Early morning fog drifts across Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota, softening the granite spires and reflecting still light off the water’s surface. Created in 1891 by Theodore Reder’s dam, the lake sits at the head of the scenic Needles Highway and is surrounded by granite formations that attract climbers, photographers, and hikers. On this mist-covered morning, visibility narrows to the immediate shoreline, turning the familiar outcrops into shadowed silhouettes. The calm water and diffused light capture a rare quiet moment in one of Custer State Park’s most iconic and photographed landscapes.

A bison cow stands watch over her calf in the rolling meadows of Custer State Park, South Dakota. Each spring, the park’s herd welcomes hundreds of reddish-brown calves, often called “red dogs,” whose lighter coats gradually darken as they mature. The park maintains roughly 1,300 animals within its 71,000-acre reserve, a landscape of prairie and ponderosa pine forest that mirrors the natural habitat once spanning the Great Plains. This scene reflects both the resilience of the American bison and the conservation success that brought the species back from near extinction in the early 20th century.

An American bison stands along the Wildlife Loop Road in Custer State Park, South Dakota, illuminated by the first light of morning. The park’s herd, one of the largest managed populations in the country, roams freely across a landscape that mirrors the open grasslands once dominated by millions of these animals before the 19th-century decline. Bison are a keystone species of the Great Plains ecosystem, their grazing patterns shaping the prairie’s biodiversity. At Custer, annual roundups and controlled management preserve both the health of the land and the continuation of a lineage deeply tied to Native history and American conservation.

A mature American bison grazes in the rolling prairie of Custer State Park in South Dakota, part of one of the largest publicly owned herds in the United States. Once on the brink of extinction, the park’s bison herd—established in 1914—now numbers more than a thousand animals, representing a critical effort in the preservation of the species. These massive mammals, capable of weighing over a ton, roam freely across the park’s 71,000 acres of mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine forest. The setting reflects both the ecological restoration of the Great Plains and the enduring legacy of America’s native megafauna, which has been tied to the land for millennia.

Bison in Custer State Park in Custer, South Dakota.

Sylvan Lake is a lake located in Custer State Park, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, United States. It was created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam (the Sylvan Lake Water Dam) across Sunday Gulch Creek. The lake area offers picnic places, rock climbing, small rental boats, swimming, and hiking trails. It is also popular as a starting point for excursions to Black Elk Peak and The Needles. -- Wikipedia

Along Highway 87 in the central Black Hills National Forest, this view captures the rugged landscape typical of the region’s granite highlands. Massive weathered outcrops rise sharply from the forest floor, remnants of the ancient Harney Peak granite formation that underlies much of this terrain. Scattered ponderosa pines cling to crevices in the rock, while fallen trunks and new saplings trace the slow recovery of the forest from past fires. The setting lies near the scenic Needles Highway corridor—an area known for its narrow tunnels, steep grades, and ever-changing mountain light that defines the wilderness character of western South Dakota.

Sunrise over our tent at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. This Bureau of Land Management spot is one of our absolute favorite camping spots.