South Dakota

Wow. Did a fair amount today. Lots of South Dakota. Badlands reminded me of the Painted Desert in Arizona. Badlands was very nice and much larger, but not as spectacular as I had hoped. Same goes for Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. The Black Hills are nice, but they are so broken up with private land. There are a lot of tiny towns in South Dakota (like Inferior, population 67).

I was looking for a campground and met Marla, a camp host, between Custer and Jewel Cave. She recommended Needles Highway in Custer State Park. She was right, it is spectacular! I plan to hike in here tomorrow. I'm spending the night at the upper Center Lake Campgrounds, since everywhere else is full. I got a very funny picture of a buffalo. The sign says "Official Vehicle Use Only". That's a funny interpretation this bull had. I doubt the picture will come out well. Really should have gotten a real camera. So all those that told me, now you can say "I told you so!" (BTW, the bull was mounting the sign so he could rub his genitals on it.)

Saw a bunch of buffalo and deer in the park. The Black Hills are really incredible in this park.