Custer State Park

In June, we camped at Custer State Park in South Dakota. It was a great, inexpensive, place to stay while visiting Mount Rushmore.

I am in love with Custer State Park. It's like a national park that just is run by a state. It was made a State Forest in 1912 and much of the buildings, including the following (the visitor's center) were built by the CCC.

For those who don't know, the CCC was one of the social programs of the Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps put young men to work during the depression. They built bridges and roads, and frequently built picnic areas and buildings within state parks and national parks across the country (my favorite Texas State Park, Garner State Park, is full of CCC architecture). They built in an Arts and Crafts style. And their designs, very rustic and close to nature, often using locally found materials, is often referred to as "National Park Rustic." Anyway, I enjoy CCC architecture and was delighted to see it in the park.

There are a lot of bison in the park and can be easily seen. This picture is not zoomed in at all. I took it out my window as we drove past.

They like to hold up traffic, too:

As do the burros. Many, many years ago (I believe in the 1920s?) you could hire a burro to take you to Harney Peak. When that service was discontinued, the burros were just set free. Now a "wild" herd of burros live in the park and beg drivers for food. When we passed these, another group of people were beginning to approach the burros with pieces of bread. The park allows it, since they're somewhat domesticated (or at least are the descendants of domesticated animals), though they tell you to "use your judgement." (Unlike the bison--everywhere you go and on every brochure/map/etc. it states "Buffalo are dangerous. Do not approach.")

We saw a lot of other animals in the park, too. In addition to the animals I mentioned in the last post, I also saw pronghorn, mule deer, a beaver (I think), and a bat. Also in the park, though we didn't see any, are big-horn sheep, mountain goats, rattlesnakes, and mountain lions.
A very hard to see mule deer:

And, a hiding pronghorn:

We really enjoyed Custer State Park. It was a great place to camp, and there's a lot we didn't get to do. We just might go back sometime, notwithstanding the 6 hour drive. :)

Landsford Canal State Park

The kids and I decided to head to South Carolina today to visit Landsford Canal State Park. I like this park because it is a good mix of nature and history.


There are two trails in the park--one that follows the Catawba river and one that follows the now-defunct canal. Both trails are easy to walk on, and I was able to use my stroller without too much trouble. We saw remains of the stone dam that led into the canal as well as the guardlock and a footbridge. There are more structures on site, including a mill site and lockkeeper's house, but we didn't get that far south on our hike. The kids enjoyed learning how the canal worked, and I was able to make it personal since one of our great-grandfathers was a lockkeeper in Yorkshire.

remains of stone dam behind the kids

My oldest standing on the guardlock

kids on the stone support for the old footbridge

There are some nice benches and picnic tables where we stopped to snack, a kid's play area, and the restrooms were clean. The park rangers were very friendly and visible, so even though we only spotted a few other visitors, I felt very safe alone with the kids.


The ford is also a place of historical significance as both American and British troops crossed the river here under Cornwallis and Sumter during the American Revolution.


There is a pair of resident bald eagles and we were able to spot their nest. The kids noticed some white feathers around the park that they are certain came from the eagles.


There is ample shade and it is cool walking along the rushing river, even on a 90 degree day like today. We'll definitely go back next May when the spider lilies are in bloom. The large white flowers bloom on the rocky shoals of the river and are apparently quite the sight.

Landsford Canal State Park is located in Catawba, South Carolina, about 45 minutes from my house. It costs $2 for adults aged 16 and up and kids are free. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there in total and had a great time! It's definitely worth the trip.

Bear Mountain State Park - New York

Tom and I took the girls to Bear Mountain State Park, something I've been wanting to do since we got here. It was a lovely day so out came the bug spray and the map and we were off. Our first stop (after getting a few extra maps) was the playground. It was so lovely right on the water. The kids couldn't get over how many people were fishing (Hessian Lake is fishing and rowboats only).

After a bit of fun there we headed on the trail to take us to the Zoo and the Trailside Museums. It was a nice walk...lots of shade, lots of people but there was so much room it didn't feel all that crowded. We had to go though a tunnel under the road and we walked past a big huge beach entry pool! It's not open for a few weeks still but that is going to be some good times. I forgot to mention the snake we saw just off the path...Emma screamed but it was all good. Just past the pool was the entrance to the zoo. When I say entrance, I mean a box that says "one dollar donation per person suggested." So we put our money in the slot and began our walk. The Trailside museums were these plaquards everywhere describing trees, animals, and other information about Bear Mountain. Emma loved reading them and Mary actually kept asking her to read more. The zoo is really small...but cool. Almost all of the animals were raised in captivity or injured. In fact, by each animal it said, if applicable, how the animal was hurt. Most of them were car and gunshot wound. In the zoo we saw porcupines, a bobcat, coyotes, foxes, bears (3 of them!) all kinds of frogs and snakes, an otter, owls, turkey vultures, and a bald eagle. Man is that bird beautiful. This one has a permament wing injury and can no longer fly. It makes me so sad to see that amazing bird, so powerful and grounded.

One nifty little sidenote, the Bear Mountain Zoo is actually on the Appalachian trail which is marked by a white rectangle. In fact, the Bear Den at Bear Mountain Zoo is the lower point on the whole 2000 mile trail (120 feet above sea level). I have photographic evidence to prove it but I won't trouble you all with it.

After walking the trail, we ate lunch at an awesome snack bar and rode on the lovely indoor Merry-Go-Round. Emma rode the bear but Mary insisted on a horse. Then the girls ate those crazy huge rocket popsicles and it was back to the car.

The last thing we did was drive up to Perkins Memorial and seeing the Hudson from the top of the mountain from this huge tower. Then we headed back down. By this time Emma had passed out in the car and Mary was close. Such a fun day. Highly recommended!