Sturgis Adventures - Rainy Day in Custer

I will never again take for granted being warm and dry. And I’m beginning to doubt all weather forecasts. There was nothing on the radar when we left Spearfish, headed for Custer State Park and then Needles.

We saw a small herd of bison off in the distance, but they weren’t interested in visitors today. The burro, however, were very excited to see if we had any food. This relatively new mom and her baby boy wandered all through the passersby, munching baby carrots from their hands.

I remembered my mom saying, “Keep your fingers flat, they don’t know where the food stops and the fingers begin.” Too late. My fingers must not have tasted good since I still have them. Thank you, burro!

Like the Badlands, Custer never gets old and we’ll continue to visit every time. Seeing wild bison in the fur is just amazing and we’ll take every chance we get to see them. We were happy to spend some time today with these two cuties.

Leaving the park and headed for Needles, the sky didn’t seem to agree with the forecast.

Something was blowing in, and those round, tufted clouds meant hail. Great. We were headed for Needles, which I really didn’t want to ride in the rain (hairpin turns when you’ve got water droplets and fog clouding your vision? Nope!), and not only is it painful to be pelted with hail, it’s like riding on marbles. So we turned back towards Blue Bell Lodge, where we were married in 2010.

The ironic thing is we got an outside table.. LOL Our server was awesome and pushed our table and umbrella under the overhang so we were able to stay dry as it came down. If you visit Custer State Park and do the Wildlife Loop, stop by the Blue Bell Lodge – I got the Belldorf Salad and Bill got the Smothered Hot Beef – tasty and reasonable!

The rain subsided where we were and we decided to save Needles for another day. It was still a wet ride home.

Our tentative itinerary will change over the next few days as they are calling for more rain in the afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday. The last few miles along 85 south were spectacular though, as usual. This last image sums up my daydreams and why I long to return.