Custer State Park - Serenity & Beauty

Game Lodge Campground, Custer State Park, SD

We got up around 5 am so we could take advantage of the early morning light and enjoy the iconic scenic roads of Custer Park to ourselves.

 

 

Lake Sylvan.

 

We drove the Iron Mountain scenic byway and we're delighted that we did in fact have the road to ourselves. The road climbs 17 miles from Custer Park to Mount Rushmore. There are several tunnels, pigtail bridges and epic views. Here we are approaching one of the tunnels. In the distance you can get just a glimpse of Mount Rushmore.

 

As you exit the tunnel, this comes into view!

This picture was taken while still in the tunnel.

 

 

 

The road continues to wind, with every turn highlighting epic views of the Black Hills or Mount Rushmore.

 

 

Love this picture approaching one of the tunnels in the early morning light. Just surreal.

 

 

 

We had a great morning stopping and taking pictures along the way, eventually making it to the other side of the park. Once there we drove the Needles Scenic Road.

The highlights of this area were the majestic granite rock formations, the famous needle rock and even smaller tunnels.

This tunnel is 12 ft. high and 8 ft, 4 in. wide.

 

 

The Black Hills remind me so much of the Sierras. Maybe that's why I love it here so much.

 

Oh Winnie, the places you take us!

 

 

 

It was so still. It felt as if we had the park to ourselves.

 

 

Our early morning expedition tired us out. Afternoon siesta time...The view from my hammock.

 

 

 

The view from Ned's hammock.

While hanging out in the hammocks, we saw an owl dive into the creek and get a fish. How cool is that!

 

 

 

We rallied to go on a bike ride...

 

But only to go get ice cream.

We were not terribly ambitious today, but we made up for it in enthusiastically enjoying a summer day.

 

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Custer State Park...Amazing Wildlife

Location: Game Lodge Campground, Custer Park, SD

 

This is our third time at Custer State Park and everytime we visit it's a completely different experience. All so good. This place is amazing!! After a bike ride to the Visitor Center we couldn't wait to drive thru the park. Fair warning...lots of cute animal pictures coming.

Ironically, General Custer died 140 years ago today at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Custer State Park is famous for its buffalo. Yep, saw a couple of herds. I caught this guy chomping away.

 

This one is carrying 2 birds on his back.

 

 

 

We spent a lot of time just hanging out watching the prairie dogs. These little guys are hilarious!

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch time.

 

 

These burros are not native to the Black Hills. They are descendants from the herd that once hauled visitors to the top of Harney Peak. The rides were discontinued years ago and the burros were released into the park. They now just hang out on the Wildlife Loop Road. They are pretty domesticated. Here is one coming up to our car and Ned feeding it some apples.

 

 

I got out to see if the baby burro wanted to eat some apples. He was still nursing so he wasn't interested in my apple. So, does this make him a "burrito?".

 

 

 

Hi Ned, I heard you got some apples there...

 

 

 

We also spotted a coyote

 

 

 

A fawn

 

 

 

 

 

And a pronghorn.

 

 

 

 

Ned photographing the photographer or maybe just another wild animal in her natural habitat...

We had lunch at the Game Lodge. There are several lodges throughout the park. This actually feels more like a National Park than a State Park with the lodges, campgrounds and visitor centers.

This lodge was known as the Summer White House for Calvin Coolidge in 1927. Dwight Eisenhower also used it as a summer residence in 1953.

 

 

 

 

Tonight we are enjoying our campsite, right next to a creek. We'll be here a couple of days so time to put up the hammock, pop a cold one, and enjoy the evening!

 

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South Dakota in all it's glory

Snake Creek State Park, SD

Okay, I'll admit I had very low expectations of Sioux Falls, SD. I thought it would be like so many of the struggling towns we see in the heartland. I was pleasantly surprised. The falls were pretty spectacular and the city had lots of outside cafes and tree lined streets.

The falls were actually a series of falls cascading over pink Sioux Quartzite.

This pic was taken from several stories high in the visitor's tower.

 

Turning around 180 deg. you can see the Morrell meat packing plant. They employ hundreds of people. This so explains why we kept hearing pork prices quoted on the radio. Next time you pick up a packet of Morrell sliced ham, this is where it's being processed.

