South Dakota - Home of Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Large Herds of Buffalo.... Right?

Side Trip from Custer - Mount Rushmore - Iron Mountain Highway - Custer State Park - Crazy Horse Memorial - 90 miles traveled.

We woke this morning to temps in the high 30's.  We were all ready to go out for a nice run in the chilly weather but just couldn't get motivated to crawl out from under our warm blankets.  Needless to say, we didn't get in a workout.  Instead, we got dressed and headed to the chuckwagon breakfast down at the clubhouse before heading out.  

We arrived at Mt Rushmore with several hundred other eager travelers.  On average, nearly three million visitors come to Mt. Rushmore on an annual basis.  We saw all different states represented in the parking lot (by the way, we are lacking only four states seen on our trip - Hawaii, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and believe it or not, Maryland).

Mt Rushmore highlights four presidents carved in stone on the side of a mountain in the Black Hills. The monument was sculpted and designed by an artist, Gutzon Borglum.  An interesting fact I learned from a family from Georgia, prior to sculpting Mount Rushmore, Borglum was responsible for sculpting Stone Mountain in Atlanta, Georgia.

Each one of these men were chosen by sculptor Gutzon Borglum for a part of American history. George Washington was the father of the new country and the foundation of American democracy. Because of his importance, Borglum chose Washington to be the most prominent figure on the mountain.  He represents the birth of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.  He also was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  With this purchase, the United States doubled in size.  Borglum chose Jefferson to represent the growth of the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States,  provided leadership when America experienced rapid economic growth upon entering the 20th century.  He negotiated the construction of the Panama Canal linking the east to the west.  Borglum chose Roosevelt to represent development of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16h President of the United States, held the United States together during its greatest trial, the Civil War.  Lincoln strongly believed his most sacred duty was to preserve the Union and he strongly believed that slavery should be abolished.  Borglum chose Lincoln to represent the preservation of the United States.  

Regardless of the pictures you see of Mount Rushmore, you can never compare them to the wonder of this sculpting masterpiece.  Being a daughter of an artist, I can appreciate all that went into the carving, blasting, and polishing of the granite on this mountain side.  

We walked around the President's Trail to get a closer look.  The details put into these four carvings are amazing.  The head of Washington is 60 feet tall with a nose that is 21 feet tall.  Roosevelt's head is slightly smaller and Lincoln's slightly taller.  Each of the eyes on Mount Rushmore are 11 feet wide and each mouth about 18 feet wide.  

Our second destination for the day was a drive down Iron Mountain Road.  This road is known for it's curvy roads, pigtail bridges, and several narrow one lane tunnels that take you through the mountain. Every once in a while, you can catch a glimpse of Mount Rushmore as you make your way around and through the mountainside.  

The first tunnel we came to the car in front of us stopped.  It then had to go in reverse, which meant, I too had to go into reverse.  This also made the motorcycles behind me have to roll backwards too.  All of a sudden, a greyhound tour bus came through the tunnel!  We have no idea how it made it through there or how it made it down the road - I'm just glad i wasn't in there as a passenger!

We kept following this route until we came to the entrance of Custer State Park.  We paid our $20 entry fee and headed into the park...our destination was the Wildlife Loop.  From everything I had read, I understood there was a herd of about 1,500 buffalo living inside the park plus lots of other animals.  

As we drove into the park, we saw one buffalo on the hill next to a fence.  We slowed down but neither Al or Blake could get a good picture of him. I have a mental note of this buffalo as I noted in my head his branding of #9 on his foreleg. Blake was concerned because they didn't have enough time to get a picture but I quickly responded, "Don't worry, we will have plenty of opportunities to get photos of buffalo on our drive." I would eat these words later in the day after our complete trip around the park without seeing another single buffalo!!!!

We did manage to see a welcoming burro that stood in the middle of the road and welcomed cars as they passed.  Al laughed and said the title of the photograph should be, "Mr. Ed welcomes visitors to Custer State Park."After meeting up with Mr. Ed, we did see one Prong Deer on the side of the road but that was it for wildlife on the Wildlife Loop.  

Surely we will see more wildlife on this loop

Blake laughing

Al kept laughing and saying that it must be "Fake News" that Custer State Park is home to 1,500 buffalo.  The funny thing is, just one day after we visited, my sorority sister from college happened to post the following picture of their trip through Custer State Park ... I quickly showed it to Al and Blake to show evidence of buffalo along Wildlife Loop.  We just happened not to be so lucky!

After leaving Custard State Park, we drove into Custer where we ate at a Mexican restaurant for "linner" (lunch/dinner) where the College World Series game (LSU vs Oregon State) was on the TV.  We watched LSU clinch their appearance into the championship game which we have tickets to next week!

Crazy Horse Memorial was the last destination on our agenda for the day.  We traveled about six miles up the road and turned into the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This is a memorial commemorating the history of the Native Americans.  The artist, Korczak Ziolowski, who was asked to sculpt Crazy Horse into the side of the mountain was actually an assistant to Borglum at Mount Rushmore.  The Native American tribes wanted a memorial to recognize their heroes and requested he take on this project. This project has been under construction for 70 years and there is a whole lot more to be done in order to complete it.  I honestly don't know if it will ever be completed in the future.  If it should be completed, it will be the largest monument in the world.  Even unfinished, it stands as the world's largest mountain carving in process.  

The completed carving of Crazy Horse Memorial

We returned to the campsite where we had ice cream for dinner and went to bed.  Tomorrow we plan to travel to Badlands National Park for hiking!