September 30th we only had a 90 mile drive from Sundance, WY to Hart Ranch Camping Resort in Rapid City, SD. This campsite would be our home for four nights.
We had visited the Black Hills of South Dakota in June 1997. It was nice to be here again and fun to see the fall colors.
Since we had time we went to Mount Rushmore and took some pictures
October 1st we visited with friend Sharon for a while and then headed for Custer State Park. The next day was the annual buffalo roundup so we figured we needed to tour this day while the animals were out and not spooked.
Here is a view of Mount Rushmore from the highway into Custer State Park:
Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota. In 1997 there was a road to the top and we drove up to it, now you have to hike it.
Wild burros/donkeys
Buffalo (American Bison):
Lots of buffalo, they will be easy to round up.
More buffalo:
October 2nd we met up with our friends Larry and Connie, who we last saw in Fort Walton Beach, FL the end of October 2005. They were planning on going to the buffalo roundup, but worked too late the night before. We were still not used to Mountain Time enough to get up at 5AM. We had a good lunch at Firehouse Brewing Company in Rapid City, though they tried to tell Connie an IPA was like a lager and she didn't agree and Bill doesn't blame her.
On October 3rd we visited Wind Cave National Park and took pictures.
We went back via the Needles Highway from Wind Cave, here are some pictures.
The tunnels are one lane and narrow.
We were glad to have visited this area again. We still had more to see here, but that will have to wait for our next visit.