A young foal and its mother in Custer State Park.
A prairie dog munches a snack at Custer State Park.
this massive traveling caravan included 1,900 horses, six mule teams pulling 110 wagons, a band of hunting dogs, and a herd of 300 beef cattle to feed the crowd! They discovered gold in the Black Hills, and shortly after the conclusion of Custer's expedition a small band of prospectors arrived and set up camp. Unfortunately, this encampment was in violation of the recently signed Fort Laramie Treaty between the U.S. Government and the Lakota Indians, and they were quickly evicted by the U.S. Cavalry. Today, a replica of their stockade still stands where the original stockade once stood, close to the appropriately named Stockade Lake. After visiting the stockade during the day, we returned to the lake late one night to photograph the Milky Way crossing the sky high above the trees. The water was as still as glass that night, and the stars of the Milky Way reflected in the mirrored surface of the lake. It was fun to be out and about while the whole town slept, and since there wasn't a soul to be seen anywhere, we set up a camera tripod right in the middle of the main drag to capture a photo of the lights of the town. What a contrast this was to the wild times and huge crowds for the fireworks a few nights before! Custer is one of several towns along the George Mickelson
Trail, a wonderful rails-to-trails train track conversion that is now a wide gravel path that runs for 109 miles on a north-south route through South Dakota. Ideal for walking, jogging or bike riding, we took our mountain bikes on two different excursions ten miles out of town on this trail and back, once heading north from Custer and once heading south. The riding was flat and easy, and plaques along the way told the history of the area. We loved the rugged rock formations and cliffs we saw on these rides. How fortunate the train operators of yesteryear were to traverse this beautiful countryside on a regular basis! Back in town, we stopped for an espresso coffee and muffin at Calamity Jane Coffee Shop and later had a slice of heavenly homemade blueberry pie at the Purple Pie Place. Both of these little eateries were so enjoyable that we returned several times throughout our stay! Custer State Park lies less than 15 miles east of the town of Custer, and it is home to some of the most accessible "wild" animals we have seen anywhere. The Wildlife Loop Road is the best place for close encounters of the animal kind, and we started our drive early one morning to catch the animals while they were out foraging for breakfast. Within just a few minutes we found ourselves sharing the road with an enormous buffalo who was
SOUTH DAKOTA'S BLACK HILLS
COAST TO COAST SUMMER MAGAZINE 2020
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