A Monumental Day!

Since Monday, 8/22, was supposed to be our last day in Custer we planned to cross several activities off our bucket list.  We decided to do the Crazy Horse Memorial in the morning and visit Mt. Rushmore in the evening for the lighting ceremony. It turned out that half the fun was getting there.

We decided to ride our bikes to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Not only did it cut the entry fee considerably, but it would give us a chance to ride a portion of the George S. Mickelson Trail. The entire trail is a 109-mile “rail to trail” that goes through the heart of Black Hills country. The trail is well-maintained and either crushed gravel or paved – and no motorized vehicles are allowed. Since the route was originally a railway the grades are nice and gradual – oh yes, this is my kind of biking. (Rog can keep his rocky, steep, suicidal, single track mountain bike trails!) We parked at the trailhead in Custer and rode about 7 miles to the Crazy Horse Memorial. The trail was lovely, passing granite outcroppings and farmland. We say nearly as many deer as we did people on the trail – in fact, one of them came flying across the trail and nearly took Rog off his bike. He was wearing his red shirt again! I swear I’m going to get rid of that shirt before one of these SD Star Trek fans takes him out! Lol.

Lovely ride on the Mickelson Trail.

Notice the red shirt - a deer is about to dive from the right to reenact his favorite Star Trek episode. Lol. 

I must say the Crazy Horse Memorial is not to be missed.  In addition to the Memorial itself, which you have to see – pictures just cannot capture the scale – there is a first rate Native American Museum and lots of exhibits about the history and ongoing work on the Memorial. It is worth noting that they are doing this entirely without any government funding. We were there for a couple of hours and I’m sure we didn’t see it all. It is heatbreaking to read the histories of the Native American tribes and the horrible, dishonorable way they were treated by the US Government. Definitely a part of our history that was glossed over or completely ignored when I was in school. I wonder how much of it is being taught today.

This is the vision for the finished monument.  Incredible.

From Custer, we took the Iron Mountain Road to get to Mt. Rushmore. Like the Needles Hwy, it is an amazing feat of engineering - twisting through the Black Hills with more of those narrow, low tunnels that I love so much. As an added bonus, a couple of the tunnels perfectly frame Mt. Rushmore! We found it that it’s better to drive the Iron Mountain Road early in the day, since we timed out visit for the evening lighting at Rushmore, Rog had the sun in his eyes most of the way and the light wasn’t right for the pictures I wanted. Oh well, a reason to visit another time.

The light isn't very good, but you can see Mt. Rushmore framed by the tunnel.

Snapshot of a pigtail bridge - it spirals around underneath itself. Nowhere to stop for a better picture! Lol. 

While they illuminate the monument each evening, the lighting ceremony is held less often. A Ranger gave a speech about the history of the memorial, we saw a 20-minute video, and they retired the colors before illuminating the monument. A nice celebration. The vision and dedication it took to carve a mountain is inspiring. We took a more direct route back to the campground, not at all interested in navigating hairpin turns and pigtail bridges on the Iron Mountain Road in the dark! 

The 50 State flags line the entrance to Mt. Rushmore.

Four American Heros.

Sun is beginning to set.

The monument illuminated. 

Bones of the Earth

We chose the Harney Peak loop as our “big” hike for the Custer area – about 8 miles roundtrip starting in Custer State Park and hiking to a lookout tower on Harney Peak in the Black Elk Wilderness. Harney Peak is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Pyrenees in Europe at 7,242 feet. It was a lovely trail that started out in a pine forest and wound its way up past fantastically huge granite spires to an old stone fire tower constructed in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corp. The fire tower lookout is no longer in use but is open to hikers and provides phenomenal views all around (and NO bison!). The granite pinnacles and formations look like the bones of the earth peaking through. As fantastic as the views were however, I spent a lot of time looking down. No, I’m not depressed – it’s the rocks!

I have a confession to make. I am suffering from serious rock lust. This whole area is just littered with the most amazing hunks of gorgeous rocks. Huge aggregate boulders with beautiful inclusions, agates, and pieces of white and rose quartz the size of bowling balls are just lying around. Even the stone building blocks in the fire tower had me oohing and aahing. Flecks of mica gleaming like silver fish scales were scattered all over the trail.  My fingers literally twitched with desire to pick up the sparklies. But if I start, I’m afraid I won’t stop!  With a whole year to travel, I can imagine the CRV’s butt would soon be dragging down the road loaded full of rocks. Lol.  So I am exercising extreme self-discipline. It helps that picking up anything in the National Parks is a no-no, however the National Grasslands Ranger did mention that there you are allowed to collect 25 pounds of rock per day. That was not very nice of her! Arrrrrrgh. To provide further temptation, there are “Rock Shops” everywhere! We visited a few, but I managed to keep the damage to a minimum. Lol.

