Custer State Park Wildlife Loop Trail

With the time change difference we were up bright and early on our first full day in South Dakota.  I thought it would be the perfect time to drive the Wildlife Loop Trial at Custer State Park since we had heard that the animals were most abundant early in the day and around dusk.



We stopped to get our pass at the Ranger station and they gave us a map.  We honestly thought the trail had been a bust and that we were finished with the Wildlife Loop Trail before we actually saw any of the animals (I guess I might not have been reading the map quite right?)  


We had seen this one small herd of pronghorn off in the distance but that was it!

The views were so pretty but we really wanted to see some wildlife

Then we turned a corner and saw this:


A huge herd of buffalo were hanging out around and even on the road.




These two started fighting one another.



We saw the resident burrows.


And since our windows were down I heard these guys and asked my husband to pull over.  They weren't always easy to spot from the car but once our eyes adjusted we saw prairie dogs everywhere!

They were so entertaining we could have happily sat there and watched them for a long time.





It was a great start to our day.  The Wildlife Loop Trail ends right near the start of Needles Highway and we decided to just keep right on driving.


Other posts from this trip include:

Driving from Denver to Cheyenne
Where we stayed in the Black Hills
Visiting the Reptile Gardens
Visiting Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo


Comments

  1. Doused in Pink Life & StyleOctober 12, 2019 at 10:14 PM

    So cool that you were that close to the buffalo! I bet the prairie dogs were fun to watch!

    Jill - Doused in Pink

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3October 13, 2019 at 6:58 AM

      The parairie dogs were so much fun to watch; we could hear them making all sorts of noises; it was a really neat trail.

      Delete
  2. JayneOctober 13, 2019 at 6:34 AM

    Wow! What a fab experience. And how amazing that you got to see the buffalo up close.

    Thanks so much for sharing with #MMBC. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amy JohnsonOctober 13, 2019 at 5:18 PM

    That's so cool you saw the burrows. We didn't see them when we were there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3October 13, 2019 at 5:31 PM

      We almost missed them; they were trotting away from the trail and if it weren't for the zoom in my camera we would not have known what they were.

      Delete
  4. TanyaOctober 14, 2019 at 9:04 AM

    I love that you saw so much wildlife, even though you had to wait til the end of the drive. You don't want to mess around with those buffalo! Thanks for linking up with Hello Monday! Tanya - The Other Side of the Road

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3October 14, 2019 at 9:31 AM

      You definitely do not; those two that were fighting were pushing each other all over the place.

      Delete
  5. Dara @ Not In JerseyOctober 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM

    I love buffalo and prairie dogs are so cute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3October 16, 2019 at 2:31 PM

      They were so adorable! It's amazing to see just how much room one prairie dog town takes up.

      Delete
  6. DawnOctober 16, 2019 at 2:33 PM

    I just love prairie dogs. What a dream vacation.
    Blessings, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3October 16, 2019 at 4:31 PM

      They were so cute and I was hoping we would see them as it is the only animal my youngest kept asking if we'd see. He just LOVES them.

      Delete
  7. MarilynsTreatsOctober 20, 2019 at 7:05 PM

    Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too!

    ReplyDelete

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