Day 12 Custer State Park

 It was a short distance to Custer State Park, watching the prairie grass dance in the breeze as we drove. Suddenly the topography changed; we were out of the Badlands and into terrain sculpted by glaciers, rolling hills with greenery…and a dinosaur. Custer couldn’t be more opposite of the Badlands. After setting up camp, we drove the Wildlife Loop suggested by the Ranger. The scenery was lush with outcroppings of rock but then a cluster of burnt trees would appear. Apparently they had a huge fire some years back and they do controlled burns. First thing we passed were Pronghorns which are like antelope but they were too far away to get a decent picture. Then came turkeys, prairie dogs, and deer. A coyote actually raced along side us for awhile till he was distracted by a roadside tidbit. Then came the main attraction; a huge herd of bison/buffalo languishing on both sides of the road. John could have reached out the window to pet one. Now don’t judge us, but after that encounter, we stopped for dinner at a 100 year old lodge and had…wait for it, buffalo burgers. Tasty! As I sit here writing the blog, two are grazing 60 yards from our camper. Custer covers 71,000 acres and houses 4 visitor centers, 4 lodges and a few educational facilities, all manned by volunteers. One center that we stopped at was the former homestead of a “herder”, now called a ranger, built in 1937. Can’t imagine how he built it. A little history of the park - it was named for George Armstrong Custer who lead a massive expedition here in 1874 and discovered gold. The park was designated a game preserve in 1913 then made into a state park in 1919 through the work of Gov. Norbeck. Tomorrow we’re going to Needles Hwy and Charles Badger Clark Trail, homestead of the “cowboy poet” and the first poet laureate of SD. 

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