Summer Travels 2019: Wind Cave, Mammoth Site, Swimming, Animals

We started the next day in Custer State Park for the kids to work on their Junior Naturalist program.

Playing with story stones.

We drove up Mount Coolidge to see some nice views.

Crazy Horse out in the distance.

A nice shot of the Needles area of the Black Hills.

You can barely see Mount Rushmore.

Standing on the fire tower at Mount Coolidge.

A shot of the fire tower.

Next we went to Wind Cave.  Unfortunately the cave was closed because the elevator was out of order so we didn't get to go into the cave.  However, we were still able to see some neat things in the Visitors Center and the surrounding area.

Megan at the natural entrance to Wind Cave.  There was a steady breeze out of the cave since the pressure outside was lower than in the cave. It felt like air conditioning.  People exploring the cave used to squeeze through that opening.

Jockeying for position with the breeze.

We saw these odd growths and asked a ranger about them.  He said they were probably insect eggs laid in the leaf.

Swearing in as Junior Rangers.

Matthew with big antlers.

More playing with horns and antlers.

The map of Wind Cave.

Feeling a little bat.

We saw this bison herd around a wallow.

There were lots of calves.

The sign for the park.

We went to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. It was discovered when they were going to build some homes at this location. Thankfully when they discovered the bones, they stopped the digging and preserved the site. They have found the remains of three woolly mammoths and many larger Colombian mammoths in addition to giant short-faced bears, sloths and other animals. Interesting fact: all the mammoths they have found have been adult males. They think that is because they were solitary and did not have the wisdom of the group to warn them away from dangers like this sinkhole.

This mammoth skeleton is actually from somewhere else but it was donated here.

Big tusks!

This is a skull that has been removed from the mammoth pit.  They are working on removing it and restoring it.

These are mammoth footprints recorded in the strata.

Pieces of a skull sticking out of the ground. See the wide teeth?

Some of the excavation tools they use.

A picture of the pit.

Another picture of the pit.

It was amazing to see all the bones piled up.

One of the larger skulls in the pit.

This appears to be a complete mammoth.

Matthew liked this hut made of mammoth bones.

This femur is as tall as Matthew.

Not as tall as Me.

Or as U.

Megan and Matthew were proud of being able to put together these puzzles.

We then went to Evans Plunge which is a natural spring-fed pool.  There were water slides and the water was nice but not too warm (87 degrees).

Megan and Sarah hanging out in the pool.

On the way home, we saw that the bison herd in Wind Cave National Park had moved over the hill.

So many babies including this one that is nursing.

Prairie dogs were in evidence as well.

It was really exciting to see a bison in the road.  He didn't move very fast so we slowly followed behind him for a bit.

Goodbye Mr. Bison!

Once we entered Custer State Park, we turned onto the Wildlife Loop. It was just about dusk and so was a great time to see wildlife.

We saw some pronghorn.

We had to wait for them on the road as well.

A deer with a fawn. 

Another deer.

Look! Another bison herd way off in the distance.

Now these bison are closer.

Wait, do all these animals want to cross the road?

There are so many!

The answer is yes.  They do all want to cross the road.  We saw some of these bison fighting on the road right in front of our car. These bison on the right were leaning on the car in front of us. (There were dogs in the car so we figure that is why they were so interested in that car.)

Even when we finally got moving we still had to wait for more bison to cross.  It took a while but it was fun to be caught in a buffalo jam.