Before visiting Mount Rushmore, we decided to check out Bear Country USA in Rapid City. Its a 250 acre animal park where you can see bears, buffalo, wolves, reindeer, elk, mountain goats, and more. We were prepared for it to be a huge tourist trap – and it didn’t disappoint.
Wall to Bear Country USA
It was a whopping $16 per person and there was a long line of cars waiting to drive in. We decided to give it a whirl anyways, since both of us were eager to build up our collection of animal photography.
Bear Country USA
We felt like we were on a ride and Disneyland and expected to hear a voice saying “Keep your arms and legs inside your vehicle at all times, and keep the windows rolled up and doors closed” followed potentially by a “or you will be eaten.”
The first section of the 1 mile driving loop was game – elk and reindeer.
Nice Rack
I love this shot of the reindeer – he has quite a snout!
Reindeer at Bear Country USA
The next section was wolves, which we didn’t actually until the bear section of Bear Country USA, when a wolf came right up to our car.
Wolf
After the wolves we got a chance to see mountain goats. They were very human looking.
Blurry Mountain Goat in Bear Country USA
And some more bighorn sheep.
Bighorn Sheep
There was a log jam of cars around the mountain lion section, which you could hardly even see from the road. This was about the part of the park that made me uncomfortable – Bear Country USA had clearly not given them enough space to roam as they were caged in to a small area. We passed about 3 cars and continued on our way to the bears.
This guy had a major itch he was trying to get to the bottom of.
Bear at Bear Country USA
If I had an Indian name I would be this – Resting Bear. Looks comfortable, and warm.
Resting Bear
We bypassed quickly the buffalo section since we had already gotten our fill in the actual wild. That said, we couldn’t resist a pic of this massive mound of bufaffo poop. It looked EXACTLY like the prairie pie cookie we bought in Chugwater.
Buffalo Poop
Bye bye Bear Country USA.
Yummy.
It has been likely 20 years since I visited Bear Country USA. I too was prepared for a huge tourist trap experience, but I have say, it was a boat load of fun. This was mainly due to the dozen or so cubs playing in an enclosure at the end of the tour. I’m not kidding, my husband and I stood there watching them play for about 30 minutes with big grins on our faces. They were fascinating and adorable.
Yes, totally agree! It definitely WAS a tourist trap, but one that we enormously enjoyed because we also got some fab photos, and the animals were too cute! A personal favorite was a young bear sunning itself on a log, rolling over again and again and casually scratching itself. Adorable.