Our plan for Day 5 was to visit Custer State Park.
Custer State Park was established in 1912 as a forest and game preserve. It's forests have been somewhat reduced by fire, logging, and the mountain pine beetle. And hunting and fishing keep the animal population in check. But, all in all, it is still a beautiful forest full of wildlife.
Custer State Park was established in 1912 as a forest and game preserve. It's forests have been somewhat reduced by fire, logging, and the mountain pine beetle. And hunting and fishing keep the animal population in check. But, all in all, it is still a beautiful forest full of wildlife.
We enjoyed it so much that we came back on Days 6 and 7 just to see if we couldn't catch a glimpse of something new.
On Wednesday mornings, the park offers free canoeing. We paddled around the shores of Center Lake.
There are many scenic byways in the park. This one happens to be the Iron Mountain Road on the eastern edge of the park. Scenic byways are punctuated by hairpin turns, cliff-hugging pavement, narrow bridges, and steep inclines. This particular road also boasts three one-lane tunnels.
I almost had to sedate Ma. She doesn't react well to such roads. I love them.
The tunnels on this road are unique because they frame Mount Rushmore on the other side.
Speaking of Mount Rushmore, once we'd gotten to the end of the scenic byway, we needed to go back to the hotel to grab something we'd forgotten. Our trip took us past Mount Rushmore. To our utter surprise, just past the parking area, we saw this mountain goat nanny and her two kids just casually eating along the roadside. Needless to say, they stopped traffic.
Fun fact: Mountain goats are not native to western South Dakota. The Canadian government donated six goats to Custer State Park in 1924. Estimates now say some 200 mountain goats live in the Black Hills.