Sunday May 21, 2023 - Deadwood SD to Badlands SD

This morning we took another hot shower and stuffed our nice clean bodies into nice clean clothes, packed up all our other nice clean clothes and sheets and pillow cases and towels and loaded up the van. The motel (not a high end one) had a sad breakfast offering with coffee that tasted like last night’s dish water (I swear it was grey) and to distract you from that they offered either blue milk (aka skim) or those powdered creamer packets. They did have a waffle machine so not a total loss. No yogurt either. Oh well, quit your bitchin’!

First stop was groceries and real coffee in Spearfish. Chatted with a school group from New Jersey travelling cross country in 4 vehicles. I’d love to be a fly on that wall, what fun!!

Next we drove through Spearfish Canyon which winded its way through a deep canyon and ended near the town of Lead (pronounced Leed). Next stop was Sylvan Lake, which was very busy since it was a free park pass day at Custer State Park, free fishing permit weekend, so lots of young and old anglers drowning worms.

Next up was Needles Parkway which some crazy person thought was a good idea. Half the road is 1.5 lanes wide so lots of stopping and waiting for wide spots. There were three or four tunnels that were barely wide enough to fit through (love those electric folding mirrors!), and the posted height signs made us nervous, but it turns out they are actually much higher than posted so the MaxAir fans are still attached to the top of our van.

Next stop was the Custer State Park Visitor Center which looks more like a national park visitor center. They obviously have a big budget because everything in the park is top shelf. We decided that the south west corner of South Dakota is the reason to come to South Dakota. I’m sure there are other pockets but this corner is wonderful.

Next stop was the 18 mile wildlife loop through the park. The first half we saw nothing but rolling grasslands and rocks. We stopped at the Buffalo Research Center and chatted with Don the wildlife guy. Another couple came in and said all the critters were on the other half of the loop (which they were). 

He said they keep the buffalo herd at around 1400, and every fall in September they have a roundup with 60 cowboys and they sort and brand and count and vaccinate as required. They sell the excess herd (400 head or so) and do it all again each year. He said about 30 of the cowboys know what they are doing, as they are park employees, and the other half are interested folks who enter a lottery. The extras are anyone who has a horse and some experience herding animals.

We were not disappointed on the second half of the loop, where we saw a large herd of buffalo, lots of prairie dogs, wild burros (who love to beg for food), and we saw a bonus pronghorn. Later in the day we saw a bald eagle, and this morning we saw two big horn sheep.

The nice visitor center volunteer was a full time RV person, and she told us about a remote campground east of Custer State Park in Badlands National Park. There are 2 campgrounds in the national park, and Deb had read that one is first come/first serve, while the larger one is reservation only. We decided to give Sage Creek Campground (the first come/first serve and mentioned by the visitor center volunteer) a try.

We’re sitting here tonight at the Sage Creek Campground in the North Unit of the Badlands, watching the prairie dogs scamper about in the field in front of us. Two buffalo just showed up and grazed a bit, rolled around in the grass, and then mosied away, and there are coyotes howling in the distance. This is a national park wild campsite (no fee, pit toilets, trash/recycling only) way out on the end of a dirt road in Badlands National Park and it’s great. 

We are adding up days and we think we better start paying attention to how long it takes to get back to Vermont. Stay tuned

Odo = 8574