Day Two - Black Hills

We decided to hit Custer State Park again today.  We wanted to take the wildlife road and also come down the Needles Highway in the reverse direction from what we did yesterday.  One of the high points of the day was watching a guy in an RV about the size of Pumpkin negotiate one of the tiny tunnels.  He made it!

We approached the park on Hwy 16A into Keystone then on down to the Game Lodge area and then onto the wildlife loop.  First up on the wildlife loop was a dandy pronghorn.  We saw several today, but this fellow seemed to pose for us.  We took some of the gravel roads taking off the main loop.  Pronghorn and ground squirrels were all we saw, but the trip was interesting.

The buffalo roundup was just finished yesterday.  Annually, the park buffalo are rounded up and culled out.  They keep about 1300 for the park and auction off the rest for breeding stock and meat.  The corrals where the buffalo are contained during the process is at about the halfway mark along the wildlife loop.  The roundup was over and the culling complete, so those unlucky buffalo that were selected for auction were being held in a large fenced field, awaiting the auction in November.

On the way out of the wildlife loop, the ever present bums accosted us.  Yes, those laughable lovable once tame now wild donkeys.  This old gray one came up to beg and get his head scratched only to get an earful from Ditto.  Ditto was going crazy, but the donkey just stood there and took it.

As we finished up the day's tour, we came across a couple of the lucky buffalo - apparently part of the chosen 1300.

We made it back to the base in time to get through the Patriot Gate (back gate) - just before 6 pm.  It was a long day, but a wonderful tour.  Tomorrow, we head for Deadwood and Lead.  It will be interesting to see what changes have occurred in 40 years.