Wednesday 9-25-24 & Thursday 9-26-24 Custer State Park

 

It's my birthday

Wednesday 9-25-24  My Birthday, Custer State Park and Jewel Cave

Today was my birthday. I woke up about 7:00 and we had pancakes for breakfast. Afterwards we put things down and secure because we’re moving on.

Larry told me we had a change of plans, we’re going to Custer Sate Park. He got up before me and wrote down all the sites that were available at Center Lake Campground. This campground is first come first serve but you have to reserve the site you want if it’s available. The sites come available at 6:00 am, which means if you don’t reserve it someone else can take it. You can reserve the site for one night online. If you want to extend your stay you just have to call them and let them know how long. He found out there was a lot of sites so we weren’t worried if we just show up. There is no cell service in the campground so you have to go someplace that has cell.

Custer State Park was 30 miles from Dutchman Campground. We drove through the small town of Custer. It’s a quaint touristy town with restaurants, souvenir shops, Dakotamart, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, Dollar General, ATV rental place, gas stations with convenient stores and few little shops. 

 

Custer State Park

 

We got to the entrance to Custer State Park and bought a week long pass for $20. Then we drove to the campground. The road to Center Lake Campground was very curvy and at places the curves were tight. As we drove we saw a herd of deer on the side of a hill and in the ditch. This is the first time on this trip that we have seen deer in South Dakota. We got to the campground about 9:00, looked at the sites and decided on three we would like. We were very surprised there was a phone for you to use to reserve your site. We stopped and Larry called the number and got put on hold. Once the lady asked how she could help us. We told her what campground we were in and what site we wanted. The first site was taken but the second site wasn’t. We drove back to the site to put our chairs out because we were going to leave for bit. We have a beautiful site, that backs up to a hill, there are boulders and a lot of tree. Larry only had to block the front driver wheel up one block.

 

Larry reserving a site in Custer State Park

 

Once we put our chairs out Larry drove to Jewel Cave National Monument. We were going to go to Wind Cave but it was closed because they were replacing the elevator. Jewel Cave was about 25 miles from Custer State Park. We arrived at Jewel Cave about 10:15. We parked the Minnie in the RV parking, which was excellent because they were pull-through and they left a lot of room for the RVs to turn. No cars were in front of them. We went to the booth and bought our tour tickets, because we were seniors we got in half price ($3.00 a piece). Our tour was the Discovery Tour and didn’t start until 11:45. We had an hour to kill. We went back to the Minnie and had lunch. Larry wanted to take me out to lunch for my birthday but it didn’t work out. We had sandwiches for lunch and read.

The tour guide was Bob and he was a lot of fun. He cracked jokes throughout the tour and gave a four-year old boy (Teddy) a flashlight to help him show different crystals in the cave. Towards the end he asked a Special Needs guy to help him. This made the guy’s day, he couldn’t stop smiling. This was so cool. The tour was for a half hour, Bob wasn’t scheduled to give the tour but he asked the ranger if he could do the tour considering he had a friend there. She said of course you can. We started the tour by taking an elevator down to the cave. Our group was so big we barely fit in the elevator. We didn’t go down too many steps because our tour was about the discovery of the cave. Bob pointed out a few things and explained how the cave was discovered and that people are still discovering more of the cave. The cave was a dry cave, which means it wasn’t made by water. As we were exiting the cave we had to walk through a liquid chemical to rinse off our shoes so the bats wouldn’t get sick. We had a super tour. 

 

A bench at Jewel Cave National Monument

 

Some of the crystals in the cave

 

More crystals 

Bob our tour guide

 

On the way back to the campground we stopped in Custer to pick up a cake for my birthday. I decided on a turtle cheesecake. Then we drove back to the campground. As we were driving the park road we saw a bison, a group of turkeys and a couple of deer. The drive was very pretty. Once back to our site we parked the Minnie for the day. The rest of the day we relaxed in our chairs and read. 

 

My birthday cake

 

While Larry was relaxing the camp host (Bob) came by to welcome us to the park. He told Larry where the free showers were and where we can fill our RV with water.

After dinner I walked around for an hour and a half. The first 45 minutes I walked to where the showers are and the beach. Then I walked around the day area to the ramp. The last 45 minutes I walked around our loop. By the end of the day I got 17,000 steps. I had a super birthday.

