South Dakota Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and Custer State Park - Taking a vacation from our vacation.
- Squido Squidwright
- Jul 11
- 4 min read
7/8/26-7/10/26 - 0 miles by bike. Lots of miles by van.
After leaving Hidden Paradise and returning to the park at Ainsworth, I took a swim in the local pool. Totally refreshing to watch town kids riding their bikes through town to the pool by themselves or in groups. A totally cool grandpa brought his two grandkids down in a red convertible GTO. The kids probably have no idea how cool their granddad is.
Bunny and I talked about the next few days and the amount of time we had really started to settle in. It was kind of like playing an RPG and realizing that the end of the chapter was about to arrive, but there were a lot of possible side quests. We noodled on a bunch of different options and finally settled on heading towards Mt. Rushmore. There was the idea of waiting until we got to the Iowa border, but that didn't make sense given that we were closer to Mt. Rushmore at the moment.
So the next morning we packed up and reversed course to the Northwest to head into South Dakota.
Herewith, and apology to the state of South Dakota:
I've never been to South Dakota before. Based on the names and such I had assumed that the Dakotas were exclusively a high plains rocky landscape that only RUBs (Rich Urban Bikers) and 1%'s made a pilgrimage to annually to hang out in some godforsaken 'no man's land' to celebrate motorcycle culture. And to be clear, I have been to Burning Man. I have gone to Moto GP and World Superbike races. So, the desire to go to a place where people of like mind hang out, I totally get it. But South Dakota is not what I thought.
On our way to Mt. Rushmore we stopped in The Badlands. In Eastern Oregon there is an area called The Painted Hills. The Badlands are The Painted Hills turned up to 11. We took multiple stops in this park and will come back again to try and capture sunrises and sunsets in this incredible location. At points it reminded me of a miniature Grand Canyon.
After leaving the Badlands we headed to Rapid City to stock up on supplies before heading to Mt. Rushmore. The monument is incredible to behold, and we would have liked to get even closer but we somehow brought 'Seattle W
eather' with us. Or at least what people think Seattle weather is like. The downpour that fell after we arrived cleared the flag plaza that approaches the main viewing point for the monument.
After seeing Mt Rushmore, we headed into Custer State Park after getting last minute reservations to stay at Center Lake campground. After multiple weeks on the plains of Wyoming and Nebraska in 90+F heat we were in the mountains and it was only 75F. It was like we had driven home from Nebraska in only 4 hours. Campfires in mid-July just aren't a thing in Washington and Oregon, and though the fire risk was either at Medium or High, campfires were still allowed. It was an incredibly peaceful evening.
In the morning, we took it slow and I made breakfast tacos. Really, it's the same as breakfast burritos, but with smaller tortillas that can't be closed up. The plan for the day was to go on a couple of hikes and see if we could get a glimpse of the local bison herd. We started out at Center Lake for a quick morning hike and then started a slow tour of the Wildlife Loop at the South end of Custer State Park.
While hiking a small trail a father/daughter team informed us that they had seen bison down HWY 87 near Wind Caves. We were headed in that direction so we jumped in Ellie and started looking for a herd in earnest. We didn't have to wait long though becasue 3 minutes later as we crested a hill traffic was stopped for a herd moving parralel to the highway.
After several minutes of magic watching/filming the herd we headed down to The Bison Center. Custer State Park maintains a herd of approximately 1500 head of bison. They call then bison because they more closely resemble the European Bison than other breeds of buffalo in Asia and Africa. Also, bison have a hump and shaggy fur. Buffalo have no hump and are smooth coated. So, the next time you are having a buffalo burger, ask yourself....is it really a bison burger? Also, while baby bison can be called calves, they are often referred to as 'red dogs' as their coats do not turn full brown until they get grow their first winter coat.
The rest of the day we drove around different scenic loops within Custer before realizing we needed to book another camp site. There was an opening at Stocade Lake. Shortly after we arrived Bunny got her wish for sitting in the middle of a thunderstorm. Ellie got pelted by hail and heavy rain while we read books and napped inside. The weather cleared in the evening again so we had another camp fire and planned the next day.
Reading material was in short supply. I finished Mistborn several days ago and burned through a Clive Cussler pulp novel that happened to be in an earlier campground. We decided to run back to Rapid City for breakfast and hit Barnes and Noble. On the way out I took a 'wrong turn' and we ended up taking the Needles Highway through a couple of tunnels that were the shortest in Custer State Park. Fortunately, Ellie fit through them with room to spare.
Fueled up and with books in hand we headed South to Wind Caves to see if we could get a 'day of' ticket for a tour. On the way to Wind Caves we passed through the South end of Custer and saw three more herd of bison, but none were as close as the first viewing, except for this lonely guy hanging out by himself.
Wind Caves tours were sold out so we settled for a short hike on the Prairie View trail and then headed South to Angostura State Park where we had a final evening in South Dakota lake side.
Tomorrow we return to Bassett, NE and the pedaling resumes.
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