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Sylvan Lake
Custer State Park, SD

Another day without needing an alarm clock, I arose just after sunrise. Ari and I went for a walk around Sylvan Lake. The one-mile trail is fairly easy for one-half of the route and then climbing quite steeply for a look over the lake and back down. Once we reached the top and enjoying the nice view over the lake and examining where I had taken the picture to the right from I was scared half-to-death by the loud, shrill noise. At first I had no idea where it came from, nor what it was. Perhaps it was a weird whistle? But there was no one else up here!

After hearing the noise again I honed in on a rather large marmot. Its bark was its warning and directly below it, level to my eye were two others laying out on a rock. I snapped a few pictures before Ari finally saw them and they noticed him, fleeing to safety.

Sylvan Lake
Custer State Park, SD

While I did not see any birds of consequence I found an abundance of mammal life at this location along with the marmots: chipmunks and squirrels. Woe be to me if Ari ever got loose here!

Around 10 am we headed for Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. While the scenery was nice, there was no place to pick up a brochure/map and pull offs were not marked. Only one of the trails I had read about were labelled well enough for me to find. I was a nice location, but not an all-day trip as I had planned, so I picked up lunch in Spearfish and headed back to Custer State Park to pitch my tent and take a nap. I’ll be based in the same location for the next few days, so that will make traveling a little easier.

We ended the day with the Wildlife Drive.

Meadowlark
Custer State Park, SD

Pronghorn
Custer State Park, SD