This is the entrance to Custer State Park. After staying at French Creek Ranch in Custer and relaxing in the morning, we headed here.
Our first stop was the needles. Here is Jeff threading a needle.
Here is a tunnel through needles.
Bikers and needles
Bird's eye view from the highway.
Fish's eye view.
Anyways, we highly recommend Custer State Park. It's beautiful and relatively empty. You may also wonder why you see those black corners on some of the pics. This comes from layering multiple filters on top of each other. I could eliminate with a lot of money (extra accessories) or less colorful pictures, but I don't.
Jeff...cute!
I love this picture because of the blur of the vehicle/motorcycle in the middle of the shot. The trees you see here are the same type that are seen all over the Black Hills. By the way, the Black Hills aren't hills at all, they're mountains. Don't be deceived.
There is the big needle!
We were also uncannily close to Mount Rushmore, but found this drive much more pleasant than the tourist packed sculpture, and didn't end up seeing it.
We found a cute little hiking trail and picnic table for lunch. We discovered that one of our chip bags had grown very large due to...heat or something. It was incredibly amusing.
Once full, we took a hike along the trail.
The hike ended here...a cute fishing grotto that was completely silent and wonderful.
Not wonderful enough to remove my severely depressed look, though.
Jeff, while not depressed, was certainly thinking deeply as he sat and wrote.
Massive forest destruction and death. While this may seem depressing, it is necessary for healthy reforestation and is quite natural.
We met the most wonderful couple for dinner and tried to head out to their property in Wyoming.
We stopped in the middle of nowhere and checked out the stars. This is my camera at its lowest sensitivity...impressively low noise!
The moon in the middle of nowhere.
Jeff's camera's (D50) picture of the stars...not nearly as exciting. Not his fault.
And we ended the day by taking some very strange pictures in pitch black light. If you see the big bulge in the background, that is Devil's Tower. You'll see more of that tomorrow.
