John-n-Sylvia's 2011 RV Trip: Custer State Park and Crazy Horse Monument

July 8, 2011 – Custer State Park and Crazy Horse Monument

The next morning, after going to the Mt Rushmore night ceremony we left Rapid City for another scenic tour down to Custer State Park. The route goes past Mt Rushmore, so we stopped in to see the monument again, to see if it had changed since the day before….

Here is an image that you see when walking through the state flag display in front of the monument.

Here is what was behind the flag on the upper left side, beside Pres. Washington. Somebody had an apparently very, very busy night after the lights were turned out on the sculpture.

Shortly after entering Custer State Park, we saw the following amazing (to us anyway) sight of these Bison herds. We call them Buffalo, the Indians called them Tatanka. Either way, I’m glad the herds are back. It is difficult for me to imagine what the Plains must have been like when there were millions of Bison roaming all over the place. Guess you really had to watch where you stepped to keep away from the Tatanka plops.

Here are some buffalo calves, and adults, I assume the adults are the calves parents…..

Every year in Custer State Park in September there is a Buffalo Roundup. Because the grassland in the park can only support 1,300 buffalo, the roundup allows the park employees to vaccinate, brand and sort the bison. Most are released back into the park, but the rest are auctioned off in November to bison ranchers or I assume to butchers. You can get Buffalo burgers, steaks, and just about any cut you want in lots of restaurants and supermarkets. I haven’t tasted buffalo yet, primarily because of the terrible face Sylvia makes when I suggest that we try it.

There is a road in Custer State Park called the Wildlife Loop Road. If you can't find wildlife anywhere else, this is the place to come.

Here is a Pronghorn. I thought they were Antelope, but a ranger corrected me and told me they are Pronghorn, not Antelope.

And another closer Pronghorn. The brochures say they can run faster than 40 MPH for great distances. Glad I didn’t make these fellows angry.

Here is a herd of wild burros. Yes, I said wild burros. Actually, I guess they are not wild because they are not native to the Black Hills, but are descendants of burros used to ferry people up to the top of the local highest mountain peak, Harney Peak. When they stopped using them as tour/work donkeys they released them into Custer State Park, so now there are herds of wild, people friendly burros. Nobody is feeding the burros, so I guess that makes them wild, No?

They have no fear of people. They know they can come up to people looking like a sad burro, and they will get crackers or cookies.

And a couple of deer (white-tail deer, I think). They are not friendly to people. You can’t get close to them.

After leaving Custer State Park we drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial. This memorial is privately owned on the land of the Lakota Indians. Having seen the Mt Rushmore monument, the Lakota Indian elders wanted to show that they also had heroes. They worked with sculptor Korczak Ziokowski to start work on the monument in the late 40’s. They have not accepted any government funding so the progress has been extremely slow. Before his death in 1982, Korczak had blocked out the rough contours of the sculpture. It will be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall, and depicts Lakota chief Crazy Horse riding his horse, pointing to his ancestral lands. The completed 90 foot high face of the Crazy Horse Monument was dedicated in 1998. The pointing arm of Crazy Horse will be 300 feet long. Although the hole has been started below where the arm will be, not much progress has been made recently. Korczak’s wife Ruth says detailing of Crazy Horse’s wrist and hand resting on the horses mane will begin this season. Lots of talk and fundraising, not much progress.

You can see in this image what the monument should look like when it is completed, probably in another 40 or 50 years.