How I spent My 81 Day Time Out - Part 2: Wild Asses Licked My Car

[Scuba]

The southwest corner of South Dakota is a cornucopia of natural wonders. Badlands National Park, as I chronicled in Part 1: The South Dakota Badlands In Winter is absolutely amazing. After leaving there, Crystal Dancer and I drove to Keystone, SD in the Black Hills where we stayed only minutes from Mount Rushmore. One of the nice things about this winter trip (late January) was the fact that very few other visitors were out and about. We saw only two other vehicles all day in Badlands National Park and were the only guest at our hotel one of our two nights in Keystone; there was one other couple there the second night.

Similarly, there was literally only one other couple at Mount Rushmore when we visited...





Crazy Horse is another "must see" destination in the Black Hills. It's very cool, even if it won't be completed in my lifetime ...



After leaving the Crazy Horse Memorial, we visited Wind Cave National Park. While all the photos I took in the cave are worthless, it is an incredible place to visit, and well worth the $5 fee for a tour. Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm Again, travelling in winter proved advantageous - only one other couple (with two toddlers) were on our tour. The guide said that summer tours typically had 45 people along.

One note about the tour: While describing the cave the tour guide mentioned that some of the rare "boxwork" formations were created "a very, very long time ago." I asked what a "very, very long time" meant and she indicated it meant some 30 million years. Later, when I was able to speak to her privately I asked if her choice of words was in deference to the sensitivities of fundamentalists. She answered in the affirmative before I even finished the question. Shame on the National Park Service for this pandering.

After leaving Wind Cave, we travelled a bit farther south to Custer State Park and drove the Wildlife Loop Road. This 18 mile stretch of blacktop winds through the 71,000 acre park and is certainly well named. The $20 fee is worth every penny.

This prairie dog town was right alongside the road. Locals warned us to not pet the prairie dogs as they carried bubonic plague. I'm not much of one for petting rodents anyway, and the threat of Black Death was plenty to keeep me away. Still, the little guys are cute ...



But what I really wanted to see were bison. Lots of bison scat was apparent but we drove several miles before seeing one, and that one was on a far hillside and I only confirmed it was actually a bison by using binoculars. Still, I saw one! WooHoo!!!

Then we rounded the next curve. No rollerskating here!


Here's a big one ...


Mama and calf ...


Red rocks in the Black Hills ...


Cresting the next hill, we saw something we didn't expect at all ...


The "begging burros" of Custer State Park are feral donkeys that have taken to begging for food from visitors. They also have keen noses ...



... and smelled the salt that had accumulated on my vehicle over the 1,000 miles we had travelled from Wisconsin. They made a beeline for the car ...





These bison ignored us as I weaved my car slowly past them on the road ...



Rounding the next hill there was one more incredible sight for us - a herd of elk crossing the road ...


When our car approached, the herd split up but this big boy re-crossed the road, rounded up the rest of his herd and moved them across the road with the others. Then he turned and kept an eye on us ...



Worth noting that we saw only one other vehicle the entire time we were in the park. Winter touring can be hit-or-miss with the weather (we were lucky) but certainly gives one a chance to see the sights while avoiding the crowds. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Oh yeah, I had donkey slobber on my car until I found a carwash ...



Stay tuned for Part 3 - Getting High In The Rockies