A friend that has spent a lot of time in South Dakota recommended that we visit the Black Hills and Custer State Park. What a great suggestion that turned out to be. What may have been a one-day visit turned into a week because there were so many hiking trails, scenic drives, and beauty to see there.
Normally we try to disperse camp, but initially, not finding anything suitable (more about that in a future post), we stayed at a couple of paid campgrounds. One, the first night we arrived, and another further out and less expensive for the remainder of our stay.
We were excited to see wildlife, so we drove the Wildlife Loop on our second day with plans to hike a prairie trail within the loop. It was too hot to hike that day, so we just drove. It reminded me of driving the Cades Cove Loop in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, except longer and mostly less crowded and with different wildlife.
We first came upon a traffic jam caused by some burros. They just walked in the road. One of the burros broke off from the rest and walked up to a car while two of his friends waited. It was pretty thrilling to see these wonderful animals so close. What amazed me was a pickup truck trying to get around the cars in front of him even when there was nowhere for him to go. Heaven forbid that wildlife gets in your way while you are on the Wildlife Loop.
The next traffic jam was caused by some Pronghorns that decided to cross the road and then lingered. Another fun photo op. Although I should have used my telephoto lens to get pictures.
On our way back from Wind Cave NP, we took a different route back and were so glad we did because we came upon a couple cars on the side of the road, always a good sign that wildlife was near. There were four bighorn sheep. I got a few good shots with my telephoto lens.
Another day our timing was perfect when we were heading back from a hike and driving the main road through the park on the way to our campground. Another traffic jam, this time caused by a herd of mountain goats. They were in no hurry to get out of the road. Another thrilling and unexpected photo op.
The only wildlife we wanted to see but didn’t were elk. Of course, we never went out at the ideal time to see them.
WanderLyd 