South Dakota
This past summer my husband and I decided to go onto a road trip to South Dakota…..in an RV.
We have never done this before and the initial reason behind the decision was because we wanted to take Atticus with us.
My husband planned EVERYTHING. He did an amazing job and when we were reviewing his plan, we looked at each other and said “we have to take one of our grandchildren with us”!
Thru the process of elimination, grandchild #6 was the clear choice! He adores my husband and would literally did a hole with him, if he could spend time with Apa. This whole idea emerged into the most wonderful long term plan. We decided over the next 5-10 years, to take each of one our 11 grandchildren on a separate trip, just one of them, Ama and Apa. It would be their very own special memory of undivided attention, from us to them.
Whilst our intention was for it to be the three of us, we ended up taking his mother, our daughter too and thus our story begins.
We left Thursday morning and drove straight thru to Chamberlain, South Dakota where we spent our first night.
The trip out there was nothing short of lovely! My husband drove, daughter sat in the front seat and #6 and I played games and talked the entire way. It was liberating being able to do everyday things, and travel at the same time. The elevated vantage was especially nice.
We woke up Friday morning and headed to the Badlands. If you have never been there, it’s like stepping onto different planet…..literally. The terrain is like nothing you have ever seen. With bedrock near the surface, coupled with practically no soil and moisture, there is very little vegetation, i.e. nothing green.
People have inhabited the Badlands for at least eleven thousand years starting first with the mammoth hunters or Paleo Indians, followed by the nomadic tribes and lastly the Lakota, who actually still live there.
The name comes from the Lakota people who called it “mako sica” or “bad lands”!
Badlands National Park contains one of the worlds richest fossil concentrations, which leads us to our next stop…..Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Mammoth Site is an active paleontological dig site and to date has 61 mammoth fossil remains.
You may wonder why there are so many and the story is actually quite sad.
A sinkhole was located at the Mammoth Site. Attracted by the warm water and vegetation, the mammoths entered to eat and drink. The steep sides were slippery and occasionally trapped the mammoths, where unable to escape, they would die.
You can see bones lying exactly where they were discovered.
From here we continued to Custer State Park.
Custer State Park is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota and covers 71,000 acres of rolling grasslands, rugged mountains and everything in between. Its breathtakingly beautiful and abundantly full of a variety of wildlife.
We set out on the 18 mile “Wildlife Loop” specifically in search of bison and the wild burro, affectionately referred to as “begging burros”.
Our first pass thru, we encountered many bison! One or two, here or there, lounging comfortably enjoying themselves!
Did you know that there is actually a difference between buffalo and bison?
Whilst they each look similar and the names are frequently used interchangeably, buffalo are indigenous to Asia and Africa, bison are native to North America and Europe.
The herd of nearly 1400 BISON occupy Custer State Park, which makes it one of the largest publicaly owned herds.
We decided to call it a day and head to camp, knowing we would come back tomorrow.
Saturday morning we woke up and to make a very long story short, our RV broke down!
The good thing was that it happened at the campground, as opposed to along the side of the road or any other truly awful spot for an RV to break down.
People who camp are really nice and we were surrounded by help. We were able to rent a small SUV and while our day didn’t get started until mid afternoon, we hit it hard and headed for Sylvan Lake!
Sylvan Lake was beautiful! You can hike all the way around but we only went half way, as we had Atticus with us and the terrain would have been difficult for him to navigate.
Having a smaller vehicle as opposed to a huge RV, had its benefits. We were now able to travel thru all the mountain passes. Single lane mind you and the roads were twisty because you are on a mountain. This meant you couldn’t always see what was coming at you! It was breathtakingly beautiful!
We were able to travel thru the Needles Eye Tunnel on our way to the Cathedral Spires.
The Cathedral Spires are tall granite spires hundreds of feet above the surrounding terrain.
Next stop…..Mt Rushmore!
There are so many spots to view it at….from different angles. #6 saw it first!
Mt Rushmore was the vision of Gutzon Borglum which took over 14 yrs to complete. From 1927 to 1941 men and women worked to carve the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln into a South Dakota mountain.
