The last plan for this day of visiting the Black Hills region
of South Dakota on my cross-country Total Eclipse of the Sun road trip was to
simply and lazily tour the Custer State Park. I had read up on it prior to my trip and it seemed like a
good idea, but then my friend Pamela declared that it was a must see--and I am
so glad that she did! The shape of
the park is mostly a fat rectangle, but one extension tracks north and west
toward a point about halfway between Mount Rushmore Memorial and Crazy Horse
Monument, so that was my point of entry.
By now it was close to lunch and my friend and I had decided to grab
stuff for a picnic lunch the night before. From this entrance it's a short trip to a beautiful camping
site Sylvan Lake. 
From there I
drove on into the main area of the park and made the loop south and around then
back up north and out of the park and past Mount Rushmore one last time. You can see from the pictures, Custer
State Park is simply full of amazing scenes that cover a wide range of geologic
and natural ecosystems. It took me
over 4 unrushed hours to make the loop, and I could have spent 6 easily. 
One of the "needle eye" passages you will
encounter. What you won't
encounter are those over-sized RV Campers! Sorry, no room in the needle...
You can really see the hazy smoke from wildfires in Montana
and Idaho!
With so many scenic stops--it's hard to know when to stop
and you wonder what's next!
I'd encounter a couple of lone bulls prior to this meadow
with this wonderful herd. I think
I counted just shy of 100 American Bison in this herd that stretched beyond
this image in both directions.
When the land at the southern end of the park turned decided
more short-grass prairie, I came upon this heard of Pronghorns--again, larger
that what this photo contains.
And all around them were Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, too!
At the base of this loop I encountered this informational
rest stop, and very nearby the first of two groups of ostensibly wild
Mules. They were, however, very
approachable and used to the attention of people.
I understand that male mules are infertile--so here's one
mule who's obviously been horsing around!
The eastern drive north was full of these Alpine-like
valleys with rolling hills.
Gradually, the mountains returned and at some point I got
yet another, albeit very distant, view of Mount Rushmore.
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