Custer State Park in the fall, South Dakota

 

We enjoyed a drive around Custer State Park to see the fall foliage - lots of yellow, but very little red and orange ~ still beautiful, though.  We enjoyed our drive along the Pig Tails, Iron Mountain Road, the Needles and Sylvan Lake. Here's a link to more pictures when we tok a longer version of this drive in May: link.

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Bison Herd at Custer State Park, South Dakota

We were on our way to Wind Cave National Park (more on that in a day or two) and got caught in a “bison jam" at Custer State Park ~ we found the herd! :-)

Here are lots of pictures of what we saw~ 

Bison have the right of way

Many were grazing

Some close to us



Some were scratching their heads



Some were nursing



Here’s a photo to give a perspective on size ~ this guy walked in front of our truck



There were antelope among the bison as well


They liked to run



One last bison group photo~
 

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Summer Solstice Hike ~ Harney Peak & Little Devil’s Tower, Black Hills, South Dakota

We decide that it would be cool to hike to the highest point east of the Rockies and west of the Pyrenees on the summer solstice, however Mother Nature did not think it such as good idea, and by the end of our five hour hike, we had some sunshine, some rain, some hail, some thunder, and lots of wind. We also had tons of fun! 

We didn’t intend to do both Little Devil’s Tower and Harney Peak at the same time, but we took the wrong trailhead from the Sylvan Lake parking lot (not really our fault, since the correct trailhead was down a road that said “emergency vehicles only”), but we’re really glad we did both at the same time - Little Devil’s Tower offers great views of Harney Peak and the trail to Harney Peak offers great views of Little Devil’s Tower. 

We started on Trail #4 (yes, that’s the name) in Custer State Park which offered views of wildlife 

 

and something that used to be wildlife.

 

We then took the 0.6 mile one-way side trip to Little Devil’s Tower.  The hike is rather benign, until you get to the offshoot where you need to rock scramble for a good ¼ mile to get on top of Little Devil’s Tower

to see the views, one of which is a great view of Harney Peak. 

(This was the first instance of rain.)

 
We continued along Trail #4 which merges with the Norbeck Trail (in the Black Hills Wilderness) which then merged with Harney Peak #9 Trail.   

Great views could be seen from many places along the trail

 

including the back of Mount Rushmore National Memorial

and  Little Devil’s Tower.

 

 It was very cold and windy at Harney Peak,

but we stayed long enough to enjoy the views and have our picture taken.   

Zoey was with us, but very unwilling to step-out for her picture. :-)

We took the Harney Peak # 9 Trail back to Sylvan Lake (this was the intended ascend hike) and it was great to make the hike a loop. This trail was much less steep than the trails we took up, and we passed a lot of people heading up.  This was where we encountered the most rain and hail – picture us standing under a tree like elk waiting for it to pass, at least long enough where we weren’t getting pinged on the head by the hail! This trail offered one last view of Harney Peak and although not able to be appreciated in the picture, it was quite a-ways-away!

 

All-in-all, this was a fabulous hike. Inadvertently making it a loop was perfect, and we enjoyed the solitude of the hike up. The entire hike took about five hours (we had to ascend Little Devil’s Tower individually since Zoey wouldn’t be able to do the rock scramble) and was probably about 10 miles, give-or-take half a mile or so. 

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Cathedral Spires & Sylvan Lakeshore Hikes, Custer State Park, South Dakota

When we drove through Custer State Park a few weeks ago, we found many trailheads that appears to be the start of great hikes, so we hiked the Cathedral Spires and Sylvan Lakeshore trails today.  

The Cathedral Spires trailhead is found after the Eye of the Needle (when driving clockwise from Keystone). Parking can be troublesome, so be sure to get there early.  The hike is rated as strenuous due to some rock scrambling, but it’s only two to three miles roundtrip (depending on which hiking guide or trail map you read). The trail starts steep, gets a bit steeper, then levels out towards the end.   

The trail system seems very well marked, for this trail, you just follow the blue signs. 

 

You’ll know you’re at the end by one of two ways ~ either you’ll notice that the trail itself ends, or this sign helps!

 

After this hike, which took us about one-and-a-half hours, we decided we were hungry (not much of a surprise) and we had a fabulous lunch at the Sylvan Lake Dining Room. Although there isn’t much of a view, we sat outside on the patio (they allowed Zoey to sit with us), and although the service was slow (a large group ordered just before we got there), the food was excellent.

After lunch, we decide to do the fairly easy Sylvan Lake Loop Trail, which begins and ends along the shoreline, but the middle is up-and-down some rocky areas, so don’t let the trail fool you – you’ll still need decent shoes and not sandals.

All-in-all, a fabulous day! :-)

Here are just a couple cool pictures we took along the Sylvan Lake Loop Trail~

 

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Custer State Park, South Dakota

It was Brad’s birthday and we had the day off, so it was his call what to do ~ Custer State Park it was ~ the 70-mile Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway ~ one of the top ten “Most Outstanding” scenic byways in the US.

There is a great loop drive that encompasses all of Custer State Park, so we left Keystone and traveled along Iron Mountain Road, thus taking us in a clock-wise direction. Note ~ if you do this drive, there are lots of small tunnels, so if you have a large truck, you might have to backtrack (or scrape your sides). We were a bit tight in the F-250. Along Iron Mountain Road there are some cool rock tunnels – be sure you stop along the way and look ~ there are phenomenal views of Mt, Rushmore looking through the tunnel.

The park entrance is where 16A and Rte 36 meet, and is not expensive if one plans to stay longer than a week: $15 for 1 to 7 days, or $28 for an annual pass (which we purchased, since we plan to do a few hikes).  They also have a $14 for a second annual pass, so if you know another person or couple who wants an annual pass as well, you could buy-in together and save a few bucks.

Immediately upon entered Custer State Park, we saw what they are famous for ~ buffalo!

As we continued along Wildlife Loop Road, we saw dozens upon dozens of buffalo ~ even a few calves, along with antelope, wild burros, an eagle, two wild turkeys, and a few prairie dogs.

 

We continued our drive to Needles Highway where we enjoyed more spectacular scenery 

 and even tighter tunnels!

 

Onto the Sylvan Lake area, to which we will definitely return (looks like a great lake to kayak and we plan to hike Harney Peak – the highest mountain east of the rockies in the US)and then back to Keystone via Rte. 244 where a profile of George Washington is the star attraction.

So a great day and a great birthday for Brad.  We found lots of places to return along this route, and you know we’ll blog about those! Here's a picture of the birthday boy!

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