Custer Vacation Day 4 - September 22, 2015

Today is Tuesday and we are scheduled to visit the Hot Springs area. We woke up to the scent of cinnamon wafting through the air because Black Kettle had made Blueberry French Toast in the crock pot. We ate quickly and piled into the HildeVan to meet our 9 am appointment at the Wild Horse Sanctuary. However, nature had other plans for us.

Seemingly at every turn was one form of wildlife or another. Deer, turkeys, and most excitedly – buffalo! We witnessed one bull casually rubbing himself on a low sign. The buffalo rut is over now but he seemed to be remembering it fondly. We are seeing mostly bulls in the park because by now most of the females have been herded into large valleys to be held for the roundup. The do not roundup the bulls if they can help it because they are too aggressive. By the time we stopped to view the wildlife, take a few photos, and wait for animals to leave the roadway, we were going to be late for our Wild Horse appointment. I called and rescheduled for the next tour of the day so we had some time to kill.

In Hot Springs we found a sign reading “Pioneer Museum” and located it at the top of a hill overlooking the town and a small river. The museum is housed in a four story building that had been built in the 1800’s and was the area’s school till the 1960’s. Made of locally quarried beautiful stone blocks, this stone was also used to build many of the buildings in the area including a castle like structure we later determined was a nursing home. The interior had beautiful, heavy, ornately carved woodwork throughout and the original school bell was still intact.  We asked if it still worked and were given permission to ring it which Seeks Pie did with delight! Three floors of the museum were crammed full of what my nephew calls “old timey” displays and collections. These items were well displayed and we completely enjoyed our visit taking some fun photographs along the way. We were quite happy to have accidentally stumbled upon this treasure.

While doing research for the trip, I had found the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary and determined we must go. So, at 11:00 The Crazy Owl’s piled into a rickety old blue school bus were soon driving across rough, bumpy open range to see wild horses in their natural habitat. Our blue bus was a small one and we saw parked nearby several other large full-sized busses they use for larger groups and again knew that traveling in the off season certainly has its rewards. At the sanctuary 600 wild horses are allowed to roam free over 11,000 acres of private land, living out their lives  

without the intrusion of mankind. We learned that even veterinary care is not used with the wild horses and they live their lives completely free as they would have done hundreds of years ago, roaming as far and wide as they choose. Many of the horses in more remote parts of the ranch never see men and live in huge canyons their entire lives. Some rescue horses are habituated to man and we were able to get near enough to them to actually touch. We were interested to learn that mountain lions prowl here and they routinely prey upon some of the colts but rarely get an adult horse. Again, it is just as it would have been hundreds of years ago. I asked if when a horse dies did they allow nature to take its course and our guide said that yes, they were left alone unless they were laying in the sight of human visitors. If this happened the carcass would be removed to an area where visitors would not have to see it. South Dakota is used often in movies and this ranch has been used several times with movie sets being built and then left to the weather. As out tour was finishing, a small herd of horses thundered by us but they were too fast for us to get any photos. It was thrilling to watch them run!

 More than horses are here on the ranch. There are large rock formations with ancient petroglyphs. Great mammoths were carved on the cliffs thousands of years ago. History tells us that mammoths did roam in this area and there is a Mammoth Site nearby with an active dig we had hoped to visit but ran out of time. There are also more current carvings on these cliffs from the 1800’s and 1900’s. Nestled in the rocks is the entrance to a cave where people at one time lived for a time, but now is boarded over to prevent entrance. I marvel at the years of history for us to view! Amazing! And the scenery was awesome! Rocky, hilly, dusty, and full of little sand burs that stuck to our shoes and crunched loudly in the bus floor.

 At one point we looked out over a huge canyon with a small river winding through it. This area is sacred to the Native Americans and they still camp here while gathering for ceremony. We visited an area still used each June at the summer solstice by the Native Americans for their sacred Sun Dance ceremony.  A cottonwood tree was covered in prayer flags and we were told we could take photos but asked to not enter the sacred circle. They leave the framework of the sweatlodge and other structures in place. We felt privileged to be able to see such a special and spiritual site. We very much enjoyed our visit to the sanctuary and would recommend you take the time to see it if in the area. Here is a link to their website.   http://www.wildmustangs.com/#!about2/c4ya

 Also on the outskirts of the ranch was a small graveyard with graves from the last 100 years. The headstones were varied.  Wooden crosses, elaborate modern monuments, simple quartz rocks, and my favorite – petrified wood. Ranch family and their employees are allowed to be buried here in this private cemetery. The graveyard was on top of a rise and we overlooked hundreds of acres of rolling landscape with horses everywhere. Some of the horses ran by the cemetery and we were tickled to hear their whinny’s and calls to each other. This is where we enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch of sandwiches and Dragon’s Breath Salad topped off with homemade pie we had purchased at the Sanctuary’s Cafe. Isn’t it funny how a simple lunch eaten outdoors always tastes better even if it is cool and windy as it was today?

We then spent a little time shopping in Hot Springs and soon headed back to camp for a supper of hot chili. It wasn’t long and we were back on the road headed to Wind Cave National Park for an elk bugling presentation. You see, we were here at the time of the elk rut. The males signal to the females by bugling – a loud, long sound – and there often is fighting amongst the elk at this time. After the ranger educated us about the park’s elk population in the park, we went to a pullout area known for hearing the elk. There we were, in complete darkness except for stars and an occasional car headlight on the road, sitting with several other people, in the middle of nowhere, covered in blankets, waiting to hear elk. We did hear about seven calls but they were quite far away and so the sound was rather faint. Everyone sat very still and there was no talking but after two hours of this our tribe had enough and left to head back to camp for a good night’s sleep and blog writing. It was good to be indoors tonight and no campfire was struck. Good night all!