Hiking in the Black Hills

More Wildlife

Bike riding at Custer State Park.

 

A bison hanging out just outside of the Visitor's Center.

Alpine Slide

Many, many years ago when I was around 12 years old, I visited my cousins in Massachusetts for the summer; and my Uncle Al and Aunt Di took all of us kids to an Alpine Slide.  It had speedy curves, you can go a fast as you want, I fell in love with it!  I have never seen one again... until now. 

Rushmore Tramway Adventures in the town of Keystone has an Alpine Slide, we rode it today.  After signing the lengthy waiver we took the chair lift to the top of the hill.  The ride up is beautiful, great mountain scenery.  There was a long line for the slide, that was okay because our focus was finding lunch. We knew they had a bar and grill shack on the top of the hill, but they also have wonderful gardens with waterfalls and the view of Mount Rushmore is terrific. So we put in our order at the grill and sat at a table by a waterfall and took some time to enjoy it all. 

When we were ready to go on the slide, there were only a few people in line. We made sure there was extra space between us and the two sliders in front of us, because we wanted to go fast and not catch up to them.  Loved it!  It is not dangerous just lots of fun!

Relaxing Monday

Today we went for a long walk and then we took it easy just relaxing outside.  The weather was absolutely perfect so we had a cookout and met some of our neighbors.

Bike Art

While riding our bikes by the town of Pringle in South Dakota, John and I ran across this unique bike art sculpture made of many bicycles stacked high. It clearly took someone a lot of time to create it, the least we could do is stop to appreciate the effort.

Wind Cave

Today we went to the Wind Cave National Park.  Along the way to the cave entrance, we saw a couple of bison.  A park ranger told us they have about 400 buffalo throughout the park.  We went 200 ft down in the underground Wind Cave!  The cool temps inside were a welcome break from the 95 degree weather outside
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Wildlife Loop

  We can not get enough of Custer State Park, it is a beautiful place for hikes, bike rides or just cruising slowly on the Wildlife Loop in the jeep taking in all the animals.

Bird Watch

John and I set out bike riding today. We did not ride by any friendly horses  this time but we did enjoy few birds, I think they were meadowlarks. 

Cathedral Spires on Needle Highway

What a beautiful curvy drive though the Cathedral Spires, such interesting rock formations and awe inspiring scenery! There were so many places that we just had to pull over to climb the rocks, each area giving a different perspective. The Needles Eye is an exceptional rock form and the tunnel is crazy, just 8'4" wide.

We enjoyed our hike on the Cathedral Spires Trail

Bear Country U.S.A.

Today we went to Bear Country U.S.A., where you drive through viewing bears. This was excellent! We drove through the park and saw at least three dozen adult bears along with other kinds of wildlife. The bears were pretty active. At the end, we parked the jeep and walked around the zoo that they call Babyland. The best part of this area is the bear cub zone, we watched seven cubs climb and play, so adorable!

Arctic Wolf

Mountain Lion

Rocky Mountain Elk