8.31.2023

Rapid City, SD

Mileage: The RV didn't move. Maybe I should have included the truck mileage as a separate category?

Hot Water!

The morning started with a visit from our new favorite RV Tech, Danno Rezac, of Anywhere RV Repair and Inspection. He was very knowledgeable and kind. He confirmed what Kenny had suspected that the Water Heater Thermal Cut Off broke. The part should be here tomorrow and is an easy replacement. While he was here he also fixed one of our burners that wasn't working. Our many thanks to Danno!

Custer State Park

We then journeyed About 35 minutes to Custer State Park. Dogs are allowed so Comet went along. You will hear him in the background of some of the videos. He was not impressed by the bison or the burros. You might also hear a bit of colorful language as a bison came by quite close to the truck on Kenny's side which he wasn't expecting.

The park has many parts. Today we visited The Wildlife Loop, Needles Highway, and Sylvan Lake.

After stopping at the Visitor's Center we started The Wildlife Loop. Our first sighting was a group of Pronghorns.

We soon found the herd of bison. There are over 1,400 in the park and we saw many of them. We were stuck in a bison jam for 30 minutes or so with the huge beasts wandering on and off the road around us.

The landscape in this part of the park is open and rolling.

The Begging Burros are famous. They are descendants from the herd that used to haul visitors to the top of Black Elk Peak. When rides were discontinued they were released into the park. They are the only animals you can feed in the park. I remembered to take carrots along with us.

Prairie Dogs were next. The town was not as big as in Roosevelt National Park, but they are still so fun to watch and listen to!

The rest of the wildlife loop we enjoyed beautiful scenery.

We stopped for a picnic lunch near the Blue Bell Lodge.

We then took a narrow, windy dirt road up to the Mount Coolidge Fire Tower. I was thankful Kenny was driving, we were in our 4x4 truck, and that on the way back down I was closer to the mountain. The views from the observation platform were amazing!

The Needles Highway was our next venture. The road's name comes from the needle-like granite formations along the road.

We stopped at an overlook with sweeping views.

Three tunnels are the highlight of the drive. The first is Iron Creek Tunnel.

The second is Needles Eye Tunnel

Sylvan Lake is a beautiful spot with clear water and a hiking trail around it. All three of us enjoyed the walk with a little rock scrambling thrown in!