Hill City, South Dakota: If you are reading this blog to learn which campground to stay in while visiting this area, please be warned. There are many KOAs, and so many campgrounds/RV parks it gets confusing. Can't tell you how many we saw today and not one of them looked really terrible. One thing we noticed: none of the campgrounds seemed very full. Maybe locals know to avoid this area during Bike Week. Wish we knew how awful it was so we could have avoided it altogether.
I am also sorry to report that wildfire smoke has once again found us, and we are so happy we stopped at Mt. Rushmore on our way to our campsite yesterday afternoon. No good photos would be captured today. (Sad face.)
This particular KOA is nearly a city in itself. They have several restaurants, shops, bars, trail rides, and they rent cars, street-legal ATVs and golf carts. Lucky for us, as we wanted to drive the Needles Highway, and our teeny RV would not fit through the three small tunnels. We rented a sedan, and there is a Custer State Park pass/sticker on the window! The area is called "needles" due to the tall slender straight-up rock formations, but going through the tunnels reminded me of threading a needle:
Can you see the flagger at the end of the tunnel? Park rangers were only letting 10-12 bikers through the tunnels at a time. The speed limit on the highway is 25, and it seems rules do not apply to bikers. I nearly fainted whenever (several times!) we were passed by a motorcycle on a blind curve/hill. Insane! Dave was worried we wouldn't see any animals today because the critters would head for the hills with all the engine noise. And don't forget the loud speakers absolutely BLASTING twangy country-western music.
But I pretty-much think bison are not the sharpest crayons in Mother Nature's art supply cupboard. They don't care about anything but eating, mating and guarding their babies. On a huge slope, we found about 200 bison, divided by the small "wildlife loop" road going through Custer State Park.
We think we saw at least 300 head today in three or four spots - not like in Theodore Roosevelt National Park last week, where we saw a few small groups, and many lone males. We also saw a group of wild donkeys - set loose when settlers picked-up stakes for greener pastures.
These are the most tame "wild" animals ever. As long as you didn't come near their babies, you were welcome to get close. Of course, even though there are so many DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS - THEY ARE WILD, there was a girl with a bag of carrots.
Our next stop was to the Visitor Center. The parking lot was filled with bikers on their smoke break. DT thought there isn't a forest fire at all - the smoke is coming from motorcycle exhaust pipes and cigarette smoke?
But the icing on the cake was when we were exiting the state park and were stopped by a small herd of beautiful Rocky Mountain Sheep in the middle of the road. Obviously, we stopped and waited.
The poor things didn't know which way to go. Some crossed. Some stayed on the side of the road. Some stayed on the other side of the road. We waited. So did the cars coming in the opposite direction. The asshole (not spelled with dollar signs today) behind us on his huge bike started revving his engine! The poor sheep were terrified by this noise. Some ewes had babies on the other side of the road. Panic all around. Then the jerk started honking his horn. Who raises these idiots? The sheep were darting to and fro across the road, and the jerk just kept revving and honking. Finally the ewes and kids were united and one group went left and one group went right.
You can only imagine which direction I am hoping the cruel biker behind us goes.
We continued on our way back - with Dave never going even one mile over the speed limit so jerkface would have to follow while cursing us for the last few miles - stopping in the town of Custer for a few groceries. Bike Week has also taken over Custer. The two center lanes of the 4-lane main drag is roped-off for bike parking only.
We didn't get back to our little home-on-wheels until 4p. A long day of driving beautiful roads and seeing beautiful creatures. We also saw several Prairie Dog towns and two Pronghorn!
Stir-fried veggies for dinner - and an extra-large martini.
in a garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili crisp sauce
Until my next update, I remain, your Custer State Park correspondent.
Campground Information: KOA Mt. Rushmore Resort at Palmer Gulch