South Dakota

August 17 - 21

South Dakota is our LAST "west stop" before the drive home with a visit in Indiana to see some good family friends. I'm sad to stop traveling, of course, as this has been such an eye opener about how much this country has to see and discover, but I am looking forward to being back in Maryville and getting into the JOB search. Speaking of....I'll send my resume anywhere, so if you know anybody...wink wink!!! But seriously. 

We left around 7:45 AM Friday the 17th from Canon City and 400 miles later arrived in Hill City, SD about ten minutes from Mt. Rushmore. It was a long drive. Going through Denver was not as difficult as we had expected as there weren't many lane changes and hardly any construction. Once we got off the interstate, the driving was mainly two and four lane highways. I wasn't very impressed with South Dakota when we were driving here, but after three full days...I love it!

We are staying at a HUGE campground called Rafter J Bar that spans acres and acres in the Black Hills.  With a pool, play area, pancakes every morning, wide and long sites for us, tent areas, and cabins, it needs to be big. This was a great recommendation from a neighbor in Canon City. The air is quite chilly here though, which is  certainly a nice break from the heat in Moab.  The lows in the nights and mornings have been mid 40s and the highs up to 75 or so. I have definitely enjoyed not turning on the heat and using extra blankets. Reminds me of when Dad refused to turn on the heat in the winters so I had to get dressed under the covers. Can't blame him though, if it wasn't for his master savings plan, he might not have the resources to go on this awesome trip.

Rafter J Bar Ranch Campground. 

View of the Black Hills

AUGUST 18 

Mt. Rushmore

There is SO much to see in this area and with an early start we headed over to Mt. Rushmore. What an awesome sight. We decided to skip going into the (I'm assuming museum) area as we learned there was not an "entrance fee" but there was a "parking fee" of $11 so quite deceptive.  We still were able to get some great pictures of the faces/heads/presidents. They have many different names here!

The faces! 

This was taken from the car at the stop light to turn into the park area. Still SO COOL!!!! 

Here is an extra patriotic picture with the American flag. 

We kept on the main road (the Iron Mountain Road) and then took a side paved road and found this view of the faces as well. 

The profile view of George himself. The sky was the perfect blue this day. 

This gives an idea of what the faces look like from far away.

Custer State Park
After we were satisfied with our Mt. Rushmore pictures we kept on the Iron Mountain Road.  We entered Custer State Park and purchased our $15 week pass. The young man promised us wildlife on the Wildlife Loop Road, and I questioned him because we have been told we'd see wildlife and didn't see any! He said if we didn't see wildlife we were on the wrong road! Fingers crossed and off we go. Well, he wasn't lying. 

Entering the best state park I have ever visited!

We came upon this guy within half a mile of being inside the park boundary. He was just snacking away as we were clicking away again and again and again!!! 

More buffalo - it was unreal, they were everywhere.  Every fall, around October, people come to Custer State Park from all over, and there is a huge auction of the buffalo. Many people try to raise a herd of their own. Keep in mind that most of these buffalo grow to be six feet tall at their big hump. Also, if you use your imagination just a little bit, they look like snow plows as it snows SO much up here.  

Can you see the snow plow? 

Here is another large herd within Custer State Park. There are baby buffalo out there too. We only came upon these because people had pulled off the road and were walking up an embankment to look at this herd.  We wanted to see what they could see.  People, including us, can be very much like sheep! 

This is as close to the buffalo as anyone should get. There were plenty of signs that said "Buffalo are unpredictable - stay in or very near your car" so that's just what I did!

Here I am very scared about these burros. When I was about 12 and at horse camp, a horse bit me so I am definitely not a fan of anything that looks even remotely like a horse near my arm. My window was down at first and as he approached (quite quickly!) looking for food I had a mini panic attack while trying to get my window up as Dad took pictures. I am 100% positive the people that were petting other burros a few feet ahead of us took pictures of me freaking out. Oh well...I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but getting bit HURTS! 

Here are the burros just hanging out in the road. 

He's annoyed because I put away the oatmeal cookies. Sorry, Charlie. 

More hanging out in the road. 

Causing traffic jams. All day everyday. 

Not moving an inch. And probably loving every minute of it. 

I took this one with my cell phone which I am sure he would have eaten if I would have let him. After hanging around for a maximum of one minute, he realized I wasn't going to feed him and went on to the next car. 

Here is the first prairie dog we saw. Little did we know that they would soon be everywhere. 

Hello little buddy. 

There guys have a squeaky bark that they use constantly to communicate with each other. In some fields, there were hundreds of lightly colored mounds of earth where the prairie dogs dug their holes for their families. 

This guy is blending in really well with his house. 

A beautiful shot of (what I think is) a pronghorn antelope. They can run up to 50 mph for five minutes. 

Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park borders the south end of Custer State Park so we had to go there even though we didn't know what we would see (although we did at least get it right that there is a big cave!) We did learn  there are numerous cave tours throughout the day, but it was 47 degrees inside, and we were definitely not dressed for that. After looking around in the Visitor Center, we decided to travel some unpaved roads that eventually dumped us back into Custer State Park without much back tracking. What a treat these roads were! 

Check off the list another National Park! 

The twisting creek we saw in Wind Cave National Park. 

These roads could be traveled by most any vehicle, which is a great way to see some more remote areas of the park. 

Such a beautiful and different landscape than what we have seen in other parts of the west. 

Here is a cute little baby buffalo! He doesn't even have the hump on his back yet. 

Here are some beautiful "amber waves of grain" in Wind Cave. 

After a long day of driving and just a few oatmeal cookies it was way past lunch time at 3:00 when we got back into Custer City. The first few places I picked out for a late lunch were closed for a siesta, and I did not want to wait! We ended up at a tasty bar and grill. Great end to a busy day! The places we went had SO much to offer, and we were very pleased with finally seeing a lot of wildlife. 

AUGUST 19
Wall Drugstore
Time to check another National Park off our list - The Badlands. Before that though, Wall Drug. What is Wall Drugstore?  In 1931 Ted Hustead bought a small drug store in Wall, South Dakota which is essentially in the middle of nowhere. Business was slow at first until his wife thought to advertise "free ice water" on the road that was heading to Mt. Rushmore. And it took off from there. Now, Wall Drug is a cowboy themed must see on Interstate 90. There are plenty of stores with cowboy gear, Sturgis gear, and loads of touristy knick knacks. Pictures illustrate the rest!  

These advertisements are just a few examples of the many we saw on the Interstate on the way to Wall Drug. During Wall Drug's heyday in the 60s there were over 6,000 highway signs advertising his business. Many still remain!

Finally to the exit!

Made it to this interesting place. 

Inside the main "drug store"

Another picture of what the place looks like inside. There are lots of stores on each side of this hallway. 

Mr. Hustead started it all. 

We had visited the majority of these sights!  

I guess I got confused. 

The main drag of Wall, South Dakota.

Wall Drug was an entertaining stop to spend about an hour or so looking around in the shops and checking out all of the old pictures. 

Badlands National Park
We learned the day before that skipping lunch gets old quickly, so we stopped at a gas station to stock up on snacks which was a good idea before heading into the park. What a great place!! I was totally unaware of what this park offered, and we ended up seeing quite a bit of it. I don't know why, but I seem to always be surprised at how fantastic each National Park is that we visit, but yet I enjoyed all of them.   

The Badlands are huge rock/sand formations that are in the middle of a large area of prairie and plains type land. The National Park does not prevent people from walking out into the formations and getting a sense of what they feel and look like. There are different layers of rocks within the formations, and there is even an area called the Yellow Mounds that have yellow and purple coloring to the rock. We purchased a little $3 road guide to the area so at every view point I was able to read aloud about the history. We traveled the main road through the park and then an unpaved road to a state highway so there was no back tracking...again! 

We made it!!! 

First look as we drive in. 

Awesome!

This was the first pull off in the park. This path led to some of the formations and to people climbing on them. There were warning signs for rattle snakes, but our book said only about two to three people per decade are bitten, so I wasn't too worried about it. 

Here is the book we picked up to tell us all about the park. 

This totally hilarious picture was at the Visitor Center. Dad and I tried to figure out how we could recreate it without actually sticking my head into a hole, but we never came to a safe conclusion. After all rattlesnakes are the main predators of prairie dogs, and I didn't want one to get confused.  

This picture was taken looking down into the formations. 

This is at the Prairie Wind Overlook where we learned that the original land area of the Great Plains has now been reduced to less than two percent of its original range. 

This is the Pinnacles Overlook and probably the most photographed landscape. It is also the highest point on the Badlands Loop Road.

Here is the first glance at the Yellow Mounds.

After completing the Badlands Loop Road we turned onto the Sage Creek unpaved road with the hopes of seeing wildlife and other areas of the park. Well, that was definitely a success!! 

My first encounter with a wild Big Horn Sheep. Lovely!

Here is more of the family!

The littlest one crossing the Sage Creek road. These sheep have incredibly small hooves which are useful  for climbing rocks and steep cliffs. 

There goes the happy family. 

I just love all of the prairie dogs. 

More buffalo crossing the street. There were no buffalo near the actual formations of the badlands, but out in the basin area where there was plenty of vegetation, there were many buffalo. 

These guys were close to a remote campground in the park. I don't know how well I would sleep if I knew those were around. 

So beautiful. This is outside of the park on the way back to Hill City. Way better than the interstate!

Fields and fields of sunflowers. 

Another successful day out west that would only be totally complete with a great meal. TripAdvisor has been a wonderful resource on restaurants, so I checked it out for Hill City and found a place called Desperados Cowboy Restaurant. We met the owner the minute we walked in. He knew East Tennessee well and was a Peyton Manning fan! We had an OUTSTANDING meal there as Dan (the owner) runs a great place. Definitely a top eatery to visit in Hill City.

