Last Day in Custer

 

Tuesday - 5-18-2021

With our “extra” day today, since yesterday turned out to be Monday instead of Tuesday, we basically took the day off.  We did some chores, went into town to get caught up on the laundry, and Joe got some of the outside stuff put away so we can travel tomorrow.  I forgot my Blog notes when we got to the laundromat, so Joe had to drive back to the RV to get them for me, but the WiFi at the laundromat (called “Lost Sock”) was awesome and I was able to get the last 2 days posted.  There was one more buffalo statue in town that I needed pictures of, so we got that done.

In the afternoon, we rested, took naps, and read for a while.  With no internet or TV at the camp, we headed back to town for pizza, then our last drive through the Wildlife Loop at the state park.  We were a little early for evening, so we took the north loop, Needles Highway to Iron Mountain Highway, and came in to the Loop on the northeast side.  We were still looking for those Bighorn rams but no luck, all we saw were deer.  Once back on the Loop, we did see a lone buffalo drinking water in a creek, which we hadn’t seen before. 

There are some nice equestrian camps in this Park, with good pens for the horses.  We don’t know if riding is restricted to trails, or if you can ride anywhere you like, but it would be a really cool place to bring your horses.  Have to make sure they weren’t shy of buffalo, I guess.  Joe stopped for a pitstop so I got a picture of him in the Grasslands.  And he found three antelope on a far slope while we were there, which we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. 

Animals were scarce tonight.  We did find the buffalo herd again, they had moved a few miles east.  We saw one other antelope, 6 turkeys (one wandered right onto the road in front of us), 2 cow elk, and deer.  But even the deer were fewer.  We saw 46 on the North highways, and only 18 on the Wildlife Loop.  Today was the warmest, sunniest day we had here, and we wondered if the animals were waiting until later, but by this time, it was just before dark, our usual drive time. 

We did see these 4 deer, and it looked like 2 of them were smaller, not babies, but not full-grown.

We have a 10-miles stretch from the Park to Custer, then about 12 miles from Custer to the National Forest we are camped in.  We always see deer in yards in that 10-mile stretch.  Tonight, one of them crossed the road, and stopped, right in front of us.  We have tried to be really aware of that possibility, and if we hadn’t seen it in time, we would definitely have hit it.   We wonder if deer in the rest of the Dakotas are as plentiful as they are in this area. 

I had a new experience here.  I had hard-boiled some eggs the other day, and had them on the top shelf of my refrigerator.  Well, when I was going to give Joe one, they were frozen.  So we left it on the counter overnight.  Yesterday morning, when I cracked it, the shell slid off in one piece, and the egg itself was all shriveled up and rubbery.  Couldn’t think of a use for it so it went in the trash.  I moved the other 3 eggs down in the frig, but I am guessing they will be the same.

Wildlife count for today:

Deer – 64 (again, I didn’t count the ones in the town stretches)

Elk – 2

Antelope – 4

Turkey – 6

Buffalo – a herd, plus some loners

I read at an exhibit kiosk about the fire here.  Named the Galena fire, it started on July 4, 1988, caused by lightning.  It covered 16,788 acres, mostly in Custer State Park.  It was contained 5 days later.  We don't know if the fire damage we still see was from that fire, or if there were more recent ones, since that would have been 33 years ago.  As we left our campground on Thursday, we saw more fire damage, and since the Galena was mostly in the Park, and we are probably 30 miles west of there, we assume there were later fires that caused the damage.  Regardless, it was sad to see.

We have really enjoyed this area, but are ready to move tomorrow to Spearfish.  We are camping in Spearfish City Campground, with full hook-ups, and hopefully a phone signal.  I am really looking forward to having those amenities again.  We plan on driving to Sturgis, Deadwood,  and, of course, the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byways.  There are supposed to be some waterfalls there.  We will probably also make the drive to Devil’s Tower out of there, which is in Wyoming.

We drove about 100 miles on Monday, and very few, probably about 100 today.  Our drive tomorrow to the new location is only about 55 miles, so we hope to have slower days now.