We wanted to stop by The Black Hills on our way to Badlands National Park. We both have visited the Black Hills before seperately, but it was a while ago and we had both enjoyed it. Aside from being naturally scenic, the area has a lot of historical significance, especially, in terms of battles between Native Americans and the “Whiteman”. This area is home to Custer’s Last Stand, a famous battle in which Crazy Horse, a Lakota warrior, defeated general Custer and was subsequently murdered during a truce meeting with the colonizers. This infamous history between the native tribes and the new American settlers is memorialized in many ways in this part of South Dakota and while the history is unfortunate, the scenery is beautiful and significance of these battles is really felt and honored in many ways.

Additionally, this is the site of Mount Rushmore and because this is a popular tourist destination we opted for a dispersed campsite to avoid the crowds in the established campgrounds. We found a secluded spot in the woods on a gravel road on the outskirts of Custer and it ended up being the most secluded camp spot of the whole trip. This made Alex very happy and there was a lot of joyful dancing and listening for scouting for animals. There was a bit of wildlife! Alex got out of the car early morning and heard something snuffling and snorting but he didn’t have his glasses on to see what it was. By the time he donned them, the animal had loped away. It was most likely a deer but we like to think it was something bigger- maybe a Buffalo! 🙂 We saw woodpeckers, deer, crickets, and the like but nothing particularly predatory. We learned how to tell the temperaute by the frequency of cricket chirping and found it was surprisingly accurate!

The next morning we ventured to the Crazy Horse memorial, a larger-than-life-sized mountain sculpture similar in nature to Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately, because of the sculptors death, the monument was never totally finished but its cool nonetheless.


We continued on toward Badlands National Park via The Needles Highway, a scenic road through The Black Hills and needle-like rock formations that tour over the road due to granite erosion from wind and water. It is a winding by way with one lane tunnels carved into the granite needles, a fun drive if youre in the area. Although there were some other national monuments in the area and Windcave National Park, we had a long way to Sioux Falls via the Badlands so we kept chugging a long.
