It's Finally Spring!

Spring has finally come to the Black Hills!

Jan here, taking you on a visit to Wind Cave National Park.

We went before the rain showers showed up late last week, so the grass is still pretty brown (it's last year's dormant grass,) but you can see the new green shoots in places, like in this prairie dog town.

No, those aren't prairie dogs...

This time of year, the bull bison hang out together in small groups while the cows are off in their own large herds having cinnamon-colored babies.

Isn't this guy impressive? He's filling out on the fresh green grass and shedding his winter coat. He's building his muscles, getting ready for the rut that starts in late July. But until then, it's wallowing in the dust, sleeping in the sun, and watching the occasional tourist.

We went hiking on this lovely spring day, and chose a trail we've driven past but have never hiked. No puppies this time, though. Dogs aren't allowed on the back country trails in the national park.

Our hike took us from the national park service road and trailhead parking lot, across rolling meadows (where we saw plenty of bison in the distance) and up to the top of this ridge.

We had topped the ridge and began walking down the other side, when we heard a sudden snort and scramble.

We had surprised one of those small groups of bull bison.

You never, never want to surprise a bull bison.

I zoomed in on one of them. See that raised head? Those ears turned our way? The eyes zeroing in on a couple foolish people who dared to invade his space?

We were at least 200 feet away from them (a safe distance is 100 feet,) so we turned around and walked back down the trail toward our truck, talking all the way so they could hear us leaving.

We didn't have any problems with them, but we didn't continue any farther along the trail. And I wouldn't even say it was a close call...but it could have been.

Later in the week we came across this guy walking along the road in Custer State Park.

As we got closer to him, the top of his shoulders reached nearly to the top of the window on our truck. I wanted to get a better picture of him on this narrow road, but as we drew up next to him, he turned his head, backed up a step, and looked at us with that huge, dark, intelligent eye.

And I got a very good look at the set of very pointy and very large horns that were tilting toward us menacingly.

No picture. No chatting. We just drove on by.

Man, those are formidable beasts.

But with all of this, we did get our first glimpse of South Dakota's state flower.

These are pasque flowers, or prairie crocus. They bloom around Easter every year (hence the name) and are so beautiful.

Closer to home, we have at least a dozen western meadowlarks nesting around our house. Their song is thrilling!

Turn the volume up!

Yes, spring is finally here.

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.