Wednesday, October 5

Day 359 – It was in the upper 30’s this morning when we got up. We headed out a little after 8:30 a.m. It warmed up quickly and was a beautiful day with a high of 71 degrees and full sun. Perfect picture-taking weather.

First we took the dirt roads through the State Park because we knew we’d find the larger male bison there. And we did; awesome. When we got on the paved Wildlife Loop Road and drove by where the rounded up Bison were being kept, they’d been released and were free to roam again. Most of them were still together and grazing, but they were beginning to spread out. The scenery was great. Of course, the Wild Burro were hanging around the cars that were collected to view them, and as usual people were feeding them – so maybe they’re not so wild anymore. Prairie Dogs were enjoying the sun and as adorable as ever. We saw many Pronghorn Antelope – they are beautiful and always a pleasure to watch.

Nearing the end of the Wildlife Loop, we encountered Big-Horn Sheep grazing in a fairly crowded area, seemingly not afraid of all the people watching them. Rob got out of the car and, keeping his distance, crouched on the ground to get pictures. Next thing he knew, they had come over to check him out, and he was surrounded. It was pretty funny.

We drove out of Custer State Park and got on the Needles Highway, the narrow, winding two-lane road that is very popular with tourists. It took us up into the mountains of rock formations that are known as guess what, The Needles. Because of all the twists and turns and switchbacks on this road, the speed limit is quite low. Here is a brief excerpt from the Custer State Park Tatanka 2022 brochure: “The Needles Highway is more than a 14-miles road – it’s a spectacular drive through pine and spruce forests, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen, and rugged granite mountains. An engineering feat. The road’s name comes from the needle-like granite formations which seem to pierce the horizon along the highway. The drive includes three tunnels through rock where the road is reduced to one narrow lane. Expected travel time is about 45 to 60 minutes. The road is closed in the winter.” The drive did have spectacular scenery. There were many pull-outs for people to stop. It is one of many must-do attractions in this area.

The Needles drive ends just before reaching beautiful Sylvan Lake, Resort, and campground. The Lake is a deep blue and there are rock formations around the perimeter and a few in the Lake. We’d seen footage of it in the movie we saw at the Park’s Visitor Center and thought it would be wonderful to kayak there. Well, it was packed with people, large parking lots were full, and many people had the same idea as we did. This is even though it was off-season, the campground and resort had closed for the season, and it was the middle of the week in October. So much for the idea of a peaceful paddle. We drove north, then east back to Mount Rushmore and the Iron Mountain Road. Part of the very large Black Hills National Forest, beautiful drives with amazing scenery are everywhere.

This area of South Dakota has surprised us. We’ve seen a lot of beauty traveling in the RV. This area ranks up there with the top places we’ve visited. And there’s still more to do.

We felt we had sensory overload. Our brains were buzzing. We drove back to the RV getting there a little before 6 p.m., a couple of lovely deer passed in front of us, the perfect ending to a perfect day.