Aug 18
We slept in another half hour today so "only" a 5:30 wake up today. We started with a wildlife loop drive in
Custer. We were caught in quite a “buffalo-jam”. While we were parked waiting
for them to clear the road, one went between us and the car in front of us and
he decided to rub himself all over the front of the car. He also got right up
to the windshield. Funny. One driver decided he didn’t want to wait any more
and pulled around the line and almost ran the buffalo over. The buffalo
tripped, but from my side of the car I thought the driver hit it. He probably
was the reason the buffalo tripped.
Grasshopper Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Woodpecker - possible immature Red-headed
can't get enough of these burros
Pronghorns
Prairie Dogs
American Kestrel
female turkeys had young ones that were hard to see in the tall grass
Red-headed Woodpecker
well, that's up close and personal
waiting for the jam to clear and hey, what are those 2 doing?
After we drove the loop we took the scenic Needles Highway full of hairpin turns, narrow tunnels and granite pillars for stunning views of the Black Hills. It was a spectacular drive through ponderosa
pine and Black Hills spruce forests, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen, and
rugged granite mountains. The road's name comes from the needle-like granite
formations, which seem to pierce the horizon along the highway.
we stopped at this small cave in a small park
Iron Creek Tunnel, 9' 0" wide by 11’4” high
Needles Eye Tunnel (Near Needle's Eye), 8' 4" wide by
11’3" high
Needle's Eye
We had lunch at the Sylvan Lake Resort & General Store. Then we walked
around the Lake.
lunch - driest buffalo burger I've ever tasted....
From there we hiked the Little Devil trail.
close-up of the granite
the small rock appeared to be holding up the large boulder
on the trail
We decided to take one last wildlife loop drive before
heading home. We ran into 2 different bison areas. Traffic backed up for both
of them. We knew this would be our last look at Bison & Prairie Dogs now that we are heading further east. Custer is a great State Park, not sure why it isn't a National Park.
Tomorrow is supposed to be cool and very windy and we are
taking a much needed day off.
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