2019 Road Trip – Custer State Park

We had a short trip Monday from The Badlands to Custer State Park in the Black Hills. We took SR-44 West out of the Badlands Motel and Campground to Rapid City and then Bypass 16 to SR-79 which intersected with SR-36 which takes you right into Custer State Park. SR-44 was one of the most scenic drives we’ve taken. It runs parallel to the Badlands on the South side and eventually crosses a portion of the National Park as the park jogs to the South. A very heavy thunderstorm rolled through the previous night and it was very windy today. Fortunately, SR-44 is very desolate and we had the entire two lane road to ourselves most of the time.

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Custer State Park is incredibly beautiful and we crossed a major portion of it to get to the Stockade Lake North Campground which is closer to the West side of the park. Our local campground ranger assured us we were in one of the two best campsites in the campground and we certainly agreed. Site #23 was huge and very private. The cats got to sit outside in their portable cat habitat both evenings and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had campfires both nights.

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After arriving and setting up camp on Monday we chose to drive the 18 mile Wildlife Loop Road. This road lived up to its name from the very beginning. For starters, as we traversed back East along the main park road (16-A) we encountered a very large male buffalo grazing along the road by itself. We stopped, took pictures, and watched as it meandered right by our car without a care in the world. Within the first couple of miles on the Wildlife Loop Road we spotted a large heard of Buffalo grazing near Custer State Park’s airport so we turned the car around and drove up the airport road. The herd was heading down a dirt side road so we, along with many others did the same. We eventually moved ahead of the herd and pulled off on a gravel pullout between two boulders and watched them graze. The herd eventually reached us (they move along as they graze) and a small calf stopped by our car to scratch its head on one of the boulders. Soon after, a large adult (which we think was a parent) stopped to scratch as well. This took place about 5 feet from our car door (see video). We have named them “Itchy” and “Itchy Jr”).

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Shortly after encountering the herd of buffalo, we spotted what looked like deer on the side of a hill and stopped to watch them. We think they were Pronghorns and we watched the group of them for a bit.

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Next we encountered a group of what the park refers to as “feral” burros. They seemed anything but feral. They weren’t the least bit afraid of cars or humans. We got out of the car to take pictures and a white one came right up to me. I wanted to pet it, but elected to follow park rules and keep my hands to myself. By this time, Beth had moved forward about 20 yards to take pictures of the other burros. Since I didn’t pet this white burro, it locked its radar in on Beth and slowly worked its way up behind her. She had her arms up taking pictures and it passed with it’s head right under her left arm and then nudged her with its side as it passed by. Beth’s reaction was priceless. She got strafed by a “feral” burro that just needed some love. Like me, she wanted to pet it, but chose to stick to the rules and keep her hands to herself.

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On the backside of Wildlife Loop Road, we spotted another group of Pronghorns on a hillside and stopped to take some pictures. We encountered two more herds of buffalo grazing before we completed the loop.

The next day we headed off to Mount Rushmore via the 17 mile Iron Mountain Road. This was another great drive with incredible scenery along with major elevation changes. The best parts were passing through two one lane tunnels (barely big enough for a car) that each framed Mount Rushmore in front of you as you passed through.

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On the way back from Mount Rushmore we drove the 14 mile Needles Highway. This was a very narrow road with even smaller tunnels to pass through (one of them is just 8′ 4″ wide). Having met our two new buffalo pals (Itchy and Itchy Jr) the previous day, Beth decided it was time we tasted some buffalo meat (who’d a thunk???), so she determined that the Sylvan Lake Lodge’s restaurant along Needles Highway would be the best place to give it a try. Now you all know that I love to try new foods (NOT!), but I’ll have to say that the Buffalo Meatball appetizer at the lodge was to die for. As for the meat, it tastes just like chicken. Well, not really, tasted a lot like beef, just not quite as moist. But the sauce that covered the meatballs was unbelievable. Once again, if I had read what was in it (sour cream, etc) I probably wouldn’t have eaten it, but it had just the right amount of spice (almost at my heat limit) to be just perfect. Beth loved it enough to order a buffalo burger for her main entree and was very pleased.

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That’s all we had time for in our day and a half in Custer State Park. We definitely hope to return and next time we will stay longer. It is now one of our favorite places.