Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park

It has been a few years since we have driven through Custer State Park. We are in The Black Hills for only a few days this trip. We did the R&R the first full day so I was ready for something different the second day. I didn't want a day full of geocaching, and instead wanted to play tourist. We found a solution that compromised the two...a drive on the Wildlife Loop of Custer State Park.

We had not purchased a state park pass this year, so we paid our $20 at the entrance. We got our money's worth today!

Seeing wildlife along the drive is NOT a given. So when something is spotted, I take a photo 'cause you never know if you'll see another or something better. It is a pronghorn.

Two lone bulls were next to the road. We weren't sure if we'd see more, so we took pictures of these two guys.

this guy just posed for us and a number of other cars

and their cameras

we spent some time at these corrals during the 

Buffalo Round-Up several years ago

the corrals were empty

the place looked so different than the last time

While driving up to the corrals, we noticed two herds on the hills to the east. We drove back the way we had come and found a dirt road that would take us closer to the herd.

 One herd was on the hillside and another in the lowland. Both groups were heading south.

And on the way to the other road, we saw a small herd of pronghorns.

people had gotten out of their vehicles for a closer look

I did with the truck between me and the bison

the bison were NOT close to the road

We continued on the CSP road and saw this bison skeleton in the prairie grass. We were headed to a geocache, the grave of a pioneer.

passed a bison wallow on our walk

and thankfully, no bison

Hubby made the find while I took photos

1824-1897

"Dr. Alvin Herbert settled along the South Fork of Lame Johnny Creek in 1888 near the stage station so he could get his medications directly from the coaches. A well respected citizen he was at one time the postmaster of Bakerville, born in Ohio on October 28, 1824 living in seven different states before moving here after the death of his wife. One of his sons Almon ran a large ranch in the area and upon his death the Dr was buried on Almon’s ranch. A concrete marker set with various native stones was erected over his grave. Today it is the only visible manifestation of the Bakerville area."

Dr. Herbert's headstone

small protected cemetery

There were some other graves in the area, but we chose not to look for them.

4 miles down the road another herd of bison

this time they got close and personal

look at the burrs in their coats

we could really hear them bellowing, too

they stopped traffic

we didn't see many babies

more yearlings than babies

love the color differentiation

Then it was onto another back road in search of a few more geocaches.

long horns, not wildlife

finding Hubby

mule deer posing for me

As I said, we did get our money's worth on this drive! We also saw some wild turkeys, but did not get their photo. And of course, prairie dogs, but they didn't make the album either.

We did some more geocaching in and around the community of Custer. That will be the next blog post.