Black Hills ....Custer State Park

Hello all.........

What a beautiful park.....Custer State Park. It is massive....71,000 acres in the Black Hills. There are roaming bison, wandering burros, pronghorn antelopes out on the flats, and scenery that needs to be seen to be believed.

We will spend a week in this park. There are trails to be walked and roads to be traversed. There are four lodges in the park and seven campgrounds. We will be staying in the Legion Lake campground. Right in the middle of everything.

There is a bison herd of 1500 which roam the prairie. One walked right down the road we were on.......we had to move over, we didn't want it to ram our car. There were many with babies out in the fields. These animals are huge.....males often weigh up to 2000 lbs, but can run 30 mph.

There are "begging burros," curious critters who love to poke their noses into cars traveling the"Wildlife Loop". They trace their roots to a herd that once hauled visitors to the top of Harney Peak, here in the park.

The Wildlife Loop road is an 18 mile loop which passes through grasslands and rolling hills that harbor many species of wildlife. You're almost certain to see bison, as they stop traffic...literally .... as they saunter to their next grazing spot. You're also likely to see pronghorn bounding gracefully across the prairie.

Activities in the park range from rock climbing to horse back riding, to hayride/chuckwagon cook-outs. Anything goes. Biking, hiking, swimming, fishing.......you name it, you can find it here. We expect to fill our days.

We plan to visit the city of Deadwood tomorrow, the city which gold, gambling, and gunpowder created. Wild Bill Hickok, and Calamity Jane lived and died in rambunctious Deadwood. They are buried at the Mt. Moriah Cemetery high above Deadwood. Hickok's killer, Jack McCall, did not escape. In fact, visitors still enjoy street shoot-outs every night when vigilantes capture Wild Bill's killer, and drag the assassin off to the rollicking Trial of Jack McCall. I hear it's the most unconventional murder trial you'll ever see!

Golden wealth is still in Deadwood. The number of gambling halls in the main gambling district has leveled out at about 86 businesses. Most of the parlors are Old West saloons where the energy level is high and the atmosphere is relaxed. The dress code is come as you are, and with a bet limit of $100, you won't feel out of place among the the high rollers. As for us......we're more into the nickel and quarter slots....that's more our style!

That's it for now.......we'll let you know if we strike it rich. We still want to try panning for
gold.....but that's another story. See you on the road.

Love........Kathie