Crazy Horse +

On the way to the Crazy Horse Memorial site this morning, we passed Mt. Rushmore.  We have already visited it, so we passed on the visit (and the crowds).  We did stop on the south side to take a photo of George Washington in profile.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a completely private effort, surviving on donations and entry fees for operating capital.  The site contains an Orientation Center with theaters and museums, an outdoor viewing veranda, an American Indian Cultural Center, and a variety of craftsmen and women creating and displaying their wares, some of which are very nice.  The entire facility is well done and with very interesting displays.

Of course, the entire site overlooks the Worlds Largest Mountain Carving, The statistics are mind-boggling, but consider: the work has been in progress 64 years and is estimated to be well under 50% complete.

Millions of tons of rock have been removed already, and work presently focuses on roughing in the hand as well as finish work on the face. Fragile areas in the rock have dictated a slight deviation from the sculptors original work, and electronic instruments have been installed in the hand area to monitor movement.  Teams of engineers, seismologists, and geologists continue to assess the strength of the rock.

We chose not to take the bus tour of the base of the monument due to heavy rain, but a 1/34th scale model of the monument underscores the detail of the huge sculpture.

The Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear commissioned Korczak Ziolkowski to carve Crazy Horse, saying "the red man has great heroes, also" after seeing Mt. Rushmore.  Korczak refused millions in public funding, believing that Crazy Horse should be built by an interested public.  Since his death in 1982, his wife and seven of their 10 children continue his work, using detailed notes he left before he died. The work now is mechanized, using lasers and gps devices to locate explosives that remove thousands of tons of rock at a time.

We left Crazy Horse and drove into Custer State Park.  The southern "wildlife loop" promised to provide extensive views of native wildlife. The wildlife was a bit sparse today, but the scenery was awesome.

We did run across a herd of Bison (Buffalo), where this stout fellow wandered close to the road.

A bit further along, we turned onto the Needles Highway.

The formations in this area are phenomenal.  Unfortunately, they are located on a ridge directly under a very active thunderstorm.  We took what photos we could and ran (at the sedate speed limit of 25 mph) for the lowlands.

A quick trip through Hill City led us to Highway 44 and a return to Rapid City.  A nice, quiet, 145 mile loop with memorial scenery.  Thats about it for the immediate Black Hills area, so we will venture a bit farther afield tomorrow.  Stay tuned.