Just east of the Black Hills in South Dakota sits the Ranger State Park. Outlined by National Monuments and Parks within the Black Hills themselves, Custer still offers amazing views and opportunities to get up close and personal with much of the wildlife on the western plains.
I have visited the ranger state park many times, usually in the morning before the heat of the plains becomes to prevail. Taking two hours to explore the 18 mile Deer Loop gives me the opportunity to see the animals while they are still active.
The Warden of the State Park is named after the famous officer who led the expedition through the French Creek regions. Gold was discovered in 1874, leading to a brief gold rush and the massacre of Little Big Horn. Knee The area was also home to South Dakota‘s first poet laureate, Beaver Creek.
I usually make breakfast before I enter the wildlife park, and find a place with a clearing to sit and wait for the animals to walk by. Many are used for trade routes, and bison use the routes to move from one pasture to another, but elk and deer tend to stay on the road. To see them, and other rare wildlife, you need to leave the road. Since there are bears and even lions inside the park, you still need to be aware of your surroundings.
The State Park is the largest State Park in South Dakota, with hiking and camping and a variety of scenic routes. In addition, there are two historic buildings within the park, one Beaver Creek log cabins, the other Peter Norbert Center; which presents the history and wildlife of the garden.
Once it’s over, especially in the car, wait for a few burros to come wandering around. The “Petting Burros” of the State Park Service are not actually native, since they are transported there to take visitors to Mount Rushmore< /a> and other attractions in the area , before more reliable means of transport (trains and cars) were available. Since there was no need, the burros were just set free to roam.
This system can be fed to the burros by the visitors, and the burros themselves learned a long time ago. When they see an abandoned car, they often turn to the side looking for a team, and sometimes they look a little cross when you don’t have any. I do not usually feed them, although I have seen many do.
With increased traffic in the Black Hills the amount of wildlife you can see from the roads (certainly not the road-killed kind) seems to fall every year. So if you’re interested in seeing some of the animals native to the plains (and burros, of course), a day spent exploring this state park is time well spent.
Andreas Pain is a writer and motorcycle adventurer. He published how-to books and traveled widely in North and South America.
