Custer Vacation Day 5 – September 23, 2015    OH MY GOODNESS! What a day! The Crazy Owl Tribe started out more slowly this cool and foggy morning in Blue Bell campground by doing a little housekeeping. Five women living together in a small cabin can make quite a mess, but it was soon cleaned up and organized and we were headed out in the HildeVan to explore.

In Custer we stopped at a store that sells hides, skulls, pelts and the like. I remember when I was here two years ago, I bought Eric a beaver skull for his collection. Nothing really interested me today except for a buffalo horn. After all, buffalo is the word of the week and it won’t take up a lot of room while packing.

We stopped at a rock shop next and then hit the main street. Custer has a wonderful visitor’s center and we poked around a bit and talked to the staff. But I was looking for internet service and headed next to a café advertising Wi-Fi. I settled in with a banana nut muffin and booted up. Yes, I could read my emails and Facebook but when I tried to upload blog with pictures it just wouldn’t do it. The service was too slow and I finally just gave up and figured it will have to wait until I find true civilization again.

Next, we were off to drive the Needles Highway.  Needles Highway is 14 miles of spectacular Black Hills scenery including; granite spires, three narrow tunnels and hairpin curves. One giant spire has the center eroded from it by wind and water and resembles a large standing needle. The twisting roadway requires caution and there are one way traffic tunnels. When you enter the tunnel you sound your horn to announce to anyone ahead of you that you are there. At a turnout everyone scrambled out to take photos when we saw a very large bus which appeared to be stuck in a tunnel. The bus sat there unmoving for several minutes and then slowly started to creep forward. It made its way out of the tunnel and then stopped in front of me and a man that were watching. The driver poked his head out the window and asked, “Can I get to Mount Rushmore from here?” I deferred to the man next to me as I didn’t have a clue. As I walked away I was wondering how in the heck that bus was going to fit through the next tunnel down the mountain which the Owl Tribe agreed was even smaller than this one! But I will never know that outcome as we drove on down the opposite side of the mountain. 

 

It is so beautiful here! I love rocks and they are here in every variety. Craggy, smooth, lumpy, and sharp. My eyes simply cannot see enough. When we arrived at beautiful Sylvan Lake, we knew we must stop and explore. By now the weather was glorious with sunny skies and warm temps. But it was not quite warm enough to swim as we would have been tempted to do in the middle of summer. In the middle of the lake is a great island of rock that looks like it would be fun to explore! We settled instead for walking around the perimeter a bit and posing for photos. We wished we could stay longer but Thunder Talker’s schedule was nagging us to stay on track.

I had made a reservation for an off road Buffalo Safari tour and Chuck Wagon dinner and with the early darkness this time of year we had to be at the State Game Lodge at 3:15.  Upon arrival we were all handed cowboy hats and blue kerchiefs and asked to load into an open jeep with our guide, Harry. Again, we liked that it was only our tribe in the jeep because they are not as busy now as they would be during the tourist season and have full jeeps.

Harry was a likeable Texan with silver hair and a white moustache and seemed to instantly take a liking to us and us, to him! Harry and his wife are retired from the careers of their youth and during the summer work in Custer State Park going back to Texas for the winter. As we bumped along, Harry shared many stories with us of the park history, some about his life, and lots of information about the wildlife of the area. It wasn’t long and Harry was pointing out a small herd of pronghorn and he drove the jeep into the middle of the herd for us to admire. He told us that these wickedly fast animals – as fast as a cheetah - do not jump over the fences but crawl under. (I am not certain I believe this and will research this later.) But Harry is charming and we hang on every word.

It isn’t long and Harry receives word on the radio that there is some exciting action up ahead and we hang on to our hats as the jeep lurches forward, up and over the hills in the backcountry of the park. Often we were on trails and I asked if private vehicles were allowed to follow these trails and was told no, these were for official park vehicles only. Not that I wanted to take the HildeVan and do this, I was just curious.

Soon we saw what we had come to South Dakota for! BUFFALO! Lots and lots of buffalo! We drive down to a watering hole and Harry turned off the jeep. (Interesting note about the water hole and most of the watering holes in the park – they are wells that have been dug and run off of solar energy as there is little natural water in the park except underground.) All around us in this valley were buffalo milling about. The grunt their guttural buffalo sound as they lumber past us, not even giving us a second glance. We are in awe! Some wade into the water and some only lower their mouths down to drink at the edge. One buffalo lifted his scrawny bottlebrush tail and pooped in the water. Mammas, babies born this spring, bulls, they all are here and so are we!  We watched, listened, and smelled it all with great fascination. After all – we are gals who grew up around cattle – to us these are just bigger! Harry tells us that here in this immense valley where we are parked, the buffalo are being gathered and being held for the upcoming round up being held in two days.

It takes three weeks of gathering buffalo from over the 71,000 acres. Cowboys and cowgirls from all over the country come each year for the roundup to work the herds. They are volunteers who supply their own transportation, horse, trailer, tack, and food to do this project. The spend three weeks riding the range and gathering the buffalo. The buffalo are massed in large connecting valleys in preparation for the actual roundup day. Speaking of cowboys! What to our eyes appear? Cowboys!!  YeeHaw! The singles in our tribe were especially excited!

 At the top of a rise from where the buffalo are coming we suddenly see cowboys astride their horses moving the herd!  Holy buffalo! The contained excitement coming from everyone was palpable. Even Harry was excited because no one usually sees this occur. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time! Down the hill came the buffalo followed by the cowboys – all we need now is Indians. The cowboy were all yipping loudly and a couple were whirling their whips making a loud "crack" that encouraged the animals to move. The herd is driven to the watering hole to drink before they are moved further down towards the corral area. Buffalo and cowboys are so close we could have reached out and touched them! One cowboy asked us to stay where we are as they move through. We are happy to oblige! We felt as though we had been transported back in time 150 years. I cannot express how thrilling this was to see. We all were awestruck - with tears sometimes blurring our vision - as we watched this living history in action. I would encourage you to take this tour when you are in the area. You won’t be sorry!

On the way to the supper portion of the tour, Harry continued driving us through the park’s backcountry and we marveled at the beauty and grandeur of this place. All too soon we were in a mountain meadow canyon for our chuck wagon feast. Steaks on the grill with all the fixin’s were prepared for us and as we ate under the open sky, a guitar playing duo serenaded us with song. The night was beginning to get chilly and we were happy to be asked to get up and form a circle – it was becoming a real hoedown now - with the other supper guests that had been brought in on wheeled hayracks. The Hokey Pokey, and Chicken Dance are just what we needed! Finally, we were all asked to shout “YeeHaw” to the mountain to hear its ringing echo. After doing this several times it was time to pile back into our jeep with Harry and head back to the Game Lodge and finally to Blue Bell campground. OH MY GOODNESS! What a day!