Our remaining 10 days in South Dakota did not disappoint. We had hit several of the tourist spots with Mike's sister so we were looking to explore the town of Custer a bit more and other lesser known things to do.
Custer was kicking off its summer season with some local music in the early afternoons. It was pretty hot and there was not much shade for the spectators, but we stopped by a couple of times to listen in. We walked through Custer and perused the shops along the main street. We also caught some live music and a cocktail at the Buglin' Bull, it was an hour and a half wait for dinner. The town was bustling.
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| We might have snuck in some ice cream. |
We headed out on Saturday morning to check out the Custer Farmer's Market. There were only 4 tents, but one was a bakery and a couple of scones jumped in our backpack for breakfast the next day.
In the afternoon we took our bikes for a short trek on the 109 mile George S. Michelson Trail. The trail is well maintained with quite a few hills. Mike had the hard part of this outing as I am really beginning to take advantage of having an e-bike.
The weather on Sunday was cool and forecasted for rain so we planned a second trip to the Wildlife Loop in the park, the Iron Mountain Scenic road and a late lunch at Desparados in Hill City. We were treated with a convergence of 3 herd of buffalo on a dirt cusp road off the main wildlife loop. We took almost all dirt roads through the park this time and saw different scenery from the first trip through. Deep down one of the dirt roads with a camping site catering to specifically to horse camping. It was packed with campers. The curves and the pigtails on Iron Mountain Scenic road made us miss our Can Am Spyder.
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| Buffalo being cute! |
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| Buffalo being majestic. |
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| The road ends with a tunnel that looks out onto Mt. Rushmore. |
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| Even the GPS looked like a Spirograph. |
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| One of the pigtail bridges |
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| Profile of George Washington from outside Mt. Rushmore |
Exiting the loop we stopped by the Custer State Park visitor center and enjoyed a movie about the history narrated by Kevin Costner.
We planned a couple of hikes to do while still in the area. The first one was the Sunday Gulch Trail. The trailhead started at Sylvan Lake. We started early to beat the heat and the crowds. Trail guidance suggested doing the trail in a clockwise manner so as to finish with the more difficult rock climbing going up instead of down. We followed the guidance and were glad we did . The boulder climbing at the end was made possible by an irregular set of metal bannisters. Even though we were tired by the end of the hike, it was much better going up. There were large groups starting the trail on the down portion of the boulders and we saw several people turn back and abandon the hike.
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| Serenity at Sylvan Lake |
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| A relaxing spot on the rocks |
We played pickleball a couple of times with the local folks. Under the category of "small world" one of the gentlemen spends his winters in St. Pete and I had played pickleball with him there for the last two years. Crazy.
We ate lunch at Alpine Inn, a must stop recommendation. We had a lovely lunch at this unique little vintage inn and German restaurant in the hills of SD.
While at lunch, we made an appointment for wine tasting at Prairie Berry Winery, home of Red Ass Rhubarb Wine. We weren't expecting too much but it had a gitchy name and the building looked beautiful from the outside. We were pleasantly surprised by their wines. I sampled the black currant wine and thought it was interesting and drinkable. We found we enjoyed all of the Anna Pesä (fifth generation winemaker) wine blends. The story of its winemaking history is one of grit, determination and craftsmanship. I just kept thinking of the Moira Rosé episode from Schitt's Creek.
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| Lovely tasting room |
We did take a half a day trip to the "big city" of Rapid City to take care of some errands. It felt a little strange to be around so many people again.
That same evening we had reservations for dinner at a place called Skogen Kitchen, maybe 20 seats inside and another 10 seats outside under a semi-enclosed tent. As luck would have it, a torrential rainstorm began about 6:15pm. As we were driving to our 7:15pm reservation, they called and said they would be running about 30 minutes behind as they could not seat any tables outside. The place was fully booked for the rest of the nights we were in Custer so we adjusted and went to the Gold Pan Saloon for a pre-dinner cocktail. It was a blast from the past, claiming to be the oldest saloon in the Black Hills. I did not independently confirm this.
We finished our cocktails just as the restaurant called us for our table and we were treated to a fantastic meal with terrific service and we forgot all about the delayed start to the evening as the rain continued to fall.
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| Unconfirmed. |
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| Shoshito Pepper Appetizer |
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| My pork chop, cooked to perfection |
Our last full day in Custer rounded out with another enjoyable hike on the Lover's Leap trail. It was a moderately strenuous hike due to the uphill climb from the trailhead. Once you caught your breath, it was only to be taken away again by the beauty of the Black Hills.
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| Agreed. |
While we are looking forward to rest of our travels on this western round-up. The stop in Custer was one that won't soon be forgotten.
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