Custer State Park, southern Black Hills

From the Badlands, we went into Custer State Park, where we stayed at the Grace Coolidge Campground for 4 nights. Wish we could have stayed 2 weeks - there was so much to see and do, we could not do it all. It was a terrific location with lots of wildlife and beautiful scenery, not to mention all the nearby attractions. We were greeted upon entering the park by a momma mountain goat and her baby. Unfortunately, only got a picture of them as they headed in the other direction.

On the wildlife loop in the park, we ran into lots of burros who would come begging. We also drove through a buffalo herd and saw a few scuffles amongst the big bulls. The buffalo population in this state park is over 1400 at times.

We also visited Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Iron Mountain Road up to Rushmore goes through several tunnels which frame Rushmore, which is really spectacular. We also loved Needles Highway up to Sylvan Lake - it was beautiful and inspiring at every turn.