Today we are going to head south to Hot Springs, SD to see an active dig site and Ice Age museum; then head back north to see some wild life, taking the circle drive to the east through Custer State Park and experience the Iron Mountain Road scenery and white knuckle (at least as far as Kitty is concerned) curves and switchbacks.
The Hot Springs dig site is where the mammoths came to drink from the spring and ended up getting trapped in the spring about 26,000 years ago. The excavation site is enclosed and the dig of fossil remains continues. The site features fossil remains of 58 Columbia and woolly mammoths and a few other small animals. The site has excavated about 30 feet deep and it is estimated that there is another 70 feet of remains yet to be discovered.
In this shot, Ethan and Sophie are holding the jaw bone of a mammoth and you can see the teeth.
This photo shows the active dig site.
This is one of the most complete skeletial remains of a mommoth ever found.
This is Sean standing in front of a mammoth replica. You get a good idea of the size of these animals.
Leaving the dig site, we head north back to Custer State Park taking the east loop road. There are no fences separating visitors from the wildlife, so everyone is advised to stay in their car. If you look in the upper left corner of this photo, you can see a prairie dog sitting up.
A small herd just crossed the road with two babies. The only wild animals Kallie barked at happened to be the buffalo. Yikes! Don't get them upset and charge our truck! Fortunately, they ignored her barks until we could wrap a hand around her mouth.
This guy picked up a hitch hiker! I guess he got tired carrying that bird around all day!
Here's a close up of a Prong Horn Antelope.
These wild burros know how to beg for food. That's Sean standing behind the burro.
Now we are on the scenic Iron Mountain Road. This is a white knuckle narrow road with lots of switch backs and a few pig tails and steep inclines and descends and some interesting tunnels carved through the rock. After the Iron Mountain Road, Kitty refused to ride on any more "scenic trips through the mountains".
We stopped at this scenic overlook. We could see Mount Rushmore from this road as you will see in the later pictures.
This picture of John's truck was taken through the windshield of my truck. As you can see, there is only room for one vehicle at a time. Our RV definitely would not fit through this tunnel!
As we drove through this tunnel, it framed Mount Rushmore. The picture was also taken through the windshield of my truck.
The next blog will take us a few miles north of Custer, to Keystone, SD where we will pan for gold and visit beautiful Lake Sylvan.
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