Wind Cave National Park: Lookout Point Loop

Today was our day for a longer hike. We decided to head over to the Lookout Point Loop Trail a 4.5 mile loop starting at the Norbeck Dam Trailhead. We parked the car and set out on foot,

doing the Centennial Trail section of the hike first. We started out by descending to Beaver Creek.

We would continue to follow the creek downstream.

As we entered one of the more narrow, canyon sections, we turned a corner and there, about 120 yards ahead of us and right on the trail, stood a lone bull bison.

We cautiously watched him for a bit and then he started walking towards us. he seemed to be curious about our presence.

He was getting closer and closer and, without any way to escape him up into the forest we had to think fast. We ended up climbing a large boulder where we were safe and could observe him from a close distance, but safely. We even got some video.

 After the bison moved past we started to climb down from the boulder. Our friend had a change of plans though and started to circle back towards us.

We climbed back up onto the boulder before he changed course yet again and moved out of eyesight.

We started to move on and into some more wooded areas along the creek

that were, unfortunately, loaded with poison ivy. Eventually, we climbed out of the canyon and up onto the prairie.

We passed through a couple of prairie dog towns

before the final stretch back to the car.

It was a good hike. However, by the end we were ready for it to be over. The Lookout Point Trail offers little shade and we were all hot and tired.