Tag: custer state park

Posted in: Exploring South Dakota, Sightseeing

June 16: Laundry, Swimming, S’mores, (more) Injuries, Candyland, and the Way Too Long Car Ride

Written by tepetravels

Nick and I went to do laundry again. He brought his math workbook and a deck of cards to keep busy. When we drove back down to the RV, we saw the swimming pool was empty for once! We rushed back home and the boys changed into swim clothes. I gotta say, the background scenery for the pool is pretty amazing.

Nick had a great time, but Will was worried about getting his bandages wet so he didn’t go in. Once it started to get crowded, we left. On our way out, we grabbed some ice cream sandwiches from the campground store. (I also finally found the Y water connector in the store! Every Walmart we have been to have been out of them.)

Ben and the boys got a fire started and we roasted some s’mores. Ben made an amazing dinner over the coals. The boys took off riding bikes. Nick went down the small hill next to our camping spot. It seemed to be going well as he gained speed and his joyous “Yoohoo!” could be heard. Then he tumbled over the handle bars and fell. I was watching and still don’t really know how he fell. My guess is the tire caught on a rock when he went into the grass or he needs to learn more about front brakes. Luckily he had his helmet on and landed on the grass. So now his face is scratched up, he busted both lips, has a few scrapes on his legs. His two front teeth are sore, so we are keeping to soft foods.

To keep his attention off of his injuries, we took them to Candyland. It’s a big candy store nearby that they had been wanting to go to. They had all kinds of candy: chocolates, gummies, ice cream… Nick got an ice cream and Will got Sour Dots.

Afterwards, we drove up to Custer State Park so Ben could see the buffalo in person. It’s only about a 20 minute drive from the campground. We saw the begging burros, and only 2 buffalo (1 from far away). Two! I have no idea where the herds went that we saw just a few days ago. We also saw a pronghorn and some deer, but no prairie dogs. One of the deer just gave us a look like “What are you looking at? I’m eating here.”

The drive home took an hour! We went a different way home, not really sure why Waze sent us that way. We went through switchbacks, the pigtail bridges, and three more rock tunnels. It was gorgeous scenery, just not expecting it to take that long!

Driving down one of the pigtail bridges in Custer State Park.

~Sarah

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring South Dakota, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

What A Day (July 14, 2020)

Written by tepetravels 4 Comments on What A Day (July 14, 2020)

Ben had work again this morning. The weather was nice and cool (in the 50s). So I thought the boys and I could go see the Badlands. Waze was acting up, so I used Maps instead. It was about 1-1/2 hour drive. I stopped for diesel when we were maybe 3/4 of the way there. Somehow the fuel pump sprayed me too. I tried using a wipe and water to help get it off my shirt, but I smelled like diesel fuel. I drove with the windows down because I couldn’t stand the smell.

We were getting so close, when we had to turn back. Maps had sent us through a reservation. We were stopped and very politely informed that the tribal council had shut down road access due to COVID-19. She pointed out another way to get to the Badlands, as the North entrance was open. They were very nice and helpful. My prayers are with them during this time.

It was another hour or more on the road to get to the North entrance, so we decided to go to Custer State Park instead. It was $20 for a week pass, or $36 for an annual pass. Since we are only in SD for a week, I ended up getting the week pass. I pulled off into a parking zone where there was no one around and changed out of my shirt into my sweatshirt. I couldn’t take the smell anymore. It was aggravating my eyes. We got back on track and ended up taking the wildlife loop.

It was amazing! We saw so many buffalo, both adults and babies. Will and Nick nicknamed them the B’s and mini-B’s, after the cow nicknames (Moo and Mini-Moo for baby cows). We got to see some males butt heads a couple of times, watch them graze, saw a few run. They came close to the road and even blocked it a few times while crossing to try the grass on the other side.

Cows and calves that we saw a lot of during our drives. We have since renamed them Moos (cows) and Mini-Moos (babies). 🙂
So, of course, the buffalo got renamed B and Mini-B!

We also saw the “begging burros”. The burros are feral (although not afraid of humans and extremely friendly). A group of burros were released to roam free in the park. According to the park booklet, at one point they had been used to move tourists around, but when that ended they were let go to roam free. The pamphlet you get at check in says to give wild animals their space and not to feed them. However, these donkeys/burros were getting ear scratches and eating apples, carrots, Goldfish, Cheez-Its, Cheetos, etc. We did not feed them, but many people were.

There is not a lot of cell service in this part of the area. We tried FaceTiming Ben so he could watch the buffalo graze, but had intermittent luck. I did get some video that he was able to watch later. I have a short video up on the YouTube Channel of the buffalo.

When exiting the park, we turned towards Wind Cave. That was also a pretty drive and we saw a few buffalo, some prairie dogs, and a couple of pronghorn. The prairie dogs are so easy to miss! Look for a flat plain type of area with dirt mounds. They just blended in so well that it is easy to miss them as you are driving by.

We drove back to the RV and picked up Ben. We headed to Sylvan Lake to take a hike. We drove on the Sylvan Lake Road/Hood Tunnel/Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. Definitely not a RV road! It has many switchbacks and a rock tunnel! It was really cool.

Sylvan Lake also offers lodging and has gorgeous views. The lake is amazing and there are several trails nearby. The rock formations are incredible, especially against the blue sky backdrop we had today. We did some climbing, which the boys loved! I did okay, but was much slower than everyone else in the family. It was just a really neat hike.

We headed towards Walmart to return the scooters. They were just too small for the boys. Ben caved and got them bikes, which they were thrilled about. There isn’t a ton to do in the campground while social distancing. We still want to go to the pool, but it’s been busy. We also got dinner at Pizza Ranch. The boys were amazed there was such a thing as a pizza buffet. It wasn’t crowded yet, so YAY for food and social distancing! The final stop for the day was to drop some postcards off at the post office.

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