First off, it is most famous for having their own free roaming bison herd. The herd is managed and the size varies depending on how much rain the park gets in a year. On average, about 1200 bison roam the park. Every September the herd is rounded up. Some of the animals are sold off at auction. This is additional revenue for the park. A few of the bison are hunted every year. Hunters are selected through a lottery and bidding. Only a few buffalo are shot (mostly ten year old bulls as trophies), so there are always plenty for the tourist to see the following year.
Because the bison are free roaming, they can and will go in the road. Multiple times we had to wait
Most of the buffalo can be seen off the Wildlife Loop Road. The Loop Road goes through the prairie. Besides buffalo, one can expect to see prairie dogs by the hundreds as the road passes by a couple of towns. Pronghorn are also very common. We saw many of them from little babies with their mom and big males. There are also tons of white tailed deer in the park. We saw them in every wooded area including our campground. Mule deer are present, but we only saw a couple.
The park does have a herd of one of my favorite animals, elk. We are told they are shy and difficult to see. We lucked out and saw elk on five different occasions. Once, they were drinking from a roadside mud puddle. The speed limit in the park is 35, and 25 on the Wildlife Loop Road. I am happy to say, even with all the animals along the road edges, we didn't see any roadkill bigger than a squirrel.
Another crowd favorite are the wild burros ( a donkey and a burro are the same animal, the only difference is, donkeys have been domesticated). The burros are wild, however, they have learned to beg for food from passing cars. They will block the road and stick their head right into a car. By no means are they shy. They are the only animal in the park that can be fed without getting in trouble.
Other wildlife in the park include bighorn sheep. A small herd lives in the French Creek Natural area. We did not see any, but the trail is 12 miles long and we only did a mile or so. One special animal we did see were mountain goats. We saw a herd on the Needles Highway on our way to Crazy Horse. The goats were mostly mothers with their kids. It was awesome to watch them one morning. There are also mountain goats at Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore but didn't see any there, we were lucky to see them in the park
We did see one coyote. We was hunting in a field and we watched him for 15 minutes. There are also burrowing owls and black footed ferrets in the prairie dog towns. We didn't see any but it is nice to
One other predator that feeds on prairie dogs is the prairie rattlesnake. We did a lot of trails, and I had mixed feelings about wanting to see one. I kept saying " I hope I see one on the last day". Well, on our last day there I did a morning bird walk before we drove off to the airport. There was a ranger leading it, along with myself and a couple from Iowa. Sure enough, while looking at a prairie falcon, we heard the rattle. We were only a few feet away. Since it told us where it was, we were now safe. So we started taking pictures. The guy from Iowa used his walking stick to clear some of the grass away while his wife and I took pictures. It was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway
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| Tunnel on Iron Mountain Road |
Kancamangus is in New Hampshire. Both roads have three tunnels that go through the mountains. The tunnels are only wide enough for one car. They are a bit scary if you're the driver because you can't see around the corner if there is another car coming. The tunnels on Iron Mountain Road actually frame Mount Rushmore in the distance. They were designed to, but it is pretty neat. The speed limit on these roads is 25. In most places it is hard to go past 15 mph because the curves are so sharp. Driving these roads is a great experience. They take forever to go from end to end, but they are beautiful.
Hiking
There are a bunch of trails in the park. The northwestern corner is in the true Black Hills. Mount Harney, the tallest point between the Rockies and Switzerland is here. The hiking is like you'd expect in New Hampshire (rocky and fairly steep). The southern trails go through rolling prairie.
Unfortuanetley, I didn't get to do the two trails I most wanted to. They are the Sunday Gulch Trail and Cathedral Spires. They are in the ri=ougher northern section. The day we went there, it rained almost all day. I wasn't making Laurie hike in the rain. Also, we were so high up and the clouds so low, we could only see fifty feet in front of us, not exactly ideal for viewing big scenery.
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| Sylvan Lake |
We did do a couple of trails. We hiked the Prairie Trail, which is what it says it is. The scenery was pretty. We climbed a big hill with nice views of the surrounding area.
We also did the Lovers Leap Trail, so named as legend has it that two Indians from waring tribes fell
in love but couldn't be together. So they went Romeo and Juliet and jumped from a huge granite outcrop.
By far, the prettiest hike we did was around Sylvan Lake. It was only about a mile. The lake is gorgeous. It was huge granite islands in it and parts of the lake abut cliff faces. This is in the area of Sunday Gulch Trail. We went up that way on the suggestion of a park ranger. Well worth the short walk.
Campgrounds
There are multiple campgrounds in the park. We spent most nights at Game Lodge Campground. It is
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| Notice the deer behind my tent at Game Lodge Campground |
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| Close up of the deer |
right next to one side of the Wildlife Loop Road. It has showers and place to do laundry. My favorite thing about it is Tatonka Theater. This is where the evening ranger programs are held. The building has bats. While listening to a ranger, bats fly all over the place. It is really cool.
The programs are really good. We saw a presentation on praiire dogs where I learned a lot and another about the history of the burros.
I can't say I know too much about the other campgrounds. I know there is one for people who bring their horse. Most of them seem to be wooded. We stayed at Center lake one night. It was a wooded campground. It was right on a lake. Laurie went for a swim while I went for a hike along the river.
All the campgrounds are listed with descriptions of each at the Custer State Park website. With a little research you should be able to find exactly what you are looking for.
As with the Badlands Post, please scroll down to enjoy the incredible Custer State Park Wildlife
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