We leave, as we will return tomorrow, head back to Custer State Park and continue our search for the wild burros.
This has now clearly become an obsession.
I am not certain my travel buddies share my enthusiasm but they indulge me none the less! There is no way I am leaving South Dakota without seeing the burros!
It is fast approaching dinner time and still no burros. Where are they?
We decide to make the short drive to Keystone for dinner at Ruby House Restaurant.
Sunday morning involved more phone conversations regarding our predicament, so we didn’t get started until early afternoon.
Our first stop was heading back to Mt Rushmore. The presidential trail, including 422 stairs, gets you up close and personal with the mountain sculpture.
We had to get Thomas Jefferson ice cream. Thomas Jefferson is responsible for the first written ice cream recipe in the United States. The vanilla ice cream served in the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is based on his recipe from 1780.
From here we go back to Custer State Park in search of the burros.
Back tracking here slightly I should tell you that prior to leaving, we had watched many YouTube videos. We found a couple who are traveling all state parks, in a vancamper, with their dog. Their insight was extraordinary and we gleaned much information from them. Everything from which camp grounds to stay, where to eat, sights to see…..the list is endless.
My favorite tip was bringing apples and carrots to feed the burros.
We traversed the wildlife loop, again, for a couple hours, even stopping at the Custer State Park Visitor Center to ask where they had been seen last.
No luck!
Quite by chance we managed to stumble upon a ranger. We explained our frustration and that we had seen what appeared to be a small group of something.
He chuckled and said “those are the burros”!
I was expecting a large herd!
He explained it was a herd…..of 11!
We found them at the end of a long road and actually had to jump a fence. We walked thru brambles and thistles making our way to a clearing.
Once there, we began wildly shaking our bags full of goodies to get their attention.
It worked!
They walked towards us, all 11 of them, with eager anticipation.
I think everyone would agree that feeding the wild burros was the highlight of our trip and one none of us will ever forget!
The burros have roamed Custer State Park for nearly a century, once being used as pack animals to transport visitors from Sylvan Lake Lodge up the steep path to Black Elk Peak(the highest point in the U.S. east of the Rockies).
Feeling very satisfied, after our perfectly delightful experience with the elusive wild burro, we return to our camp site, and clean up for dinner.
One of my husbands favorite parts of planning our trip, was to select local dining treasures! Mt. Rushmore Brewing Company & Pounding Fathers Restaurant was one recommended by our YouTube couple. They were spot on and we actually ate here twice because we loved it. They have a huge deck off the back and even provided Atticus with his own water bowl.
#6 and I played bean bag tosh while we waited for our burgers!
We finished dinner in perfect time to make the Legends In Light at Crazy Horse memorial.
The show turns the mountain side into a giant screen for an amazing display.
Legends in Light tells the story of heritage, cultures and contributions by Native Americans to our country.
What I think is truly incredible is this monument, when finished, will be TEN times larger than Mount Rushmore. It may be the largest sculpture in the world!
The project started in 1939 by Lakota elders wanting to honor the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse. Korczak Kiolkowski worked until his passing in 1982. His widow Ruth, took over the lead until her death in 2014, when the torch was passed to their children.
Many millions in federal funding have been turned down, in order to maintain the integrity of the original plan. The Kiolkowski family continues to work with no end in sight.
Monday morning we are up early. We have time to head back to Crazy Horse and visit the museums before making our way home.
The Museums of Crazy Horse include The Indian Museum Of North America, The Native American Educational and Cultural Center, the Mountain Carving Gallery and the Ziolkowski Family Life Collection. There is also The Indian University of North America. Each one is expertly complete down to the last detail.
We reluctantly leave to prepare for our trip home.
We could actually see Crazy Horse from our campsite and watched it fade into the horizon as we say goodbye.
We were all exhausted after five days of moving nonstop.
We truly had the most amazing time. South Dakota was everything we hoped it would be and more. One of our grandchildren wants South Dakota to be his trip with Ama and Apa, and we cant wait to come back!