Custer State Park and the Wildlife Loop

Our next stop was Custer State Park near Rapid City, S.D.  This park covers 71,000 acres and is the second largest state park in the country.  The scenery is beautiful and diverse with prarie grasslands, lush green forests, serene meadows, fishing lakes, and majestic mountains with towering peaks. There are several campgrounds and lodges inside the park and we stayed at the Sylvan Lake Campground. 

The park is home to a herd of 1500 free roaming bison.  Elk, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, and feral burros also inhabit the park. The park is famous for its scenery, its scenic drives (Needles Highway and the Wildlife Loop), with views of the bison herd and prairie dog towns.

This big guy was not with the herd in the Wildlife Loop, but just walking near a campground on his own.  I sure wouldn't want to meet up with him in my campground!

This is at prarie dog town. I don't know what they eat here but there must be plenty of it!

We loved these little burros. They would come up to your car to see if you had a treat for them. Some people were feeding them carrots or apples.

We saw lots of these Pronghorn Antelopes.

 We missed the Annual Buffalo Roundup by a few weeks.  Each year the herd is rounded-up for branding and vaccination.  Thousands of spectators gather each year for the weekend's events which include an organized stampede of buffalo and an arts festival.

The Wildlife Loop is a must see if you ever go to Custer State Park!