Black Hills Recap

We said goodbye to Broken Arrow RV and Horse Park on September 30.  As I said earlier, it's a great place to spend a day.....or a month or more.  We've enjoyed our month here.  Hospitality included every-night ice cream socials for park residents, and someone being available 24/7 for any issues or problems we might have.



We met a number of great folks, and their four-legged friends (horses, mules and dogs alike), and will look forward to retuirning next year. We loved the place, the people, and all there is to see and do. Special thanks to Owners Larry and Geri Gustafson for their hospitality and friendship. We look forward to seeing them again this winter if they pass through Central Texas, or next year when we (hope to) take another trip to Custer.

Here are some of our photos that didn't make it into previous blog posts.  We hope you enjoy them.

 

French Creek near the Horse Camp



Lucky Dog on Alert



Dakota with Her Old Collar



One of he Cowboys at the Bison Roundup



A Lovely Small Lake Near our Camp



Bighorn Sheep Ewes and Lambs



Gold is the Color of Fall in the Black Hills





...Usually!

 

Thundering Hooves!

The sun wasn't up and the moon was still high in the sky Monday morning when we loaded up and joined our friends, Mike & Pat, Mark & Dale and Rollie & Gina to "head 'em up and move 'em out" for the Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup.

After entering the park, we joined a miles-long train of cars winding their way along the park's Wildlife Loop toward the roundup site. It was a glorious, cool, almost windless morning, so we sipped our coffee and enjoyed watching the sun rise as we waited our turn to park.

Once the dogs were walked (yes, they got to come too!) we found a spot to put up our lawn chairs and wait for the buffalo to arrive. And arrive they did!

First a few head appeared, accompanied by some of the park's burro herd. Then we saw the main herd pouring out of the canyon to our right. From a distance, it looked like a river of dark, rich chocolate headed across the prairie toward the corrals. Then as they got closer, we could see the individual animals, led by one of the matriarchs. At one point, the herd attempted to take a side canyon, and the riders really earned their pancakes turning them and moving the 800-1000 animals in the right direction.

The riders did most of the work, but there were a number of pickup trucks on hand, too. Mike and Pat, who volunteered in Custer State Park for ten summers, explained what was happening. They have participated in a number of roundups, so they knew what to expect.

The final challenge is to get the entire herd to go through the gates into the pastures and working pens. This year, everything went smoothly, and the actual penning took very little time. However, that is not always the case. Two years ago, the herd apparently got within a few yards of the entrance and turned back. I don't know how long it took to to corral them, but I'll bet it was some kind of exciting!

Most of the bison in these photos are cows, calves and young bulls. When the bison are rounded up, the older bulls are not included. Most do not stay with the cows and calves once the rut is over, and besides, Park personnel say they are just too unpredictable and mean to bring into the corrals. The fences are stout, but we were told that the older bulls could turn them into kindling if they panicked and charged.

Once corralled, some of the herd were put into pens for all us Tinhorns to look at. They are magnificent animals. After milling around outside the corrals and stirring up dust, and with the bison kicking it up inside, we were almost and sweaty and dirty as the cowboys by the time we headed back home. It was a not-to-be-missed experience, though, and one we'll look forward to the next time we're in Custer.

And speaking of those large, older bulls.  On Tuesday we came across a group of six hanging out in the Park and being glad that they weren't forced to join the roundup.  We were able to see the brand on one of them.....it was a 5.  That means that he was born in 2005, and is five years old this year.  What magnificent animals! 

　

Buffalo Arts Festival

Saturday dawned clear and cool, but quickly warmed up to shirt-sleeve weather. We joined RVing buddies Dale Bruss, Mike & Pat McFall and Rollie & Gina Thurston to take in the Buffalo Roundup Arts Festival in Custer State Park. 

There were a number of vendors of various arts and crafts, food concessions and an entertainment tent.

We especially enjoyed talking to Marshall Burnette, a Native American flint knapper, who was fashioning knives as well as spear and arrow points from materials found in South Dakota and surrounding areas. It was amazing to see how quickly he could turn a chunk of obsidion or knife river flint into a spear or arrow point.

 

We also talked with Ken Marso from Spearfish, SD. He makes "Ken's Canes," (walking sticks and canes) from diamond willow branches. They are beautiful, as you can see. John and I kept his card so that we can get in touch when and if we ever need one.

