First Day in Custer, SD

July 26, 2012

We are in Custer, South Dakota at the Wheels West RV Park.  Arrived yesterday afternoon after an uneventful ride from Glendo.  Custer is a small town and has a lot of tourist attractions.  There are several caves in the area, as well as Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monuments nearby.

Wednesday we arrived at our RV park around 2:30 p.m. and got parked and settled in.  After we got the rig set up, Jim rested for a few minutes.  We never ate lunch so I had a snack.  Jim opted to wait for an early dinner, so we drove into town to explore a little.  Drove from one end to the other (didn't take long!) and checked out where the grocery store was and found a restaurant for an early dinner.  In fact, we were the first customers of the evening!  They had just reopened for dinner when we showed up at the Cowboy Cafe on Main Street.  Our next door neighbor recommended it to us.  The decor was interesting - all western, saddles, boots, hats.  Cute.  We just had burgers and Jim had to try their beer on special...Mississippi Mud....he didn't know it was an entire quart of beer!  (He drank all of it!)  Since it rained pretty much all evening, we stayed in and watched TV.  Got a call from our son, Alex.

Custer State Park

 
This morning, our destination was Custer State Park.  I packed us a lunch and we were on our way.  The park is a few miles away from our RV park, so in no time we arrived and were faced with a decision....day pass, 7-day pass or annual pass.  Since the annual pass was $27, and we will be here for 2 weeks, we chose the annual pass.  Our intention was to drive around the area and pick places to come back and explore.  Our first stop, an overlook off the main road, was a nice, short hiking opportunity.  After we looked at the view, we hiked into the forest there.  Along the way, we ran into some workers felling trees along a stretch of power lines.   Otherwise, we had the woods to ourselves....stretched our legs and enjoyed the 180 degree views.

Walking along the road

Pronghorn

Begging for carrots

We spent the better part of the early afternoon driving through Custer State Park.  We drove the Wildlife Loop, which covers dense forest as well as beautiful grasslands.  Along the way, we spotted Pronghorn antelopes, prairie dog dens, fairly tame burros and of course, herds of bison.  The burros are very friendly and will eat out of your hand.  They surrounded the cars on the road, which brought traffic to an abrupt halt.  We saw them sticking their heads into vehicles....finally figured out people were feeding them.  I grabbed some carrots out of our lunch and offered a few to a couple that stuck their heads in our window.  When I ran out of carrots, they ran out of interest and moved on to their next target. Jim and I enjoyed the unusual interlude.  When we came across the bison, it was a different story.  There are signs all over the park warning that buffalo are not friendly, and we would see people getting out of their cars to take photos.....not us!  Just rolled down the windows or opened the truck door for a better angle.

Among the "needles"

Approaching the "needles"

We ate our lunch at Fish Hook picnic area, which was a nice, shady spot with a few picnic tables near a stream.  Jim spotted a few nice sized Rainbow trout. Just a really relaxing spot to eat. Then we continued on our way. There are many spots we plan to come back and explore further.  Driving on the Needles Highway was fun, if a bit hairy.  The road is so narrow and there are several SMALL tunnels.  In one tunnel, we ended up scraping our side mirror against the side of the tunnel....that's SMALL.  But the views were fantastic and the "needles" were worth it.  They are these pointed rock formations that are spectacular. Loved the drive.

The model

The actual mountain carving

Around 2:30,  we were headed toward Crazy Horse Monument so decided to stop in.  It was $10 per person to get in - kinda pricey - but we did it anyway.  It was interesting, learning the story of how this mountain sculture came to be.  The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, started the project in 1948, at the invition of Chief Standing Bear, and the project continues to this day.  The sculptor died in 1982, and the work is being carried out by his wife, Ruth, and seven of their children.  It is wholly funded by donation and admission fees.  So far, only the face has actually been fully carved, but the horse Crazy Horse is sitting on has been blocked out by blasts.

 
Did some grocery shopping on the way home...wow, expensive town....ate dinner, then went back to Custer State Park with our long camera lenses to try to snag some photo opportunities on the Wildlife Loop.  Saw some deer, some Pronghorn, not much else.  But, took a side road that was gorgeous and I was able to get some close ups of the Pronghorn.  The end of the evening found us in front of the trailer with "toddies" in our hands, enjoying the chill of the evening, the half moon in the sky, and a chat with our neighbors, Ken and Barbara (honest!) from Texas.