Animals in Wind Cave National Park (09/06/03)

Last updated 9/29/03                                                                                                                                

On our way to Mount Rushmore we stopped at the Wind Cave National Park hoping for some good hiking... unfortunately, due to some pain in my left shin resulting from my hike on Deer Mountain, I wasn't really feeling up for any sort of serious hike. So, instead of hiking, we ended up driving around the park and got to see plenty of wildlife (good thing too since we didn't get to see squat in Yellowstone!). First I managed to spot a prarie dog (look at the picture below), which disappointed Daria since she missed out on my experience. But no worries, there were plenty of prarie dogs to satiate her wildlife-watching appetite. They were all over the place; they had plenty of holes right at the sides of the road and they had what they call "prarie dog towns", which consisted of a group of holes in close proximity, so you could say that it was like a human town in that respect. In addition to all of the prarie dogs, we got to see plenty of bison roaming around the park in herds, and even a few individuals just hanging out. This detour on our way to Yellowstone was certainly worth it...


Pictures

Lone sitting bison       Standing Bison       Impressive herd of bison       Closeup of herd       Images of American Bison


A prarie dog and its hole...    A prarie dog... look carefully at the hole in the ground and you'll see it!