South Dakota Surprise

June 2010
(Pictures soon)
The Black Hills of South Dakota were a wonderful surprise for us. They are so beautiful and full of national parks and monuments. We stayed at the Big Pines Campground in Custer, SD. The name describes it well. The weather was very warm and it was great to be surrounded by huge pine trees. The biggest surprise was how much we enjoyed Mt Rushmore. It is so moving to see it in person and close up. In the historic artist’s studio a ranger gave a fascinating talk on how the carving was done from a 1:12 scale model. Every inch of the model translated to a foot of carving on the mountain. There is a short hike around the bottom that gave many different views of each face. We enjoyed it so much we went back at 7:30 one morning to see it in the early light. The scenic drives through Custer State Park are fabulous and there are several places where the tunnels on the road frame the faces of the Monument. We want to go back to Custer State Park when we can camp there and enjoy all the hiking and biking trails for an extended stay. While in the area we toured Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, and Badlands National Park. We saw herds of buffalo in both Wind Cave and Custer. The nursing babies were the cutest