns, too--I did not know that, but the female horns are seldom pronged. So this guy COULD be a girl, me thinks. I know, who cares? :-)  I just like reading about animals and geology and then sticking it in my blog so I can remember it for later....

The big bison roundup is coming soon--the last weekend of September...We're sorry we have to miss it...it looks to be a huge deal around here! Maybe that's why the herd is all spread out and there are just single ones here and there....

(Uh, Sparky...the folks are wondering what you were in pursuit of, today...reminds E.) Oh, yeah! I was in pursuit of a humongous elk with his harem of three fat and sassy females in the woods off to the side of the road as we were driving through the park. I got out of the car with specific instructions from my better half NOT to venture past a certain log. I didn't...the cagey big bull elk started looking my way, then wandering off deeper into the forest looking back over his shoulder as I ventured into the woods, as if to say, "C'mon, ladies, time to get a move on!" I did get a shot at him, but the trees are blocking the view. We got lucky later in the day after we returned to the campground, took a break, then headed over to the Crazy Horse Memorial to check the place out and see the nightly laser light show...another bull elk bounded across the road, jumped over the fence, then posed for his picture for us!

We'll tell you about Crazy Horse Memorial tomorrow and the drive through the Needles...see you then!