South Dakota Discoveries: Beauty in the Black Hills

Custer State Park, which sits in the middle of the Black Hills of South Dakota, is definitely worth more than a day or two of your time. This was the second half of our day on July 5th, after visiting Sylvan Lake (see previous video!). We drove at least a portion of every road we could find within the park, and I highly suggest those dirt roads… they are amazingly well maintained and smooth. If you’ve ever wanted to “see where that goes”, this is your chance… You could drive any car on them! Plus, you feel like you’re out there all alone, yet you won’t get lost, and the scenery is incredible. We pulled over for a snack, turned off the engine, and basked in the silence. Minus birds and crickets. So extraordinary! In addition to the dirt roads, we did the entire Wildlife Loop, but while we did not encounter the “begging burros”, we did see a number of bison. And a Pronghorn, for good measure.
I must say, the footage of all this looks small and rather nondescript on my phone. Darn it. I’m sure there are much more advanced channels that can show you more, and I can assure you, if Hollywood was here, it means it was good enough for the big screen.
Some movies filmed here:
The Last Hunt (1956)
How the West Was Won (1962)
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (2007)
And in over in the Badlands, Thunderheart (1992), Armageddon (1998) and Dances with Wolves (1990) were filmed there, so I DO recommend those if you’re curious.
As far as digging in to all “the good stuff” like the many hikes, lakes, caves, historical sites and monuments, you really need a week or more to explore everything that sits within an easy hour or two of CSP’s center.
There is plenty of camping and lodging within and outside of the park, and we were fairly close staying at the Palmer Gulch KOA. I will do a little video featuring that campground as I grabbed some footage while we were there, and it’s nice to show some of the places we stayed on this trip and add it to my “Campgrounds/Alternative Stays” playlist. We wanted to stay inside the park, but boy that is tricky, and not an easy task! Plan months in advance for that.
And so here we are at my last creation of scenery videos of South Dakota. The next one in the timeline is of the Badlands, which I uploaded in July, so if you haven’t checked that one out, I’d say that one is one of my most favorite videos so far, as the area is so insanely different and beautiful.
It’s kind of sad really, vicariously leaving this state, as if for a second time-I do so enjoy the editing work, it takes me back to those moments. I sorta relive them. It would be such a shame to edit these clips down to a minute or two… My max is 15, and I started this one with nearly 25 minutes of uncut clips. Without narration, that would be pretty darn boring.
I still can’t find scenic drives without narration that aren’t much more than a GoPro stuck on a dashboard or a roof and turned on. I like showing the views as if you were a passenger, pondering what’s out there in all directions. All hand held. Not much of a niche I guess. Meh. Just gonna keep doing me.😉
So since I am doing this for me, as sort of a personal documentation for family and friends but open to the public, I won’t worry about the analytics. I never in a million years thought I’d ever be able to make these and upload them to UA-cam. So learning to put these together and being able to share such a monumental life long dream of extended travel, is extremely satisfying. Now. If I could just figure out how to organize better. And do my own music. Ugh. More technology.
Ok, rambling on here… thanks for dropping in, and a very special thank you to those of you that never miss an upload. You keep the fires burning. Enjoy this one, and I’ll enjoy my last three day weekend for a while. I’ll catch ya next time!♥️

[@ervinslens]

Outstanding green meadows, fantastic upland!

[@michelemcdanieltravels]

It’s so beautiful…Cheers!

[@imaracorsico]

Beautiful, ciao

[@michelemcdanieltravels]

Thank you!