Yesterday friend Jayne and I took a drive down to Mt. Rushmore. We're having a break in the weather; sunny and at least 40 F so it's get-out-of-the-house weather, while the gettin's good. I wanted to get the annual pass so I can go to the monument once in awhile to look for Mt. goats. They've been the one Black Hills critter blatantly missing from my photos (besides a few others)...I do have older photos but want to get some w/ the SLR camera. Anywho, as you can see, the prez's are still there...ol' George looks like he's got a gash on his forehead, but it's just melting snow, ha!
We did see a couple Mt. goats on the rocks below the monument, too far away to get really good photos, but you get the idea. Mountain goats are not native to the Black Hills. The population can be traced to six goats, a gift to Custer State Park by Canada in 1924, that escaped from their pens and found their home among the Black Hills granite peaks. There are now more than 200 mountain goats in the area.
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He looks like a wise old man sitting there. As an introduced species, are they a problem in the Park? Looking forward to seeing more photos.
ReplyDeleteYour good weather is coming our way. Thank goodness!!! The brutal cold and constant snow was hard to live with.
Marnie
I think you managed to get a great photo. He looks to have a long warm coat of hair. We are expecting higher temperatures too, but I actually like all the snow!
ReplyDeleteThis brought back a Mt Goat memory for me - I once encountered one on the trail, when I was climbing a 14ner. It jumped right off the cliff and landed on a tiny "shelf" 20 feet down. Also - poor George's head!
ReplyDeleteThere's mountain goats that live on Stone Mountain outside of Atlanta...Lots of different stories on how they came to be there, but none as magnificent as your fellow here.
ReplyDeleteNice to see an animal doing so well jann. What a grand old character he looks!
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of your blog does my heart good. I am so overcome with emotion right now, words can't describe the happiness and tears. See, my family and I lived in Rapid City from 1990 to 1994. My husband was in the military at the time (he was stationed at Ellsworth). Both our children were born there. When I ran across your blog tonight, my heart raced and my eyes filled with tears. I miss South Dakota so much.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Jann.
ReplyDeleteNice photo of the fella's.Nice to know they are still going strong.
It is amazing how once a few animals escape from their pens soon turn into a far size feral population.