Go Around the Bend: 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!