On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
… lived an earworm that just won’t quit. Between our Scenic Guideways book and a visitor’s guide that the campground handed out we ended up with a lot to cram into a single day.
The Mammoth Site. A sinkhole pond that attracted and trapped over 60 mammoths. It was discovered in 1974 when excavation for a housing development unearthed bones and ivory. The paleontologist who was contacted decided to leave most of the bones in the original position where they were discovered.
Wind Cave National Park. We ended up not going into the cave this trip, but spent time on the surface following the Custer Scenic Byway through the park, where we saw more prairie dog towns, bison, pronghorns, and burros.
Custer State Park. First, this is not the site of Little Bighorn, where Custer and the 7th Cavalry met their end. We took two drives here. The first was Wildlife Loop Road where oddly enough we saw almost no wildlife. We got rain and hail, though! The second was Needles Highway, that takes its name from granite formations rising from the surrounding pine forests. This state park is spectacular and worth the day trip.
Four days out from Rapid City we crossed the Mississippi and stopped for two days. Four days after that we were home and glad to get back. Five months, 9,200+ miles, 51 stops, 25 states, eight new National Parks and a bunch of state parks. After three cross-country runs in three years, we decided to do something different in 2023. Stay tuned!
The Mammoth Site sinkhole
Staff and volunteers working on further excavation
Volunteer and more fossils
Bison taking a dust bath
Burros. Not native to the Black Hills, but descended from the herd that hauled visitors to the top of Black Elk Peak then released into the park when the rides closed.
Pronghorn
Some of the Needles
There were three narrow tunnels on the highway.
This was the hairiest, inches to spare between the side mirrors and the walls.
This formation was called The Needle’s Eye.
Baud
South Dakota is so pretty.
Scuffletuffle
Great photos, but those tunnels…yikes!
Spanky
Highly recommend Custer State Park! It seems like a lot of people don’t go here because it’s “only” a state park. Unlike Frosty, we found a lot of wildlife on the loop.
Frosty didn’t mention that the mammoth site is inside a big building that protects the site from the weather and greedy humans. Makes for a much more comfortable tour.
Eyeroller
@Spanky: One can see in two of the pictures that the mammoth site is enclosed. The partially-visible mural showing relative sizes of animals looks interesting.
I would never have the nerve to go through those tunnels since my depth perception is poor and I wouldn’t enjoy it with normal vision. I suppose I could do it in a car with sensors but I’m sure the warnings would go off nonstop in such a tunnel.
BretH
I visited Wind Cave with my family when I was about 14. I still recall the time they doused the lights and we stood in absolute pitch dark and complete silence. If I remember correctly it is part of an absolutely huge cave system.
teakay
It is wonderful to visit Custer State Park in the early spring or even winter when cooler (and cold) temps mean lots of animal activity. We stayed in a cabin in the park and enjoyed campfires at night and the sound of snorting bison outside our window in the early morning and friendly little burros on the scenic drive loop. When we first arrived, I was walking to the dumpster when my sister called “isn’t that a bison?” I thought the massive mound in my peripheral vision was a rock but was actually a reclining bison. We also took a very doable drive up to Devil’s Tower that offers both a short loop and longer loop trail around the monument. Herds of bison ran right along side the road. It was amazing how fast they are, and according to a PBS show I just watched, able to turn on a dime, due to their bodies being “front loaded”. Lastly, very close to the Badlands and well worth the visit it the Minuteman National Historical Park. The museum is small, but incredibly interesting and you can watch reels of interviews with area ranchers of how they learned to live surrounded by missiles in an area that would be the first target in the event of a nuclear war, and how close we/ve actually come. You can make reservations to tour a decommissioned silo where during 24 hours shifts, two at a time very young military sat within an arms reach of firing the missile and always within site of each other. It was fascinating. And scary.
JeanneT
Fantastic. I’d love to see this in person, but until I do, I am glad to see your photos!
Sandia Blanca
@teakay: Don’t pet the fluffy cows!
Another Scott
@Sandia Blanca:
:-/
We really enjoyed the Mammoth Site and so much of South Dakota. Amazing place. Thanks for the pictures!
Bison are huge. And fast! And bring out the worst in park tourists. I remember being at a busy parking lot at Yellowstone where 3 bison walked by and a family suddenly started chasing after them to try to get pictures. Naturally, they spooked and tried to get away – fortunately, nobody was in the way… It’s kinda amazing that more unthinking humans aren’t killed or injured by them. :-(
Cheers,
Scott.
Attempted Chemistry
We drove out to the Black Hills a few years ago. Stopped at Wall Drug, as required by law, spent the night in Wall. Woke up, went through the Badlands in the morning, then up into the Black Hills. I’m a Michigan boy, so I’m used to water and trees. Going up into mountains was amazing. I told a cousin, “This (the Black Hills) would be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, except we were in the Badlands this morning, so it isn’t even the coolest thing I’ve seen today.”
Blake Himsl Hunter
I grew up in the hills and love reading people’s experiences there and seeing their photos. I don’t get back there often enough so it helps with my homesickness.
Winter Wren
Great photos – thanks! When the kids were little we took a family road trip out West from Massachusetts to the Badlands, Wind Cave and also Custer SP. I had forgotten about the Needles. We also climbed Harney (now Black Elk) peak – highest point west of the Rockies – easy enough for our grade school children to comfortably hike. Nice memories that your photos brought back.