Bison, bison everywhere...

Last night we spent our first night in our cozy cabin at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. As we got ready for bed, there was lots of thunder and lightning as a storms began to move into the area. We awoke around 4am with lots of rain and what we suspected was hail. Fortunately, we were all snug and cozy in the cabin. Steph was up early and made some wonderfully strong coffee that we enjoyed on the front porch this morning. After coffee and breakfast for all, we headed over to Sylvan Lake to hike the trail around the lake.

The weather was brisk, and Sylvan Lake was great. The water was cold, crystal clear, and perfectly framed by the large granite outcroppings at one end of the lake. Several people were already out fishing. We worked our war around the lake and enjoyed exploring the trails and rock formations along the way. We found a couple of pockets of ice, confirming our suspicions of hail last night. After the hike, we headed back to the cabin for an early lunch.

After lunch, we headed south to Wind Cave National Park. We worked our way South through Custer State Park and arrived in Wind Cave early afternoon. We had our first bison sighting along the way – 2 bulls enjoying the lush grass along the side of the road. Little did we know that these 2 bison would be the first of probably 250+ bison that we would see today. Along the way to Wind Cave we also came across more prairie dogs than we could count. The kids are ready to adopt a family and move them into our backyard in Madison.

At Wind Cave National Park, we took a 1 hour tour of a portion of the cave. Everyone seemed to enjoy the tour. At one point in the tour, the ranger turned out all of the lights so everyone could experience total darkness – quite a treat.

After finishing at Wind Cave, we worked our way south to the town of Hot Springs, SD and the Mammoth Dig. The Mammoth Dig is an old sinkhole that was discovered in 1974. To date, remains of 56 mammoths have been recovered. We had a great tour of the site, which remains an active fossil dig.

We worked our way North back to Custer State Park and took the wildlife loop through the park on the way back to our cabin. We saw literally more bison than we could count, hundreds of prairie dogs, deer, antelope and lots of turkeys. It’s fast becoming a tradition that when someone in our car sees wildlife, they shout BISON or TURKEY at the top of their lungs. Part of the fun seems to be seeing if your can shout loud enough to scare the driver off the road… We also drove through the herd of wild burrows that call Custer State Park home. Some of these guys were a little too friendly – sniffing the windows of the van and looking for a treat.

We had a long but productive day, so we treated ourselves to dinner at Sylvan Lake Lodge. We dined upon elk, bison, and grilled cheese. (And some red wine…). Everyone enjoyed dinner and the view from the dining room - a great view of the granite formations in the park. Our waiter overhead that tomorrow if Taylor’s birthday, so he made her a rose out of a paper dinner napkin.

After dinner, Steph and Taylor chatted with the artist in residence at Sylvan Lake this month. We had spoken with her earlier this morning. She and her husband make art out of gourds. They live in Illinois, but get all of their gourds from West Point, MS of all places. She told us once a year they make a trek to West Point to pick up a load of gourds. Tonight, Steph and Taylor struck up a conversation with another girl who was checking our the gourd crafts. The girl (Gabby) is from Atlanta, visiting SD with her family, is the same age as Taylor, and will be attending the same summer camp that Taylor is attending – at the same time. Talk about a small world…

Tomorrow we’re off to Hill City, Mt. Rushmore, and hope to try a little trout fishing before the day is out.

Internet is still slow, so no pictures today. Maybe tomorrow if I can poach a fast connection somewhere in Hill City…