Custer State Park, South Dakota: Wildlife Loop

"Breaker 1-9! Breaker 1-9! We have a Bison Back-up on the South Dakota 16A. We need a whole lot of help cleaning up all of these cow patties! And send a change of clothes for the guy on the motorcycle...."

That's how I envisioned the call going out over the CB radio when we happened upon our first big herd of Bison. I mean there were Bison everywhere, including in the middle of the road we had to drive through. There were a couple of us stopped by all the Bison, everyone in cars except for MLA and I, who are on the Harley. Some cars tried to squeeze their way through but most just waited until a gap appeared, and then moved up a few feet and then waited for the next gap.

Wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning...

We are finally going to do this. After two other attempts to drive the entire Wildlife Loop through Custer State Park, this time we were going to do it no matter what. No matter that the weather looked like it would storm at any moment. No matter we would be gone at least 2 hours to make the loop after allowances for stopping a few times at scenic overlooks and/or to view the wildlife. After all, it's the wildlife loop, you have to allow for some time to actually stop and enjoy the wildlife. So, we took off on the motorcycle, bound and determined to complete the ride this time.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to beginning of the wildlife loop in Custer State Park from our campground. At last we turned east onto the highly anticipated road that we had been waiting to ride all week. We went around the first corner.... nothing. And then the next corner... nothing. For 5 miles, corner after corner, nothing.

And then out of nowhere, there's a large Bison herd spread through a valley, in about equal numbers on each side of the road, the very same road and herd I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

First you are hit by how large these animals are, especially the head. Then you notice the horns, looking pretty big and mighty sharp. Then you notice the attitude... and we're not talking about a good attitude. These Bison seem to be just a bit peeved... as if they know you are the direct descendants of the people who just about put this animal into extinction. Conservative estimates of the Bison population during the 1800's are in the ten's of millions of bison. Some estimate the Bison existed in quantities measured in the 100's of millions.

Whatever the number, there were a lot of them and now there are not that many. And the Bison look at you as if they know how to hold a grudge. A lot of people in cars were mighty nervous trying to drive through this relatively small herd of about 200 bison. I know I was feeling pretty vulnerable. I mean, here are people enclosed in 3000 pounds of steel and they are nervous.

MLA and I are basically sitting on top of a hard to balance, noisy motorcycle, painted, you got it, painted bright red. Normally I love the color of my bike but today I was thinking a plain brown would have been the perfect. Several times when I had to go by a Bison in the middle of the road I cut my engine and tried to drift quietly by him before he knew I was there. Would have been way more effective if MLA hadn't been shouting about how beautiful they were, yelling about how big they were, and then screaming just a wee bit louder about how close they were to us. Yikes.

It took us a good 15 minutes to go about 1/2 a mile down the road and through the Bison herd. Once we were through I realized my shirt was drenched.

After that excitement we went through two more herds however they were mostly in the fields; only a few walked down the middle of the road as if to say "this is my road".

To celebrate we stopped at the Game Lodge for dinner. This is the same lodge the President Calvin Coolidge visited during his presidency. He came for three weeks and ended up staying three months. They call the lodge the "Summer White House".

He extended his stay because he was learning to fish and was getting better every day. He didn't know the Park Service was stocking the streams and lakes every evening. Nor did he know they hung chicken heads along the banks of the streams he would be fishing. Would have been pretty hard not to catch fish with all of that help. They still laugh about that little event.

Anyway, the food was great; I had the fish. Just couldn't bring myself to eat the Bison steak knowing I had to drive by a few more Bison on the way home. Didn't want any on them to smell Bison on my breath....

See Ya!