That teeny, tiny bump is the Harney Peak Fire Tower.

Granite sentinels line the trail.

The trail winds up (why is it always up??)...

...and up more steps carved out of the granite.

But we are enjoying the journey...

...and the views are worth it!

Getting closer!

View from the top - Yessssss!

Feels like you're on top of the world.

Bones of the earth.

Hikers have adopted the Native American practice of leaving prayer cloths.

I want, I want, I want.  :)

Even the building stone is calling to me.

Giving you a little perspective.

More gorgeous views on the way back down.

Enjoyed the cool forested part of the trail - looks a little like home. 

The trailhead was near beautiful Sylvan Lake.

Even in town the rocks are calling to me!

Rose quartz.

Rock lust .... must not give in. :)

Wind Cave National Park

Very purple, but the pie was good!

Friday, was spent mostly getting caught up on laundry and domestic goddess chores. We did take a few hours to visit the town of Custer, hike to the top of a overlook, and scope out the local eateries. We hit the Begging Burro for Mexican food and made note of the Purple Pie Place for a return visit. (The raspberry-rhubarb-jalapeno pie was excellent!)

On Saturday, 8/20, we visited Wind Cave National Park and took a look underneath the prairie, then did a 4.5-mile hike across the top (And yes, we still had to dodge some bison!) On the way into the park we spotted a coyote, he was young and inquisitive, so he was checking us out too.

The tour of the caves was fun. Wind Cave has about 90% of the known boxwork formations in the world. The cave is huge, so far about 147 miles have been mapped and they are still finding new areas. We went on an 1 ½ hour tour and saw several different kinds of formations that were just beautiful – I especially liked the “frostwork”. Unfortunately, my pictures don’t do them justice so you’ll have to take my word for it or come visit yourself! :)

He was curious about the paparazzi.

Aptly named Frostwork formation in Wind Cave.

 

Large formation of Boxwork. Think of it as the mortar that's left after the bricks dissolve.

Close-up of the Boxwork.

The hike, Lookout Point Loop Trail, was a nice ramble along a creek, across some prairie and then with the car literally in sight – we were stalled by another bison. We had to cross a small bridge across a creek and he was standing about 30 feet from the bridge. I am convinced that the problem is Rog’s wardrobe. For the last two Bison encounters, he had on his favorite red shirt and you Star Trek fans know what that means for the away team. Who knew the Dakota bison were Trekkies?! Lol. We debated just getting wet, but since he was facing the other way we decided to “sneak” across the bridge as quickly and quietly as possible. It worked and the “away team” all made it safely back to the trailhead. Lol.  

We followed the creek.

Cool and inviting on a hot day.

And crossed the prairie.

Make a wish...

The prairie is full of life ...

... if you look closely enough.

And of course, there is always a bison! :)

Threading the Needle

We pulled into our site at Big Pines Campground in Custer, S. Dakota fairly early on Thursday 8/18. (Yes, I know I have some catching up to do – but we’ve been busy! Lol.)  Trying to stay ahead of a storm front and high winds is great incentive to get your butt moving in the morning. We were partially successful – we beat the rain, but the winds… not so much.  Driving a giant breadbox down the road makes you very, very aware of (and not particularly fond of) the wind.

Anyhow, since the rain wasn’t due to hit until Friday (which I decided to make my laundry and housecleaning day - yes, even on the road the domestic goddess has duties to perform) we headed out in the CRV to explore. There is just a ton of things to see and do within driving distance of Custer and we're going to cram as many as possible into the five days we have booked here! Lol.

We’d read about the Needles Highway and knew it was on our must see list. Completed in 1922, the Needles Highway has 14 miles of sharp turns that wind around and literally through huge granite spires. The history is fascinating, the SD Governor Peter Norbeck mapped the route on foot and horseback and pushed to have it built even though many road builders thought it was impossible. It took 150,000 pounds of dynamite!  It’s one of those drives best done at about 20 mph (or less!) – partly for safety and partly because every turn presents a different mind melting vista. 

There are miles of hairpin turns and several low, narrow, one-way tunnels carved through the granite that are just too cool. Definitely not a road for the RV! I know Rog was wishing he had a motorcycle to really enjoy all the twisty bits. 

Needles Eye Tunnel (8'4" wide, 12'0" high)

Clouds and granite.

Hood Tunnel (10'6" wide, 10'7" high)

Spires to the left of me, spires to the right of me.... 

Craggy awesomeness.

Clouds will bring rain tomorrow.

Looks a bit like a Stegosaurus.

OK, just one more tunnel!  Iron Creek Tunnel (9'0" wide, 12'3" high)