Arriving at Custer State Park (CSP), we were very surprised and happy to find the campground among large conifer trees. We envisioned the campground to be like the rest of the plains states.

This section of photos is divided into two parts -- the campground in CSP and the area around Deadwood. Dick's niece, and her family, live in Deadwood.

CSP-In addition to CSP, there are three sites in the National Park (NP) system -- Wind Cave NP; Jewel Cave NM; Mt Rushmore N Mem. and Crazy Horse Menmorial, under construction and not yet in the NP system.

Since we have visited other caves, we did not take any underground tours. We did however visit the information centers and watched the videos.

We had read and heard from other campers that the wildlife in CSP was outstanding. So we wanted to get on the Wildlife drive as soon as possible. As with most wildlife, they are most active in the early mornoing and late afternoon. Our first afternoon drive around the wildlife produced a couple of antelopes and some prairie dog mounds. Yes we were disappointed. However, the next morning the "show" was unbelieveable. We saw a few antelope and here and there, at a distance, some bison. Then, we came over a small hill, and there were at least 500 bison, mingling with the cars on the pavement. We pulled over and some of herd went by the passenger side of the truck, within 4 to 30 feet from the door. Joy could have reached out and touched one. The "parade" lasted about an hour. When we did move on, we found out there was a watering hole right near the road. A ranger came by in his truck and was overheard to say, "In my 16 years at CSP, I have never seen a traffic jam like this one".

Later we headed to Mt. Rushmore on the Needles Highway. About half way, we stopped at the entrance of one of the vehicle tunnels to see a family of mountain goats licking the walls of the the tunnel. Soon, a car wanted to pass through the tunnel and the goats went out the far end. We quickly drove to the other end and found them grazing just below the road in the rocky slope.

We continued on to Mt. Rushmore. It was very crowded and they charged $13 to park! Mt Rushmore is truly an awesome place. The size of the faces, the magnitude and complexity of the amount of rock that was "chisled" away is mind boggling. However, I was disappointed. Joy says I am not allowed any negative remarks in any of the narratives. Suffice to say the park was exteremely commericalized.

Deadwood
Next, we moved to a campground closer to Deadwood. While passing through the small town of Hill City we noticede some unusual scultures along the main street. Our reason for going to Deadwood was to meet with Dick's sister, her husband, their daughter Heather and her family. Deadwood was founded in the gold rush to the Black Hills area and is also the place where the famous gunfighter Wild Bill Hickock was murdered. He is buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery. While we were there we fished in a local lake, panned for gold and enjoyed a full town tour by Heather.

Our next stop will be Devil's Tower in Wyoming.