The Black Hills Expedition of 2021

 

    A little bit of this

A little bit of that

A fort, some rocks

A tunnel, some monuments

South Dakota, South Dakota

(My apologies to the original lyricists for that lame parody on "Anatevka".)

  I don't know how to begin this entry as we've seen so much in the last three days.  I suppose I'll just "dive in."

    On Monday we drove from Estes Park down the Big Thompson and north into Wyoming.  There were some truly impressive geological formations along the way followed by some extremely desolate country.  It is dry here so everything was brown and crunchy.  I saw several signs indicating we were following the Oregon Trail and at one point there was a sign for the Guernsey Ruts and Register Rock. That sounded really familiar but I wasn't sure I'd been there before.  A glance at a map and I realized we saw it several years ago on our way to Glacier National Park.  Beyond Guernsey the road became very flat and very straight.  Twice on this stretch we had to avoid careless, impatient drivers who were trying to pass other vehicles.  The first one was very, very close causing Ken to have to take to the shoulder of the road.  Thank you Jesus we avoided what would've been a very serious accident.  I told Ken that we wouldn't have walked away from that one.  Almost as I said it he said "will we walk away from this one?"  I looked ahead just in time to see a semi abruptly cut in between the camper and semi he was trying to pass.  Our guardian angel was with us for sure.  We arrived in Custer about 3:00 p.m. and found our cabin.  Petticoat Junction fans will appreciate the name "Shady Rest Hotel".  Yes I sing it in my head every time we come "home".  After resting a bit we went to eat dinner (Bison tenderloin with blueberry puree mmm, mmm).  We had already decided to go to the Crazy Horse Memorial for the evening laser show so headed up the hill after dinner.

    The Crazy Horse Memorial was commissioned by Chief Henry Standing Bear of the Lakota in 1940 or so.  He was impressed with the work of Korczak Ziolkowski and asked him to take on this huge project.  Korczak agreed and worked with the Chief to choose the location in the Black Hills and create the design of the sculpture.  Over the years the sculpture married his assistant Ruth and they proceeded to have ten children-they were needed to do the work he said.  The memorial will be several times larger than Mount Rushmore when finished.  I overheard a museum employee say that it will take decades and decades to finish.  When we were here in 1993 Crazy Horse's eyes were not "open" yet.  Now his face is finished and they are working on his arm and beginning his horse.  The entire complex is quite impressive.  There is a beautiful museum of Native American culture and art work.  The home that the family lived in is open for visitors and there is now a huge gift store.  More impressive is the Native American University that is part of the complex.  It is specifically for Native American students and allows them to work and to earn college credits while living on campus.  The laser light show was interesting although a little cheesy.  

    On Tuesday we chose to drive the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway which is made up of the Iron Mountain highway and the Needles Highway. We started by driving to the Breezy Point Lookout for a spectacular view of the Black Hills.  The movie "North By Northwest" was filmed in this area. We then backtrailed a bit so that we could drive the Needles Highway first.  That way we would be able to see Mount Rushmore as we drove through the tunnels on Iron Mountain.  Needles highway winds through the southern part of the byway and takes you through some very impressive volcanic formations.  My inner geology geek, nurtured by Mrs. Jones so many yeas ago, found them quite interesting.  There are two or three one lane, narrow, low tunnels carved through the rocks.  Since the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally just ended there were several groups of riders that we often had to wait for before we could go through the tunnels.  One in particular was memorable.  It is called "Needle's Eye" and is at the end of a curve so that you really can't see if anyone is coming the other way until you are right at the entrance to the tunnel. Norbeck meticulously planned each tunnel on both highways so that they were in the most scenic areas.  When the byway was built in the 30's it was nicknamed the "needless highway" because it was so expensive.  

    The Needles highway branches off into Custer State Park and the Wildlife loop which is home to a huge herd of Bison.  I thought we weren't going to see any bison but just before the end of the loop we came upon the herd right alongside the road.  They were very impressive and there were many calves with their mothers.  On down the road a bit we were attacked by a wild turkey that tried to fly into our car.  He narrowly missed us thank goodness.  Cars and tunnels and bison, oh my!

    Iron Mountain highway was also designed by Peter Norbeck.  The tunnels on this road frame the monument on Mount Rushmore.  I remember in 1993 how thrilling it was to see the 4 Presidents through the tunnel for the first time.  Norbeck knew exactly where he wanted the tunnels and he left it up to the park director and engineers to design the road.  The result was two sets of pig-tail bridges that curve back over themselves so that the road comes out where Norbeck wanted the bridges to be. I forgot to mention that he also planned several scenic lakes along the way.  We stopped at one that is called Horse Thief Lake.  The lakes were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps to serve as fishing lakes.  Horse Thief Lake is pictured above.

    We ended up in Keystone and to kill time we found the city cemetery and thanks to www.findagrave.com I was able to locate the graves of Carrie Ingalls husband, his first wife and his son.  I have an indulgent husband who allows my Wilder side to be nurtured from time to time.

    Tuesday evening after a lovely meal at Powder Valley Inn we took in the evening ceremony at Mt. Rushmore.  We were there about two hours which was just about right.  The lighting ceremony was beautiful.  I won't go into the history and building of the monument as it is pretty common knowledge.  Look it up if you are interested.

    Our final day, today, was spent at Keystone Historical Museum and napping.  The museum is home to several items that belonged to Carrie Ingalls Swanzey, the sister of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  The most important item in the collection is a small figurine thought to be Ma's China Shepherdess which Laura mentions several times in the Little House series.  It was found among Carrie's belongings carefully wrapped and stored away.  Laura mentioned in a letter to a fan that "Carrie has the shepherdess."  No one is quite sure that this is the beloved china woman or that she even existed.  She may have been a literary element added by Rose Wilder Lane to give continuity and symbolism to the series.  Either way, it is fun to see her (or maybe him.)

    Tonight we strolled down Rushmore avenue in Custer and then drove out to the Gordon Stockade for another LIW moment.  Honestly I did not remember the story from "These Happy Golden Years" until Sarah Manley mentioned visiting the stockade on her trip to the area.  I looked it up and found that the stockade is only three miles from our cabin. Laura Ingalls Wilder had an uncle on her mother's side that was part of the Gordon party who came out to look for gold in 1874.  The government had sent Custer and a thousand troopers into the area in early 1874 to look for gold.  It was found in the Custer area in French Creek.  Word got out and although it was illegal, prospectors came to the area later in the year seeking wealth.  The land belonged to the Sioux  due to the Fort Laramie Treaty almost ten years earlier.  When the Gordon party arrived they built a stockade as protection from the tribe who would most certainly be angry when it was discovered that they were there.  The winter conditions were harsh and four members of the group left only to be captured by soldiers patrolling the area.  They divulged the location of the stockade and the soldiers forces the remaining prospectors to leave the area.  Laura's uncle, Thomas Quiner, was part of this group.

    And so we bid a fond farewell to the Black Hills of South Dakota and head east toward the Prairie.  Tomorrow we will stop at Wall, at the Dignity monument in Chamberlin and end up in De Smet.  Yes you guessed it.  Another LIW stop.  Hey, he gets to shoot.  I get my "Laura moments."

Happy Trails!