Attractions Black Hills SD

There's lots of interesting attractions to check out in the Black Hills.  We start off with the most interesting one to us, the Crazy Horse Memorial. At $24 per car with two people, it's a bit pricier than most, but we've heard good things from other travelers, so we pay the entrance fee and drive up to the parking lot.

Entrance to Crazy Horse Memorial

Drive up to parking lots

Although we've heard of Crazy Horse, we really didn't know much about him before coming to this monument.  He was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota Sioux. Although he had fought in many battles, the most famous was in the 1876 Battle Little Big Horn also known as Custer's Last Stand. Crazy Horse is highly revered by military experts for his craftiness and tactics consisting of an initial surprise attack followed by repeated hit-and-run onslaughts.

In 1931, Luther Standing Bear wrote sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who was carving presidential heads at Mount Rushmore, requesting to include the head of Crazy Horse with the presidents.  Needless to say, Gutzon completely ignored this letter. Later on November 7, 1939 Luther's younger brother Henry Standing Bear wrote to the Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who was then working under Gutzon on Rushmore, stating "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes too."

Standing Bear also acquired a bare mountain top from the Department of the Interior in exchange for some of his own lands. In the spring of 1940, Ziolkowski  spent three weeks with Standing Bear and became dedicated to this project even involving his entire family, continuing on through thick and thin over the years. To this day, the memorial is supported by a foundation initially set up Ruth Ziolkowski in coordination with Native Americans. It exists entirely on private funds, never taking a dime from the US Government.

The monument was started in 1948 and is far from completed. However, when finished it will be 641 feet wide and 563 fee high. The head alone is 87 feet tall over shadowing the heads at Mount Rushmore which each stand 60 feet high.

Model of completed sculpture "My lands are where my dead are buried."

Photo of construction on memorial

The complex at the memorial includes both a college and medical school plus the Indian Museum of North America, which is where we go next. It's a large spacious building with top quality examples of Native American arts and items representing many different tribes across North America.

Inside the Indian Museum of North America

Wall of famous chiefs

Beautiful bark canoe

Beaded dress

Lovely leather jacket

Magnificent headdress

Beaded horse dressings

Now that's a parade horse to admire

Horse bridal and stirrups

Hopi Kachina dolls

Northwestern art

Pottery from an unknown tribe

Of course, there's a teepee.  This one is beautifully decorated with with horses and tribal members
We stop at the snack bar for ice cream (try the vanilla & pineapple - it's really good) and end up sitting next to a Native American family.  We learn they are dancers and will be performing in about an hour.  We apologize to them that we are soon leaving and will miss their dance. The father bemoans he has a family of all women and no sons.  Oh BUT, I reply, you have five beautiful daughters, which means you'll soon be having 5 son-in-laws. We all share a good laugh.

Family of dancers

The dancers car?

Not far away is Mount Rushmore National Memorial. I am inclined to skip it, but since it's nearby, we stop.  Other than the amazing carved faces of four presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, there's not much more to see. Odd, FDR didn't make the cut despite the fact he led the nation out of the Great Depression and through World War II. Maybe they thought one Roosevelt was enough.
Have I mentioned the fact there are lots of motorcyclists in this area?  I probably did, but we see them everywhere in and around the Black Hills.

Sin

Wildness

& Redemption

One reason for so many bikers is we are close to Sturgis, home of the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Other than Sturgis, one of their favorite haunts is Deadwood, the main town built by the gold rush which was the impetuous for the US Government forcibly taking back the Black Hills negating a treaty. Deadwood was also the focus of a successful TV series originally shown on HBO. Unlike most Hollywood westerns, this series probably gets closer to the truth. In fact, several of the characters are based on real life people living in Deadwood during the day.

Deadwood and Sturgis on the map

Entering Deadwood

Portrait of Wild Bill

The main fascination for us is the wonderfully restored buildings in this old mining town. Unfortunately, the store fronts are now mostly filled to the brim with tourist trinkets to attract Deadwood's many visitors. Too bad the town planners didn't take a more historical approach to revitalizing Deadwood.
Around lunch, we stop to eat at the Eagle Bar, which has good ratings.  The service is amazingly SLOW taking almost an hour before we are served.  We debate about how much of a tip to leave, when I ask our waitress about a Help Wanted sign in the window the next time she arrives.  She immediately apologizes for the slow service saying they are down by two workers today and another called in sick. She has been covering two shifts for several days in a row and is getting burnt out. Apparently, good help is hard to find in Deadwood.  We reward her with a good tip.

Entrance to Eagle Bar

There's no way I can eat the whole burger

Local street musician

Perhaps the best known resident of Deadwood was Wild Bill Hickok, an iconic folk hero and fast gun of the American West. Wild Bill met his demise in 1876 while playing poker in a Deadwood saloon. He was shot in the back by Jack McCall after Wild Bill bested him in a game of cards.  Talk about a sore loser!  Legend has it Wild Bill was holding a hand of two pairs of Aces and Eights, which has become known as the dead man's hand. Yes of course, we have to stop and see the infamous Saloon #10 where Wild Bill met his demise.
On our way out of the Black Hills we drive the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. This drive would be especially beautiful in the Fall, but it's lovely enough in the early summer.