Many of the artists do outstanding work. One, however, stands out for me. This gentlemen, Wilson C. Hunt, of Chesapeake, VA,  was actually working inside one of the park stores. He said he comes and works in the park every summer, and carves the most amazing fish.  They are carved from black gum wood, which is very light.  Some of of his completed carvings are shown here. He said it takes an average of three weeks to complete each one, including the carving, painting, and finishing.

Dakota

Our lives have changed again. God has sent us another dog. Last week when we went to pick up Feathers' ashes from the veterinarian in Hot Springs who had treated her, we mentioned that Nickie and Lucky Dog missed Feathers and that we were considering adopting another dog. The vet gave our name to a family with a dog that needed a home and four days later they called to see if we could take their dog. Yesterday we bumped along a muddy country road to meet a bundle of wiggles and licks who stole our hearts. She will never replace our Feathers, but we hope she will become a companion to Nickie and Lucky Dog, and that they will serve as "big sisters" to her.

Called "Zavada" by her original owner, she is a tricolor Australian Shepherd or Aussie mix about 9-10 months old. After being adopted by a college student who gave her up when she moved, this young dog was taken in by a family that lives on a large ranch outside of Buffalo Gap, SD.  It sounded like a perfect situation for her, but unfortunately the puppy showed a remarkable interest in, and ability to catch, birds. After killing three wild pheasants (the State Bird of South Dakota) and almost doing in one of the family chickens, the family realized that she needed to be somewhere where her attraction to fowl was not a problem. (Since the family raises laying hens, staying with them was not an option!)

So......this beautiful young dog has joined the Bagley Pack. We have given her a new name....Dakota, or Kota for short, because this is where we found her (or she found us) and because we love South Dakota. We look forward to having her with us for many years, and hope that Lucky Dog and Nickie will soon accept her as a member of their pack.
　
　

1880s Train

Next on our Bucket List was a ride on the 1880s Black Hills Central Railroad, which runs between Keystone and Hill City, South Dakota. At one point, the tracks vary from a 4% to 6% grade, making it one of the steepest railroad routes in the U.S. We took the trip with our RV friends, Mark and Dale Bruss, shown here in front of the engine which pulled our six-car train.

　
We were told that this engine, a 2-6-6-2T articulated Mallet, was built in 1928. It is the only one of its kind in the world which is still in operation. It runs on conventional tracks, which are 4' 8" wide instead of the 3' width of the Narrow Gauge trains, and burns recycled oil.

The train crosses County Road 323 nineteen times. At each crossing, the whistle sounds two long blasts, followed by a short and a long blast. We were told this is Morse Code for the letter "Q." It seems that Queen Elizabeth started the tradition by having the ship on which she was traveling sound the "Q" so other ships in the area would know the Queen was on board, and would yield the right of way. Railroads soon picked up the signal, and now train whistles everywhere sound a Morse Code "Q" when approaching a crossing.

Scenery along the route includes not only track-side farms, ranches and residences, but views of the Black Hills and Harney Peak. We were pleased that the cool weather has turned the aspen bright gold, contrasting sharply with the dark green of the Ponderosa Pine and Black Hills Spruce.

While Dale and I gazed out the windows and snapped photos, John, and Mark just behind him, enjoyed a short nap between train whistles at the railroad crossings.

Our Bucket List

As our time here in Custer grows short, we're paying increasing attention to our "Bucket List" of things to see and do. On Tuesday, we visited Jewel Cave, said to be the second longest cave in the world, just behind Kentucky's Mammoth Cave. It is located thirteen miles west of Custer, and is several hundred feet below the visitor center and Hell Canyon. Discovered in 1900, Jewel Cave was designated a National Monument in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt. At that time, only about one mile of the cave had been explored. Fifty years later, exploration of the cave began in earnest, and today more than 100 miles of the cave have been explored and mapped.

Jewel Cave is known for its calcite crystals. Many of the walls are covered by calcite crystal formations known as "nailhead spars." Crusts of calcite crystals cover many of the cave walls in crusts two to six inches thick. The following are images taken inside the cave. Many of the formations are relatively small....two to six feet in size....but lovely. Others cover the entire wall of the cave. They include not only nailhead spars, but "cave bacon," "flow stone," "cave draperies," stalagtites and stalagmites.

