Short Day in the Black Hills

I mentioned that yesterday was not the best weather but if you only have one day in the Black Hills, you make the best of it. That is just what we did. Those of you that have been following us for awhile know that we have been here four times in the last five years but we never tire of this beautiful area. We got out early I the morning and headed for one of our favorite spots; Custer State Park Wild Life Loop. This is where we usually run into much of the wild life that is visible to the eye but this time we didn’t see a heck of a lot. Oh we saw a few buffalo when we entered the loop but they are always there and a little bit further down the road we saw a herd of them but they were so far away we would have to look thru binoculars to see them. We did see plenty of antelope but after Wyoming we had seen enough of them. Eventually we came across a herd of mules but this didn’t thrill us today. I guess some things do have a tendency to get old so this time we ventured off the beaten path and took some side roads. One of them was to the buffalo corrals. This is fascinating to us as one time when were here in the fall of ’05 they were getting ready for the Buffalo Round-Up, Everything was ready to go on the 1st of October but we had to leave on Sept 30th. It broke our hearts but we had commitments that we didn’t want to break. The story as I remember it is that every year they round up the buffalo in the park and bring them to the corrals where the keep them until early November and then auction of about ½ of the herd. They usually start with about 1500 buffalo after the auction and then go into the next season. In the spring the herd swells to about 3000 again and the cycle goes on. I could be wrong on the numbers but this is what I remember in this little pea head I have. I guess if you want to know the actual facts you will have to go way back in our journal to later September of 2005. I do know that this year they will have the round-up on September 28th. Gee that should be fun. I hear it is over in less than an hour though and it starts about 6:00AM.Getting back to the corrals, we took the dirt road down to where they mark these beautiful beasts and hold them for the auction but were held up by two Pronghorn Antelopes that were trying to get to their friends inside the fence. We waited and waited until they finally gave up and went their own way.Well we finished the loop road that is about 17 miles or so without seeing anything more then more antelope and several deer. As soon as we left the loop road though, it was another story. We almost ran over a bunch of huge buffalo and everywhere we turned we found more wildlife except the Big Horn Sheep… Now I can’t remember a time without seeing them but this is the first time we only had a day so that might be the reason… It was still early when we came to one of the lodges and we went in for coffee. It was such a neat place but by now I already forgot the name. This is the place that has a Chuck Wagon Dinner every night. The wagon takes you right down to the wild life on the loop road and then feeds you and has entertainment. We decided we wanted to come back at 4:30 and take this tour but the weather did not co-operate. Almost as soon as we left the area the clouds came in. We headed for another favorite place of ours that is Lake Sylvain and Haney’s Peak. We started out at the lodge where we just had to try the Buffalo Stew. It is a favorite and we could sure see why. It is also a beautiful lodge and if you drive down the road just a bit you come to the lake. This is such a beautiful place. We chose to walk off our lunch and went on a super hike. Not sure were we would have wound up if the clouds hadn’t turned dark and we could feel the rain drops starting in earnest before we turned back… We did get in a really nice hike though and it felt wonderful. The best part about it was that when were here a couple of years ago I was having problems and my feet were all swollen and I was so tired. It turned out to be anemia and with a bunch of iron in my system, I feel great this time. Yahoo.The rest of the day was spent trying to get back to a grocery store in Rapid City and it took us on more of our favorite roads such as the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. Now we only had about 20 miles to go but you have to take these roads to know why it took us almost two hours to get there. I’ll try to show you in the pictures.We arrived back home late in the evening and by the time I made dinner we were beat. I sure do thank Sharon and Don for our stay at the Hart Ranch. It is a great place. Good luck Don on your upcoming knee surgery.We left about 8:00 am this morning and drove to Mitchell, SD where we will have a quiet night and go another 65 miles or so to Sioux Falls tomorrow morning. We have lots of business to attend to in our domicile city but I will explain next time. Later……..

Jun 2, 2009

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