This ended up being a good plan as we arrived at the national memorial at around 7:40 and there were plenty of parking spaces and very few people.
This is a picture of the Avenue of Flags, the walkway leading up to Mount Rushmore lined by flags from all 50 states, when we arrived.
By the time we left at around 10:00, this is what it looked like…
It was definitely nice to explore the grounds without having to battle the crowds, and as a result, we both really enjoyed the Mount Rushmore experience. We walked along the Presidential Trail which allowed you to view the memorial from several different angles and learn some history about both the construction of the site and the Presidents who are immortalized in stone.
Below is the view from the studio of Gutzon Borglum, the lead sculptor and man in charge of the Rushmore project. He died before his plans were fully realized.
Additional views from different angles along the trail…
After completing the trail, we decided to grab breakfast at Carvers’ Cafe, the cafeteria style restaurant at the base of Mount Rushmore. It was a surreal experience to eat breakfast with the view below in the background. The food wasn’t bad and not terribly overpriced.
We were also visited by some furry friends as we ate breakfast. We couldn’t resist this guy’s cuteness and dropped a grape for him.
When we left Mount Rushmore, the crowds had really started to build up. There was a wait to get into the gift shop, and the parking garage was filled. We picked good times to arrive and leave.
We returned to Custer State Park on the aforementioned Iron Mountain Road which is an incredibly scenic drive that has views of not only the Black Hills, but you’re able to still see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument in the distance. You’ll probably have trouble spotting either of them in this panoramic picture, but it will at least give you an idea of the view from the overlook at the top of the drive.
Below are some additional pictures taking from the overlook…
After completing the Iron Mountain Road and returning to Custer State Park, we stopped by the State Game Lodge, another lodge/restaurant in the park, to make a reservation for dinner. The park is another place that happens to be short staffed, so if you’re visiting anytime soon, reservations are required for dinner. The dinner at this lodge was better than Blue Bell, but the service was slow which we have gotten used to during this trip. It has been interesting to see that some people are a little less patient. Jenny and I realized early on that you can’t except things to return to normal so quickly.
Anyway, after making the reservation, we drove back to Blue Bell, and on the way, we had two wildlife encounters.
The first was this lone, male buffalo that was just a few hundred feet away from the State Game Lodge. This was the first time we had seen one so close to where people are staying. We had seen pictures of buffalo herds wandering through the campgrounds and lodges, but hadn’t experienced this ourselves. It was a cool sight to see.
This guy eventually wandered back into the woods, so we got back in the car and had barely driven a half-mile when we spotted these guys just off the road…
We knew bighorn were in the park, but this was definitely a pleasant surprise to see a group of males as we hadn’t seen many males at Badlands. We spent a fair bit of time watching them and taking pictures. It was a wonderful experience.
As if this day wasn’t eventful enough, we stopped by the cabin to briefly check on Bitey before heading to Wind Cave National Park.
Right next door to Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park contains (not too surprisingly) a rather lengthy cave system. What is a little surprising is the fact that tours sell out incredibly quickly. By the time we arrived at the visitor’s center around 2:00 pm, the tours were completely booked, so we decided that we would get up early another day and try again as they don’t allow you to book in advance. This freed up time to explore the park and do a little hike.
Below our pictures we took on the way to the visitor’s center…
We drove through the park taking pictures of the scenery and wildlife as we were making our way to the trailhead. Before arriving, we came across what the park officials call a “buffalo jam” - a traffic jam caused by a herd crossing the road. The buffalo move at their own speed and don’t seem to care what the cars are doing. It was neat to see.
We also spotted some additional bulls, pronghorn, and prairie dogs…
We reached the trailhead which was a relatively short 3.2 mile out-and-back trail called Wind Cave Canyon Trail. The way out was nice, and we took pictures of the canyon walls and flowers along the way…
At some point we started to see signs of buffalo and spotted a few in the distance. Everything was fine until we ran into another couple who said there was a large bull just off the trail who was acting a little bit aggressively. They decided they were turning around. After taking a picture from a safe distance, we decided to do the same thing…
This is where the story gets a little dramatic. We were heading back to the car when we round a bend and there’s another herd crossing the trail. We immediately stop and back up a little bit. We have heard that if you’re in or near your car, then you’re fairly safe. Outside of your car, it’s best to give them distance, especially since babies are with the herd at this time of year. Anyway, after we think the herd had moved on, we continued the hike to round the bend again and come face to face with six bulls staring right at us. This was intimidating enough as male buffalo are the largest mammals in North America, so we backed up again, and what happened next was even more intimidating. All six of the bulls ran off the trail to a ridge overlooking the trail and continued to stare down at us. They couldn’t have been more than five yards from us at this point. We could hear the sounds of their hooves and snorts quite clearly. We have had numerous wildlife encounters during our travels, and we both had never felt this level of concern. Our adrenaline was pumping, and we were both a little worried that they might decide to charge. We decided to continue back on the trail trying to put distance between us. I glanced back periodically, and all six of them were tracking our movements but staying put. We managed to round the bend and lose sight of them, but both Jenny and I were in a rush to get safely back to the car. The remainder of the hike passed without incident, but this experience definitely had us a little more wary about our interactions with these animals.
Overall, this was a fun day, and the fact that we walked away from this incident unharmed just made for another interesting travel story. Needless to say, we didn’t stop to take pictures of either the herd and the group of bulls as our main goal was to walk away without being gored or trampled.
We finished the day with the aforementioned dinner at the State Game Lodge and were finally in a place to smile about the whole experience.
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