On our last day in Hot Springs, we decided to take the “Southern Hills” route to see the Crazy Horse Monument. There were some beautiful farms along the way, but not a lot else interesting to see outside the park. We did look around Custer which is a very small town.
The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs 6/23/2019
It was a cool, wet morning so instead of looking for outdoor activities, we decided to visit the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs. This museum and paleontological site is an active excavation site and the world’s largest concentration of mammoth’s in the world. Three woolly mammoths and almost 60 Columbian mammoths have been identified at this site, In addition to the mammoths, camel, llama, giant short-faced bear, wolf, coyote, prairie dog, fish and molluskk shells have also been recovered from the now dry 26,000 year old sinkhole.
Hot Springs: Pioneer Museum 6/22/2019
Instead of going through Badlands National Park to hit I-90, Randy decided to take the shorter, scenic Rt. 44 to our destination of Hot Springs, SD. It was a little bouncy so we took our time but did not have any issues. We passed a small herd of buffalo just before crossing over one small section of Badlands National Park that crossed over Rt. 44. I didn’t get a very good picture as I wasn’t expecting to need my camera. Hot Springs is a little farther out than we wanted to be, but we could not find a spot closer to Rapid City.