custer, sd

Custer State Park is an oldie, but a goodie. We can't come to South Dakota without spending at least a day here. Unfortunately it was an 1.5 hour drive from our campground, which made for a very long day.

It has been a long time since Emma and I have gone horseback riding. It was one of the things she really wanted to do while we were in South Dakota. This trail ride was in Custer State Park and went along and through French Creek.

While we were horseback riding Braden and Olivia went to the top of the Mount Coolidge Fire Tower. The fire tower was built in 1939 and is still an active fire tower used by park rangers. The fire tower sits at an elevation of 6,023 feet atop the highest point in the park.

Our next stop in the park was the Wildlife Loop. There is always lots of wildlife to see on this drive.

There were so many fallen trees all over the park. Apparently in December there was a wind storm with 100+ mph winds that knocked tons of trees down.

We had one final stop before heading back to the campground - Sylvan Lake. We brought the paddleboards with us with plans to go swimming and paddleboarding. By the time we made it to the lake it was already late in the afternoon and we were all tired and ready to get back to the bus. We've been in this exact same scenario every other time we've been to Sylvan Lake. Next time we visit we will stop here first!

On our way out of the park we took Needles Highway. It is such a pretty drive surrounded by needlelike granite mountains and through some narrow tunnels.