bears and wolves

Beautiful. That is the only way to describe today. We went to Bear Country USA this morning. The park opened at 8 am and we rolled in right after that. They were feeding all the animals, and we got to see wolves fighting right outside our car. It was really neat and the dogs hated them. It was funny – ear splitting, but funny. The bears were pretty close to the car as well, and the dogs hated them too. Coincidence? I think not. They didn’t give a rat’s behind about the dogs though.
We then headed south again taking Iron Mountain Road. VERY cool. This was a very curvy road opposite Rushmore so at times you could see the Faces in the distance. I got to climb a large pile of rocks and when I got to the top discovered that I was on a really high cliff. Sweet! I got a little cold thrill of excitement as I looked over…yes!!! If you get a chance check out the Norbeck Scenic Byway – it rocks.
Then we headed towards Custer State Park. Driving along we saw a sign for the “Wolf People – come see our wolves – FREE” It was a scary, suspicious old farm with a few old campers and assorted outbuildings. The kind you think that just may kidnap you, kill you, and feed you to those same wolves (and of course there was no cell service)…so we drove right in and knocked on the door. (Walking by yet another sign that mentioned not to rush the fence.) There was an Arctic and a Timber wolf. To me they were fairly scary, but B was thrilled. We got to go really close. Plus, we got out of there alive…
We took the rest of the Wildlife Road around Custer Park and saw people go hog-wild over mules. (huh?) I guess they were “wild” but there were a lot of them with their heads in people’s cars. They were plain old scraggly mules – I don’t get it – we didn’t stop.
The weather continues charming.