The Scenic Tour, which we took, is a 1/2 mile, 1 1/4 hour loop. It is described as "moderately strenuous," and we certainly agree! The route followed by the tour isn't level walking. We ascended and descended ore than 700 stairs, and by the time we had finished, we felt sure we had walked off our lunch of fried chicken!

John was delighted that the day we chose to visit was also the day the Forest Service was doing a prescribed burn on 148 acres adjacent to the visitor center.   With the experience he has with prescribed burns, he could understand how the Forest Service was managing this burn.

The State of South Dakota, as well as the Forest Service, are working hard to do two things: they are clearing the forest undergrowth and dead trees to prevent devastating forest fires, like the Jasper Fire, which devastated this area ten years ago.  As you can see, not much regrowth has occurred since that fire.

Efforts are also to control the spread of the Pine Bark Beetle which is killing huge numbers of trees not only in South Dakota, but in the Rocky Mountains. The prescribed burn was part of this effort, as are aggressive logging of dead trees and removal of debris to areas where it can be disposed of safely. These piles of dead limbs will be burned when conditions are right, or run through a chipper.

Onward Through the Fog

On Friday we took a couple of scenic drives and explored areas to the north and west of Custer. We followed a section of the Central Hills Scenic Drive from Hill City to Silver City, then continued north and slightly west to the Northern Hills Scenic Loop. The Northern Hills Loop starts at Deadwood, continues to Sturgis, back west to Spearfish, and then loops back to Lead and Deadwood.

The entire drive is beautiful, and we enjoyed a glimpse of Historic Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane lived and are buried. Deadwood is now populated not only with museums, but with casinos and antique shops, one of which is shown here. This one specialized in large metal animals. We looked and looked for a goat for Goat Hill Farm, but that's probably the only critter we couldn't find. We were tempted by a six-foot rooster, but were able to resist.

In Spearfish, a quaint small town located in a broad valley on the northern edge of the Black Hills, we visited the D.C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery. It is one of the oldest hatcheries in the west, and over the years has provided literally billions of trout for stocking lakes and streams. Nickie especially enjoyed the underwater views of the magnificent rainbows, some of which were literally half her size. They looked to her just like the fish on Animal Planet, but better, and therefore elicited lots of jumping and barking.

From Spearfish, we headed down Spearfish Canyon, which follows Spearfish Creek. We tried to find out why the town, creek and canyon are named "Spearfish." However, we could not find anything more specific than "it was a place where the Indians used to spear fish," or "the early settlers thought it looked like a place where you could spear fish." We did learn, though, that Spearfish Creek was once called Spearfish River because of the large volume of water that flowed through it.

We saw Bridal Veil Falls, which doesn't have much water flowing this late in the year.

We then took a short side trip up Little Spearfish Creek to Roughlock Falls. It's a beautiful area, as you can see, and one we hope to revisit with fishing rods in hand.

 
 
In Spearfish Canyon, the magnificent Ponderosa Pines which cover the hillsides near Custer begin to give way to spruce, and there is much more undergrowth. Since the aspen and other trees are beginning to take on their fall colors, we had spashes of brilliant yellow among the green. Clouds nestled along the ridgelines, though, and gave a soft, etheral beauty to the landscape.

By the time we turned for home, the clouds that had been hovering over the peaks had descended to the ground. We drove most of the way home in a dense fog (traveling only 30-40 mph), and spent much more time on the road than we had planned. We were glad to break out into the sunshine a few miles from camp.

Skunked

Yesterday, still intent on filling the frying pan with trout, we followed directions from one of the locals, and went fishing outside Hill City on Ditch Creek and Castle Creek. These two streams flow in and out, respectively, of Deerfield Lake. The streams were lovely, and the dogs had a great time hunting along the way and "helping" as we cast, with frustration, time and again into the water.

Deerfield lake is picture-perfect, and apparently holds some very acceptable rainbow trout. We didn't have a boat, and were unable to locate the "sweet spot" for bank fishing, so we worked the streams, as many before have apparently done.

At any rate, none of the enticing worms, salmon eggs, power baits, or in desperation grasshoppers, tempted the trout. We came home empty-handed, but rewarded by fantastic vistas of the Black Hills and surrounding prairies.