August 23, 2012

Heartland RV Resort & Campground, Hermosa, SD

We got a little bit of a late start because I was trying to find someplace to stay tomorrow night.  It is approximately 560 miles from here to Yellowstone and we wanted to find someplace to stay that was about half way.  I called several places and they did not have any openings and the couple that did have openings, were over $50 a night.  We would stay in a rest area before paying $50 a night.  This will be the first time that we will start out in the morning and not have an exact destination. 

We departed at around 11am and headed for Custer State Park.

 We paid our $15 entrance fee and took the scenic route around Needles Hwy.  We came across a Bison roadblock and then traveled on until the visitor center.  There was an abundance of stuffed animals.  YUK.  It really creeps me out to see animals that were once alive and are now stuffed and mounted.  Continuing along the scenic route we came across a bunch of burros that were looking for a hand out.

  Some people were feeding them carrots even though there are plenty of signs that advise against feeding the wildlife. 

When we finally got around the burros we came across another bison roadblock.  We were stopped for 20 minutes for construction delays so we decided to eat our lunch in the car while we waited for the ok to move on.  We stopped at Stockade Lake to stretch our legs. 

Our next stop was at Gordon Stockade.  The Gordon Stockade is located just of Hwy 14A right before you reach the west entrance of Custer State Park. The original stockade was built by the Gordon Party in December of 1874.

Twenty-eight people left Sioux City, Iowa in October of 1874 headed to the Black Hills in search of gold. They reached the Black Hills in December. Being in the Black Hills at that time was illegal, as it violated the Fort Laramie Treaty. They spent the first three weeks building the stockade for protection.

The stockade was discovered by the US Cavalry in 1875 and the party members were taken to Fort Laramie. They were not charged with any crimes and many of them ended up back in the Black Hills searching for gold.

As we were leaving the Gordon Stockade, Monte noticed a dirt road and couldn’t resist going down it to see where it would lead.  It led around Stockade Lake.  It was quite beautiful. 

 

We moved onto Crazy Horse Mountain. 

 

 

 After paying our $20 admittance fee we went into the visitor’s center and watched a film showing the making of the Crazy Horse Monument.  After the film we “tagged” along on a private tour led by a guide so we got detailed info about the different artifacts on display. 

 

 

We shared an ice cream sundae and started back home on a long and winding road where we encountered some white tailed deer.  Back home Monte did some outside chores and I took a dip in what was supposed to be a heated pool.  It wasn’t.  But the showers had plenty of hot water.    Tomorrow should be interesting.