 

 

Kayaking down Center Lake in Custer State Park

 

Canoeing on Center Lake

 

One of the picnic sites in the day area

 

Center Lake

 

Camping at Center Lake Campground

Thursday 9-26-24  Wildlife Loop Road and Buffalo Roundup Art Festival

 

I woke up before 7:00 because I couldn’t sleep any longer. It was 68 degrees in the Minnie, the warmest it has been on the trip. I made pancakes for breakfast. Then we put things down and secured because Larry’s taking me for a ride on the 18 mile long Wildlife Loop Road. We were ready to go at 7:45.

The Wildlife Loop Road was about 10 miles from the campground. The road there was very curvy and sometimes the curves are tight. We saw a few White-tail deer (two groups of a doe and fawn). When we got to the loop we checked in at the gate, the gentleman said we were ok because we have a pass good for the week. During our drive we saw a lot of black-tail prairie dogs along side of the road. As we drove we saw a lot of wild turkeys walking in the road, they were eating the acorns off the road. We watched them walk down the road and into a ravine. We also saw more walking on the prairie. We also saw a few pronghorns, they were huge and looked like white-tail deer. We saw a group of burros under a tree to keep cool. We didn’t see any bison until we got to a fenced in area with a gate and a cattle guard. Everyone stopped to see them. It was a nice size herd. Some were rolling in the dirt and other were just walking around. You had to watch the bison because it’s their home and they will walk right in front of a car. A little bit down the loop there was a spot, where you can get a closer look, in fact you can walk up to the fence where they are to take pictures. There was a visitor center right off the loop. We drove by the corral, where they roundup the bison. The Wildlife Loop is 18 miles long and is very beautiful. 

 

Wild turkeys on the loop

 

Burros under a shade tree

Pronghorn

 

A herd of Bison

 

A couple more bison

 

A black-tip prairie dog

 

Tomorrow is Custer State Parks yearly Buffalo Roundup. The park does this every year to control the size of the herd in the park and to give the buffalo their yearly shots. Thousands of people show up to see the roundup. They have cowboys on horses to roundup all the bison on the loop and put them in corrals. There are two viewing areas to watch the roundup from. They keep the buffalo in the corrals until they are branded, tested and sorted. They separate the buffalo into groups, some are sold and other will stay in the park. We’re not going to attend because there are thousands of people watching and it will be a nightmare. The lady, who checked us in said you stay in line for hours. The parking areas open at 6:15 am and the roundup starts at 9:30. It will end about noon when all the bison are taken care of.

By driving around we got a good idea on how the roundup works. The bison are already close by, they herd them into the corrals and process them. We also saw where you park, an open field on the side of a hill. In order to see you need binoculars. They have been doing the Buffalo Roundup for 59 years.

After driving the loop we went to the State game Lodge, where the Buffalo Roundup Art Festival was being held. They have been doing this for 31 years. This goes on for three days with continuous music, entertainment and food. Over 100 arts and craft booths are setup, artisans and crafters from across the Midwest sell their wares. The parking of the event is about .25 mile for where the booths are. They had a very nice paved walkway to get you there. You cross over a creek via a bridge. The booths are setup in four rows and there also are food, kettle corn and snack booths. We walked around and look at the different art and craft exhibits. The artists had a lot of talent, a couple in particular did their art out of copper and the paintings were gorgeous. The lady at that booth explained their process. We walked around for about an hour and had a great time.

 

State Game Lodge in Custer State Park

 

The Buffalo Roundup Art Festival booths

 

Welcome to the Buffalo Roundup Art Festival

 

When we got to the Minnie we had internet so Larry did some research on where we’re going from here. We were at the lodge for about and hour and a half. Then we went back to the campground to have lunch.

It was hot, about 87 degrees and we were very grateful we had shade at our site. We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book. 

Before dinner we walked over and took a shower. While there Larry got a little internet so he checked his e-mail and the weather. When we got home I barbecued a Bacon Wrap with Pork. I didn’t walk around the campground because I didn’t want to get sweaty. So I did my steps in place. I ended out doing 17,000 steps.