Buffalo burger with sweet potato fries and beans. YUMMY!

AUGUST 20
Sylvan Lake

We did add an extra night here at Rafter J Bar with the intention of the 20th being a day to recuperate and get ready for the four day haul east. By 11:00 AM I was ready to go somewhere, so we checked the map and picked a few places to explore.  The first was down a road called Needles Highway to Sylvan Lake which is in Custer State Park so even more to see in this park.

Sylvan Lake where these granite rocks are in the middle of the lake. 

Dad gets credit for this "artsy" shot as he called it!. 

Chilly morning on a calm lake. 

Sylvan Lake was a great place to walk around and get more fresh mountain air from the Black Hills. 

Needles Highway 
The Needles Highway "weaves" itself through the north western corner of Custer State Park, eventually meeting up with the Wildlife Loop. It would have been a shame to miss this highway. Needles refers to the granite rocks in the area that protrude from the Black Hills. It is a popular climbing area as the granite can withstand so much pressure. Up close, the granite is very sparkly and you can just imagine it all smoothed out on your counter tops. We drove through three tiny tunnels.  I am sure the narrow sides have scraped off a side-view mirror or two.     

Information about the "Needles Eye" on the road. 

Here is the eye itself. 

This was an area big enough to stop and park quite a few cars. Lots of people were climbing on the rock. There is also plenty of room to turn around here if you see the tunnel and decided you can't fit. 

Close up of the granite rock. 

The tiny, tiny tunnel!!! 

We decided to check out a lot of the unpaved/logging roads around the area and in Custer State Park as well. By now, I am sure we have been on all of the gravel roads in Custer! We did  have some difficulty at first finding this one certain road I wanted to navigate.   I eventually discovered that there were some discrepancies on maps we had.  We spent a few hours enjoying new roads and seeing even more wildlife!

A lot of the roads looked like this, so any two wheel drive car could see all this beauty too!

My only Black Hills sign. 

A little fawn.

This guy was a loner. 

Obviously these are not wild, but still these are the biggest sets of horns ever!

More buffalo. 

More roads in Custer State Park

This is Dad's picture! You should have seen the rack of antlers on this guy. It was HUGE. But then he ran away. It was hilarious. 

A beautiful deer by itself in the Black Hills. 

Family of Big Horn Sheep at the Horse Camp area in Custer State Park. 

This is Horse Camp. It is a HUGE area in the state park where people can bring their horses and camp in the trailers too! There were quite a few spots with electricity and each campsite came with a corral as well. A great place for horse lovers at the trailhead of the Centennial Trail. 

More of the Horse Camp area. 

It ended up being a great decision to see some more places in both the Black Hills and Custer State Park. Although we saw so much, I am sure there is more to do there like ride horses and hike...well maybe just ride horses.

I am saving the best part for LAST!! These are some Big Horn Sheep in their natural habitat - the side of a rock mountain!!!!!!!!

Can you spot anything on this rock??

Zoomed all the way to spot this sheep!

It is amazing how they just blend into the rocks. 

This is the sheep you can see just barely in the first picture. 

Amazing!!!

Can't leave Hill City without going to Desparados again! We learned that our waiter, Kris, is an amazing wildlife and landscape photographer. He really is very talented!!! If you want to see vastly better pictures than all of the ones I have posted, check out his site, www.kadeksusanto.com.  His work has been showcased in many South Dakota magazines.

Last night in Hill City, South Dakota! 

Also...have to mention this problem within all of this beauty...

There is a beetle in the Black Hills that is taking out many of the trees in the area. We learned that once the tree had died, they can not be used for logging and must be placed in piles arranged in certain shapes that will burn well in controlled burns in the winter. Here are some pictures of the trees. You can easily see the trees that have been bitten by the beetle.

There are many areas in this landscape where trees have been attacked by the beetle. 

Here are many of the piles of dead trees that will be burned in a controlled burn this winter. 

AUGUST 21 
Travel Day
The first 100 or so miles of our trip today was a repeat of our trip to see Wall Drug and the Badlands. We only had 300 miles today and with a time change arrived in Mitchell, SD at 2:00 PM central time zone. The drive on this interstate is significantly easier and Dad is able to use the cruise control!  We are camped at a place called Famil-E-Fun that sits in the middle of the corn fields. It was a great place to spend the day riding our bikes in the fields and down some country roads. The owner is quite the hunter and has many displays.   He recommended tomorrow's campsite stop.  We have another 300 mile day tomorrow so fingers crossed for another safe day.

Well, there's not much left to see out here, but I'll keep blogging until we make it all the way back home. If you're still reading...THANKS SO MUCH!!! I'm thrilled when I see the counts of readers getting higher and higher!