Driving Some Amazing Roads


We got up to the sound of rain this morning, something that has not happened very often on this adventure.  It made our decision to go do some driving in the Black Hills an easy one.

Our first drive took us to Wind Cave National Park.  The Park is known for its complex maze of caves.  We were unable to go down into them today…their elevator is out of commission until at least September…the Park’s #1 attraction ‘euchred’.  However, the Park also encompasses one of the last mixed-grass prairies in the US.  We saw our first Bison of the day as we passed through.

As we exited Wind Cave National Park, we immediately entered Custer State Park.  What a gem!  We first took the Wildlife Loop Road.  We had read how good the wildlife viewing was from this road.  After about 10 miles, we were beginning to wonder.  Nothing had shown itself to us, not even any birds.  We then experienced the first of 2 traffic jambs of the day.  It was caused by Burros standing in the middle of the road.  They are not native to the Black Hills.  They are descendants from a herd that once hauled visitors to the top of Black Elk Peak.  When the rides were discontinued in the late 1920’s, the burros were released into the Park.

Next we began to see Black-tailed Prairie Dogs by the hundreds.  They are a rodent that lives in large social groups called ‘towns’.  They got their name because of their bark-like call.

We then encountered our second traffic jamb of the day.  A herd of Bison was walking down the road oblivious to the cars trying to get by them.  These animals are large.  They stand 6 feet high and weigh as much as 2000 pounds.  They can outrun a horse.  When they are walking/running across the road in front and behind your vehicle it is a little intimidating.

After escaping the bison, we drove the Iron Mountain Road, a narrow, twisting, but oh so much fun road to drive.  It also provided us an opportunity to see Mt. Rushmore with the busts of 4 ‘iconic’ Presidents (at least from the point of view of Americans…they take this stuff pretty seriously), Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.

That lead us to probably the most amazing drive of the day, the Needles Highway.  This is a special part of the Black Hills.  The rock formations are again like nothing else that we have saw.  The road in places easily rivaled the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  One of the numerous tunnels was only 8 foot 9 inches wide and 8 foot 10 inches high…intimidating to say the least…but again what a blast!

Distance Traveled = 218 km.  Wildlife Sightings = Killdeer, Flicker, Turkey Vulture, Mountain Bluebird, Meadowlark, Crow, Robin, Bald Eagle, Goldfinch, Bison, Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, Burros.


Mt. Rushmore


Burro jam!


Bison jam!


Bison...check out the little guy sucking


6 feet tall...weighs a ton


Black-tailed Prairie Dogs


Tunnel


Needles


Black Hills

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