Pronghorn, Coteries, and Bison
Here we are in the middle of what could only be described as nowhere but good nowhere. Nowhere that contains mountains, dirt roads, streams, poison oak, and where the bison roam. Yes, a really good nowhere.
We pulled into the smallest RV park called the ‘Roost Resort’ which overlooked a grassy field full of deer eating in the evening. Near perfect. We really loved the stay here, we were able to have some “slow days,” where the kids could get a bit creative with modifying their bikes with duct tape, playing games, and just taking it a bit easy.
I was lucky to avoid the trip to see Mount Rushmore but Desiree took the kids to see the tourist trap. They enjoyed seeing it and learning a bit about the history of how it was built. They also earned another ranger badge.
This nowhere also happens to be surrounded by parks, state parks, city parks, and a national park. We explored them all. The first was Wind Caves National park which usually has a really cool cave to be explored but was closed. We opted for a small hike where the kids learned what poison ivy looks like. 8 minutes into our walk avoiding a long night of itching, we turned around and went for a drive.
We found some dirt roads and went looking for some bison. We did find one but we also found coteries of prairie dogs. Hundreds of prairie dogs doing what prairie dogs do. Wade and Amelia loved watching cross the road in front of the car as I avoided running over them. We also came across a single bison which was exciting and delightful. Finally, several Pronghorns were along the road eating in the evening shade.
The next day we visited Custer State Park which has a long road known for bison. There were a lot of people on it so we turned off the paved onto the dirt once again. Driving down that about 20 minutes we happened upon the herd.
A large herd
A large herd in the middle of the road.
A large impassible herd in the middle of the road.
We stopped and watched them for 20 minutes. We got out and watched them despite Desiree not agreeing. Some didn’t mind us watching, some did. We tried to move to pass them in the car which resulted in a couple showing some aggressive behavior which can be described as ‘you don’t have to go home, but you are not going this way’. We then learned the reverse on the Subaru works well enough to go up the hill about a mile (or two) until there was a place to turn around. Yep, we found bison. They were quite impressive.
