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Published: August 18th 2022
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Iron Mountain Road Another fun packed day in one of our beautiful National Forests. I entered Custer State Park with three primary locations on my todo list. 1. Wildlife Loop Rd. 18 miles long. 2. Iron Mountain Rd. 17 miles long 3. Needles Hwy. 14 miles long. I hit all of them even did the Wildlife Loop Rd. twice. That is also where I started my journey today. At first I was not impressed. The terrain was large fields of grass with small hills (not mountains) far in the distance and no animals to be seen. I carried onto the Needles Hwy. which was a very nice drive, beautiful scenery and it took me to Crazy Horse Monument, Mount Rushmore and Iron Mountain Road. Crazy Horse is an unfinished carving depicting the legendary Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse. It has been under construction since 1948, but still worth seeing. It can easily been seen from the roadside, this is what I opted for and researched the facts.
Mount Rushmore; I have not met one person who told me it was worth paying the parking fee in order to see the monument. Traveling the Iron Mountain Road, there are many beautiful opportunities to see
the carving of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln & Roosevelt. Since traveling alone, I am more than satisfied looking up the facts and seeing the monument from afar. I was also told that it's simply a carving in the rock and looking at a picture is about the same. You show up, look at it and leave. I don't agree. The workmanship to create this monument, the awe of the actual size, it all builds up to an amazing life experience. I say see it!
Wildlife Loop Road didn't impress me after visiting Badlands NP. I spoke to a family while we were watching a heard of mountain goats climb a hill. They said there was lots of wildlife when they went through. It was early enough in the day, I decided to go through a second time. Not without pulling over for a quick bit to eat and a cold water. While I was pulled over, stretching, eating, playing music, half the cars passing by stopped to see if I saw something. Awkward! Wildlife Loop Rd. was rewarding. There were so many bison, prong horns, and the loving donkey's.
Needles Hwy and Iron Mountain Road were much nicer terrain.
Very wooded with pine trees and grassy underbrush that is very short. The air is fresh, the grounds are clean, the roads were like new. Anytime a trash can or restroom is needed there is one to be found, not always the cleanest but if you stop on the side of the road, everyone will come over and watch. LOL
Yesterday this area was hit with a hard SD storm. Lightening, thunder and poured so much rain and wind blowing hard enough to knock me down. There was a warning over the loud speaker at the AFB I am staying at. The wind was so loud I could hardly hear it. I knew to take down my camp and get to a shelter as fast as I could. The storm hit so hard and so fast, my tent, stakes and tie downs were blowing all over the place. Soaking wet, I got everything into the car and drove to the Outdoor Rec building to wait the storm out. It was so scary! I called my emergency contact and couldn't reach anyone...time to find a new emergency contact ASAP. I heard that tornados happen in this area so I was
Donkey
Petted but not fed...by me. seriously scared. It took me hours to recover from the damage done. Just as quickly as the storm blew in, it was gone. I set up camp up again, putting a tarp on the bottom to keep my tent dry from the rain. I worked up an appetite so I had a veggie soup thickened with instant mashed potatoes, some pita chips and a hardy glass of wine. Don't turn your back on a black cloud in South Dakota.
Adventures are the best way to learn.
Michelle
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Tina Schuler
wow! that storm sounded like serious business, glad you made it to the shelter to wait it out. and the donkeys :) reminds me of Bonaire, donkeys are protected there and roam free all over the island. so cool!