There were no campgrounds open near the town of Keystone last night. I drove around for almost an hour trying to find one, but I kept coming up short. My shelter for the night was the front seat of my Subaru, a very, very uncomfortable option. There are not many ways to contort one’s own body while being confined to the cockpit of a car. I slept in spurts of maybe 10 minutes, with each interval being interrupted by a cramped leg or a sore neck. I’d be lucky if I slept more than an hour in total. It started raining heavily around 10pm and continued on through the night, so maybe it was an acceptable trade off, sleeping in a car vs. packing up wet camping gear in a downpour? At about 5am, I couldn’t take sitting in my car any longer and I set out to search for a place that served coffee. Of course, nothing was open so I sat in front of a little shop advertising “all you can eat pancakes, $1.99". It didn't open until 7am so I waited in the parking lot. At around 6:30 the owner came out and asked me if I was waiting for his shop to open and he invited me to come inside while the griddles warmed up and the coffee brewed. Mt. Rushmore opened at 8am so I sat and talked with the owner for about 1 ½ hours, helping myself to refills of coffee behind the counter. Initially, I thought I was going to be sending the owner back and forth repeatedly to make more pancakes but I could only handle the first plate of two because each one was about the size of an 18oz porterhouse.
As I was getting ready to leave, a minivan pulled up and six senior citizens got out and came in for breakfast. As they talked I picked up on a very unique accent and asked if they were from Maine. Turns out they were from Rockland. I said “So, what do you put on your Waas’ hot dog?” They sprung to attention faster than they have probably moved in 50 years. They couldn’t believe that I knew of a tiny little shack selling hot dogs in the small town of Rockland. I mentioned that I worked for FMC and would occasionally travel there to visit our manufacturing facility. We connected further as we discussed other area establishments like “The Brown Bag” and “Red’s” famous lobster rolls. One of the gentlemen used to work for Marine Colloids, a company that FMC acquired some 20-30 years ago. He said I reminded him of his favorite grandson. I didn’t think Grandparents were allowed favorites; at least not mention this in public? I kindly took the compliment and I headed up the road to Mt. Rushmore. That was my small world story for the day.
It was still raining hard and there was low cloud cover, so much that Mt. Rushmore was not visible. I figured I would come back to see Rushmore later and instead take 16A towards Custer State Park to witness the roundup of the buffalo. Apparently, the Black Hills is home to some 1,450 buffalo. The purpose of the roundup is to thin the herd to manageable and sustainable levels, somewhere around 950. Calves are branded and females are vaccinated. 
Approximately 500 animals are sorted for sale stock. The drive to Custer was probably not much more than 25 miles but it took a little over an hour to get there because of the narrow, twisting roads that traversed over hills, through one-lane tunnels and several thousand feet of elevation changes, up and down. It was a beautiful drive and some parts reminded me of driving through Switzerland, with hair pin turns on the edge of steep cliffs. This was definitely a different South Dakota than I was used to.
The Black Hills forest opened up in Custer and revealed rolling hills of prairie land. I saw tons of white-tail deer (8-10+ pts, Kevin), wild turkeys and pronghorn. I eventually came to a crest of a hill which made visible several hundred grazing buffalo. I continued along the road and was able to get within petting distance of some rather large creatures. I sat in my car and watched them graze for almost 2 hours. What a fantastic experience!
From here I drove the Needles Highway (SD 87) which leads up to Sylvan Lake. This was another gorgeous drive covering 14 miles of twisting, narrow roads. Along the drive are amazing views of high granite rock faces. Needles Highway got its name from the slender granite peaks, cathedral-like spires and the “Needles Eye” which resembles the eye of a needle. I took a break from the car and hiked up the Cathedral Spires Trailhead to get up close to these giant rocks.
I arrived at Sylvan Lake and found the campground to be closed. I was hoping this was not going to be another sleepless night in the car. Right at the base of Sylvan Lake was the entrance to the Mt. Harney Trailhead. The peak of Mt. Harney is the highest elevation (7,242 ft) in the US, east of the Rocky Mountains. It was now 2:30pm and a sign at the base of the trail suggested allowing 4-5 hours to complete the 6.5 mile round trip hike. 
Knowing I was at risk of losing daylight, I hurriedly assembled my backpack and made my way to the top. The hike brought me close to the rock faces and it was neat to see the granite walls from higher elevations, a different perspective from the road. Along the trail, I kept my eyes peeled to hopefully catch a glimpse of some elk, bighorn sheep and mountain goats which are known to be in the area; unfortunately I didn’t see anything except more big bucks. I eventually made it to the top of Mt. Harney. Absolutely incredible views, looking down at the tips of the spires in the distance, when just a few hours before I was looking straight up at them. Hopefully the pictures do it justice!
I made it back down by 6pm with plenty of light left. I kept a good pace going up to ensure I would get back in time. Round trip was 3 hours 25 minutes.
I set out to look for a place to sleep so I headed south towards Custer City where I came across Fort Welikit. $12 and a secluded place to pitch a tent was a welcome relief.
I have been having a hard time with cell coverage the past few days so I cooked some dinner and enjoyed a fire, leaving the blog until this morning where I could get a signal from a downtown restaurant.
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