May 22 - Custer State Park (South Dakota part two)

Temps mild overnight 50's & beautiful sunny daytime high around 75

     At the recommendation of our good friends, Ted and Debbie Haguewood who visited here last year, we added Custer State Park to our South Dakota visit and what a great day we had.

     Besides the beautiful weather we knew it was gonna be a good day when we arrived at the park prepared to pay the $20 daily admission and they said it was open house week-end and the entry to the park was free. We spent enough time talking to the young man at the gate to get tips on how to spend our day....wildlife viewing, taking photos, and hiking. The only downside (if there was one) is that the park may have been more crowded than usual....Sunday AND free - but as a result, we also met and talked to alot of nice folks from different parts of the country including another couple headed to Alaska in a RV who were from Florida.

     First up was a drive through the wildlife loop road. When I say loop - think big, as this is a huge park. The loop road was paved and nice but they also had numerous dirt roads that we could take off in different directions (and we did). While we didn't see as much wildlife as we hoped, we did see a lot -  bison, pronghorns, prairie dogs, burros, and many birds including what we think was an eagle who had captured a prairie dog in his talons and was flying away with him.....taking him out for lunch I think.

     Later, still in the loop road, we stopped in a very nice area called Blue Bell Lodge for a picnic lunch. This area also had cabins, horseback riding, a restaurant and a general store.

     From there, at the recommendation of the gate agent we took an off the path road to the Mount Coolidge Fire tower and Overlook. Obviously the views from there were awesome but the ride up and down were a story too. This road (dirt) barely wide enough for two cars to pass had no guard rails and huge drop offs on the downhill side. Oh, and we are in an F-250 truck with big ears (mirrors). I had a nervous passenger on my hands by the time we made the top.

     We then continued to a drive up the Scenic Needles Highway.....another very narrow (but paved) road that ascends to a beautiful lake area (Sylvan Lake). The views on this road were magnificent but the road was windy and narrow with tunnels that a single vehicle (especially with big ears) could barely get through. Two vehicles ahead of us a tour bus inched his way through so I felt more confident that we might make it then.

     You will notice from the photos that a lot of the forest areas are destroyed ...leaving only piles of dead trees and pretty bare looking hills. This is evident in many places throughout this region we've seen. We learned from a local gentleman that this is caused by pine beetles....they destroy entire areas of trees. Pine beetles are also a problem in areas back home but the difference is most of the forests in Georgia are a mix of pine and hardwoods so it doesn't leave the hillside completely bare. 

     Sylvan Lake at the top end of the Needles Highway is a beautiful lake and day use area that is very popular with the locals. Many families kayaking, hiking and fishing. We enjoyed a one mile hike around the lake and a soft serve ice cream cone at the lodge there while we decided on whether to hike the Harney Peak trail.

     Harney Peak Trail - So, the last thing on our list for Custer State Park was the recommended climb to Harney Peak which is the highest peak in the Black Hills. The gate agent said if you are in reasonable shape and enjoy hiking (we think we are and we do)....it is a 3.3 mile hike up (really UP) and then the 3.3. mile return trip. Our dilemma was that the signs posted and what we learned from talking to others is that this hike could take 4-5 hours and it was now 4:15 in the afternoon....running out of time. I really wanted to give it a try and Kathy was a little less enthusiastic about it.....we decided to grab some water, snacks, and cameras and go at least part way up and if it looks like we can't make the top we would return at a safe time. Oh, and we grabbed a jacket to take with us that turned out to be a really good idea....even though it was warm and sunny when we left.

     We pushed hard in our attempt to reach the top. I figured if we could make the top in two hours or less we'd be okay on the down hill return. We reached it at 6:05 and to our surprise some pretty cold and windy weather (estimate 50+ MPH wind and temps cold and dropping fast). The peak elevation is at 7,244 feet and it looked at that point like some weather was moving in. Thank god we thought to bring the jackets. We spent very little time taking pictures there but the view was incredible.

     On the return trip Kathy led the way and I struggled to keep up with her....she was on a mission to beat the weather and get back to the vehicle before dark. It began to rain lightly soon after we began descending the mountain and felt like it had ice in it. By the time we got to within a half mile of the truck it was raining/sleeting pretty hard and we were happy to see the truck.

What a great ending to great day!

Many photos posted below

Bird eating grasshopper

Bison herd - Wildlife loop

Bison profile shot

Wildlife loop

Wildlife loop

Tunnel - Scenic Needles Highway

Scenic Needles Highway

Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake

Harney hike

Harney hike - near peak

Harney hike

Harney peak

Coolidge Fire Tower Lookout

Coolidge Fire Tower Lookout

Sylvan Lake

Prairie Dog - Wildlife loop

Scenic Needles Highway

Sylvan Lake

Bison - wildlife loop

Harney hike

Harney hike

Harney hike