Alaskan Adventure: Day 10 (& 11). Today we drove south from Custer to Wind Cave National Park. Got the Stamp and looked at the displays in the Visitors Center but did not do a cave tour. We drove north through Wind Cave NP which is part of the huge area reserved for free ranging wildlife and connects to the south end of the same open area of Custer State Park.

Wind Cave National Park has the seventh longest cave system in the world. It’s big claim to fame is “the most well-formed and abundant collection of boxwork speleothems”. We didn’t see it but below is a pic of boxwork speleothems.

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We didn’t see the cave but we did see Bison in Wind Cave National Park.

The Bison are rubbing off their winter coats. They were scratching themselves on fences, road signs, and pine trees.

Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep

The crown of horns is just marvelous looking.

Everywhere we drove around the Black Hills there were pine trees either toppled over with roots tipped up or the tops of the trees just broken off. There was a 100 mph straight line wind storm 6 months previous in December of 2025.

iPhone panorama shot from the top of Mount Coolidge. 6,000′ elevation up a winding dirt road to a stone fire tower built by the CCC. This view is generally looking East toward the Badlands.

From top of Mt Coolidge looking generally West. Very tiny out there on the mountain tops are the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt Rushmore Monument.

Telephoto zoom view and then further cropped view through about 10 miles of hazy air.

Mount Rushmore from top of Mt Coolidge

Returning to Custer I had to get a pic of this really well done roadside kitsch. The Buffalo looked better than the resort it advertised.

Street corners in Custer feature painted fiberglass Bison.

A granite obelisk in Custer. Dedicated to Horace N. Ross “Discoverer of gold in the Black Hills of Custer, So. Dak. July 27th, 1674. That’s a gold pan and shovel on top.

Pics don’t do justice to the beauty of sparkling granite rocks. Weathered they are “blackish” but when broken and exposed they are very shiny and colorful.

The Dr. D.W. Flick cabin is on display in Custer. The first building erected in the Black Hills – around 1875.

Cool Barn Quilt Art in downtown Custer. We saw these as we wandered around downtown waiting for our laundry to finish at the laundromat. That wrapped up Wednesday.

Thursday morning was REALLY windy and chilly. The actual temp was 45 but the “feels like temp” was 27 and there was light snow just to the north of us! Today was a rest day, cleaning things up, airing up tires on RV and tow car, catching up on blog and journals, and making reservations for spring travel. Tomorrow morning we leave Custer and head to Devils Tower National Monument.

Today’s favorite Bible reading: Jude 24-25

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.