Day 14 - Deadwood, SD

Here we are in Deadwood, SD. If you get HBO you might know about this  frontier town. Very gritty but lots of character. We are on Main Street in a Holiday Inn Express.
Backtracking since the last post...
Our Cedar Pass Campground(in Badlands) experience was wonderful!
This was our view:

I'm a bit disappointed in my new Canon camera, colors are not as vibrant as in real life. But we felt cradled in the amazing rock formations.
The Park Service programs during the evening were outstanding. Expert guides told us about the local wildlife as well as the astronomy above.
As short walk from our campsite, it really added to the experience.

After a lovely sunrise:

We left Badlands and proceeded to Custer State Park via Mount Rushmore.

 Wow! A nice view. Better than Will remembered. They were doing a lot of construction around the memorial and parking area so we couldn't go any closer but when it is finished the view is at least 100' closer.

 Then we went to Wind Cave but couldn't see the cave because the elevator was broken, but we knew this ahead of time. We walked to the natural entrance of the cave and a cool breeze was coming out of it. I neglected to take any pictures here.

Next was Hot Springs, SD to see the Mammoth Dig. An amazing display of the active site. This pool where the mammoth got trapped had slippery sides so they couldn't get out. Eventually the pool filled with sediment and then the surrounding earth eroded away leaving a mound instead of a pit. In 1974 they were going to remove the mound to make way for a housing project but the head of the project saw the bones when they started to bulldoze and all work ceased and they began to dig. Now there is a building covering the entire mound and they give tours.

We spent the night in Custer State Park which is a lovely park in the Black Hills.  We stayed in the Legion Lake campground and it was very relaxing. Here is the lodge and the lake. The campground is behind me.

On my way to the shower in the morning, I saw a bison beside the road right in my way! Upon encouragement from the neighboring campers, who had seen this guy just about every day and were standing outside, I proceeded cautiously to the shower and crept by the giant, unpredictable beast, keeping as much distance as I could(~25ft), and only moving when he was actively eating grass, hiding behind a truck while he moved. When I was finished with my shower, I proceeded carefully back to the campsite, peeking around corners and keeping my eyes peeled for where the bison was now.
As it turns out, the bison was in our campsite, rubbing against our picnic table!
I wondered if Will knew it was there as he was inside making coffee. Our neighbors, Robin and Tom from Colorado, took me into their camper while I waited for the bison to move away so I could access the van.
Will said he heard a huffling noise and looked out and was quite shocked! He managed to grab his phone and get this picture before the bison moved on:

Wow! What an interesting morning!

There was rain overnight and a little in the AM but it cleared up and we had a great ride through the Wildlife Loop of the park. We saw varying terrain from mountains to meadows as we drove.

We saw lots of bison as well as two pronghorn deer fighting, prairie dogs and a very low level of traffic. This would be a great place to return to and enjoy more.
And thus we ended up in Deadwood on Monday night.Here's the view from the hotel room.