 

In 1881, the largest flour mill was on the banks of this river next to the falls. It was 7 stories high, had a 100,000 bushel grain elevator, a warehouse that could hold 10,000 barrels, a turbine house, a gate house and a cooper shop where barrels were made. Wowza! Today it's just a ghost of what it used to be.

You can see it in the far upper left corner.

Today it is used for free music concerts on Saturday night during the summer! Sorry we were a day early. I would have loved to chill out here.

 

 

Sioux Falls has a sculpture walk you can do. There are 56 sculptures placed through-out the town. I promise I won't post pics of all 56 sculptures, really! They ranged from life like figures, to whimsical characters to abstract pieces. This one caught my eye, mainly because it reminds me of the sculpture pieces my brother-in-law Jerry Barrish does. It's called "Endless Summer" by Gregory Mendez.

 

 

 

Here's another one called "Circle of Friends" by Karen Crain. Every one of the pieces was mounted on the Sioux Quartzite. Really cool.

If anyone wants to see more, I have picked up a brochure on all the pieces.

 

Early this morning, we decided to visit the infamous Devil's Gulch. What you never heard of this "home of beauty, mystery & legend"?! As legend has it, it's the place that Jesse James made his famous jump with his horse over the chasm to get away from the posse chasing him. Yeah, who could pass up the opportunity to see this??

You also get to take a walking tour of the Devil's Gulch too. Be still my heart.

 

 

Here's Ned standing on the EXACT spot that Jesse James jumped with his horse! Today it has a steel open grate bridge across the chasm. It's quite a thrill to look down into the chasm.

And yes, that was quite the jump too!

 

 

 

 

The walk of beauty and mystery...meh. Kind of overgrown and lots of rocks to climb over. All I kept thinking was thank goodness my kids are grown and not munchkins doing this walk with me. There was ample opportunity to fall into the chasm.

Hard to get a perspective on this but the drop off is 40 or so feet. (There are signs saying things like "This spot is known as the bottomless pit. Many years ago a 600 ft. plumb line was lowered and no bottom was found.").

 

Other signs..."depending on the wind of the day, strange moaning sounds can be heard in Devil's Gulch. One will then easily understand how the canyon got its name.". Mmmm...I thought that was Ned's stomach growling saying time for breakfast.

 

Tonight we are camped along the powerful Missouri River. It's close to 90, but very windy. Thank goodness for that. Our afternoon was spent taking a nap on the grassy banks of this river. Ahhhh summer.

 

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Minneapolis, MN

Location: Palisades State Park, SD

We decided to poke around Minneapolis. We obviously picked some game day to do this. The traffic was grid-lock insane. So glad we have a 15 ft. vehicle to get around.

First impressions on things indicating that we are not in California...

#1 The insane amount of bricks used in buildings!

 

#2 Closed cross-walks for those really cold days. I love this picture. Covered cross-walks as far as the eye can see.

 

After a hectic morning navigating our way around the city, we decided to head for Minnehana Park.

Ah, so much more our style. Loved how green, luscious and beautiful this city park is.

 

 

Of course we had to visit the famous falls.

 

 

 

 

Ned listening to the audio tour of points of interest in the park via his iPhone.

 

 

 

We rode over to the Mississippi River to investigate the lock. On a previous trip we drove up the Great River Road next to the Mississippi River. We spent a lot of time exploring the locks on the river. I think there are 27 in all. It was fun to see lock #1 here.

We spent some time at the US Corp of Engineer Center reading about the locks and the river. So interesting! I'll never get tired of spending time around the Mighty Miss.

There's a great little restaurant in the park called Sea Salt. It has amazing fresh fish such as crawfish, oysters, crab cakes, and fresh fish tacos. Who could resist having a late lunch with a local beer here?

 

 

 

Tonight we're camped at this place that we stumbled upon. There's no other way to describe it but magical. We took a twilight bike ride and hike to further explore the park. Who knew that there would be these wonderful cliffs and a great creek in the prairie of South Dakota?

 

 

We walked through these huge cliffs, next to the river, and on the path were tons of fireflies lighting up everywhere. It was like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, only better. Cool find Palisades State Park, thanks!

 

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