Custer State Park in Custer, South Dakota June 5 – 9, 2025

Thursday, June 5, 2025 we left Cabela’s in Sidney, Nebraska at 9:10 am. As I noted in our last blog post, I was just getting into Voyager after my walk-around of Nomad when rain began to fall. It rained off and on for most of our 3 1/2 hour drive to Legion Lake Campground in Custer State Park near Custer, South Dakota for a 4-night stay. This was our second stay at Legion Lake. We were there 2 years ago and enjoyed the time we spent there then. We expected the same for this visit.

Legion Lake Campground

Legion Lake Campground is across the road from the Legion Lake and Legion Lake Lodge. Our site was level asphalt with electric hook-up only. The sites are closer than we prefer, but we spent a lot of time out and about exploring while we were there. And for 4 nights, we can endure, lol.

If we had been there longer we would have hiked some of the trails near our campsite, but most of our time on this visit was spent exploring the 71,000 acres of the state park and the nearby town of Custer in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

“Black Hills”

Have you ever wondered WHY they’re called the “Black Hills of South Dakota”? Cindy did and, as she rightly observed, the hills are a verdant green, not black. So why the name “Black Hills”?

Before the white man arrived, those lands were visited by, lived in and hunted in by the Oglala Sioux tribe of the Lakota people. “Black Hills” is a translation of the Lakota phrase “Lakota Pahá Sápa”. Because, from a distance, the dark trees that cover the hills look like they are black.

Now you know!

The weather is still cool (COLD to me!) so I’m regretting that we packed our winter clothes away a couple of weeks ago. So strange because last year when we were in Utah around this time of the year it was SO hot. But, we know it will be sweltering at our next couple of upcoming stops. Mother Nature is very fickle.

Wildlife Loop

Right after breakfast Friday morning we drove the Wildlife Loop because THAT is what Cindy comes to do. She absolutely LOVES Custer State Park and the opportunity to see the bison, donkeys, pronghorns, prairie dogs(!), and deer excites her so much! She has loved it since I first brought her here back when I was deployed to South Dakota a decade ago. If it were possible, we would be here every year so she could experience the joy all over again and again and again.

The loop is 18 miles long and typically takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to drive from one end to the other, depending on how often and how long you stop to take photos (or get blocked by bison in the road, lol!).

We saw pronghorns first and they were a large herd just lounging in the grass. Usually we would see one or two at a time, so it was quite exciting to see a group of them together. Then it was the wild donkeys (the only animals in the park you are allowed to approach and feed) out grazing. Last time we were there Cindy got out and petted a couple of them, but she didn’t do that this time. Plus we felt bad that we forgot to bring carrots for them to munch on.

Then we saw the bison. There’s not much more to say about these magnificent beasts that I haven’t written before. They are mammoth in size and immense in strength. And you’re an idiot if you try to approach them on foot.

Finally, the prairie dogs. I swear Cindy had hundreds of photos and videos of them. It’s a good thing they’re not domesticated or we would have several of them traveling with us, lol.

Custer

In the afternoon we drove into the town of Custer, just outside the western entrance to Custer State Park.

Our first stop was a rock shop (one of Cindy’s favorite places to go) where she picked out a few things to add more weight to Nomad.

Then we walked through the main town section which is very “touristy” in nature. On most corners they have statues of variously artistically decorated bison. I added photos of 8 of them to our album for this post, but there were probably three times that many spread throughout the town.

We stopped into a lot of the stores to look around. At one we found some things we were going to purchase until we noticed the huge “Trump 2024” banner behind the register. We left without buying anything because we do not knowingly patronize places like that. Your most important “vote” is with your ballot but you can also vote with your commerce.

Later that evening we drove the Wildlife Loop again; this time from the opposite direction that we had taken that morning. You can see different animals at different points in the loop depending on the time of day, so we always make multiple trips around the loop during our stays.

Legion Lake

Saturday morning we walked Bella over to Legion Lake, which was across the road from our campground. We got to see a couple of “Goose Parents” with their two goslings swimming around the lake. It’s cool to see how the mom and dad place the gosling between them as they swim. Last time we were here we walked Bella on the trail that circles Legion Lake, but it’s getting harder for her (and us!) to hike on some of the rougher trails and this one was kinda rough so we skipped it.

The Legion Lake Lodge is also on the shore of the lake. They have a restaurant that serves pretty decent food, an ice cream shop and a gift shop.

In the mid-afternoon we drove the Wildlife Loop again and I did not expect to see much in the afternoon heat. But we saw several bison at the beginning of the loop as well as more wild donkeys. In addition, Cindy got a great shot of a pronghorn on a hilltop. We also saw some deer, but weren’t fast enough to get photos or video of them.

Sunday we had a late lunch at Legion Lake Lodge, then drove into Custer to fuel up Voyager, enjoy some dessert and came back to make one final drive through the Wildlife Loop before calling it a day and a trip.

We’ll be back for an even shorter stay toward the end of July as we make our way back eastward across the northern states on our return trip back to Florida.

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