Spearfish Canyon

Bridal Falls

Rocky outcrop

Our last stop in the Black Hills is Devil's Tower National Monument, which was our first National Monument established by President Teddy Roosevelt. Devil's Tower raises 1267 feet above the plains and can been seen for many miles.  In fact, it was an important landmark on the Oregon Trail and the source of legends by the Native American tribes. More recently, it was used in a pivotal scene in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Exactly how this unusual geological formation came to be is still debated by geologists today. However, most do agree it most likely is the core of some ancient volcano.

CruiseAmerica rental RV with Devil's Tower

Peter grabs this classic shot of Devil's Tower

I get this one at the Visitors' Center

While there's not much to do at Devil's Tower except to wonder at this amazing landmark (unless you want to climb it or hike around the base), it is an amazing geological formation. We are soon back on the road turning back towards the west to further explore Wyoming.

Black Hills, SD

From the Platte River in Wyoming we continue eastward to the Black Hills of South Dakota, a small mountain range rising out of the high prairies. The original Lakota Sioux name is Paha Sapa which translates to Black Hills referring to the appearance of the dark trees covering their slopes as seen from the open prairies. The earliest evidence of human habitation dates back to 11,500 BC with the Clovis Culture. Over time, Native American tribes have held the Black Hills sacred right up to current time. Gold was discovered 1874 and miners soon poured in. As what happens all too often in the history of humans, greed trumps common sense and integrity. Breaking the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868,  President Ulysses S. Grant sent troops under General George Armstrong Custer to retake the Black Hills to open the area to gold miners.  Although Custer was killed in the Battle of Little Big Horn, US troops eventually prevailed over the coalition of Lakota, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. These Native tribes where then split up and dispersed against their will to different reservations.

Not much traffic out here

Custer State Park

We have chosen Custer State Park as our base to explore the Black Hills.  A large prairie dog town and a small herd of buffalo greet us as we enter the park.

Prairie Dogs

Buffalo

With help from Ranger Becky,  we find a very nice camp along a babbling stream at Center Lake. This campground comes with a bath house with hot showers. Marti's happy - very happy. 

Our babbling brook

Nice camp

with a view

After setting up camp and showering, we stroll down to the lake.

Center Lake

Big granite boulders

Nice playground for kids

By morning, we've decided to drive the scenic Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road and then circling back on the Wildlife Loop Road.


The route takes us through the rugged granite  Needles as well as providing interesting side trips and lots of opportunity to see wildlife.  Along the way, we'll be passing through tunnels so narrow that at one point we have to pull in our side mirrors to make it through.


Finally the road takes us over "Pigtail Bridge," which I've never heard of before and am anxious to see what it is. No wonder this scenic drive is popular with motorcyclists.

Ahh - we're off

First narrow tunnel

Yup - that one's pretty tight

The "Needles" of the Black Hills

As we near the Needles, we stop at the next tunnel and are astonished to see a mother and kid Mountain Goats.  When we first entered the park, we saw a notice that these animals had recently been reintroduced to this area and to watch for them. Since they are such elusive creatures, we certainly never expected to see any. Apparently they are attracted to a mineral seep in this tunnel. I hop out of the truck for pictures, taking care not to get too close or alarm them.

Granite "Needles"

Mt Goat at seep

Kid and mother await cars to clear the tunnel

We're just about to go through the tunnel when a magnificent male shows up sporting a radio collar. It's a treat to watch him navigate the narrow ledges down the cliff side to join his family.

We stop for lunch at Sylvan Lake and go for a short hike afterwards. This lake was created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch Creek.

Sylvan Lake

Rock climbing class

This place is fun

Peter portrait

Gorgeous day for a hike around a beautiful lake

Peek between boulders

Canada Goose herd goslings through the high grass

After the hike, we turn northward back onto the Needles Hwy to complete our loop on Iron Mountain Road going over Pigtail Bridge, which curves over itself similar to a cover leaf freeway entrance/exit.  Then we drive onto the Wildlife Loop, which more than delivers.

Back onto Needles Hwy

Approaching Pigtail Bridge

Another narrow tunnel

Pronghorn

Prairie Dogs

Buffalo - i.e. American Bison

Custer State Park supports very healthy herds of Buffalo, perhaps the most iconic animal of the American West. Before 1800, tens of millions of these bison roamed North America. However, over hunting and government sponsored slaughters brought these once mighty herds to the brink of extinction. Modern attempts to bring the buffalo back have been so successful, they are no longer considered an endangered species.  South Dakota has been particularly successful managing their herds.  Once a year on the last Friday in September, the Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup helps keep these herds healthy.  The animals are inoculated against diseases and culled to prevent over-grazing.  The culled animals are auctioned off. Some find new homes on private ranches, others are not so lucky and may become buffalo burgers.

Cute calf

Large male

Magnificent Bull

The Blue Bell Lodge has been recommended as THE place to eat on the park, so we have to check it out. On our way, we stop to admire some horses before stopping at the lodge.  The dinning room is classic western style with an excellent bar and food.

Horses drinking from a stream

Blue Bell Lodge

Covered wagon by lodge

Peter waits for our orders to be served

This painting comes alive in South Dakota