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South Dakota - Badlands,
Wall, Crazy Horse and
Mount Rushmore
23rd - 25th June 2008
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We left Nebraska and headed into the state of
South Dakota at Pine Ridge. We were bound for the Badlands
National Park through the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation.
At Wounded Knee we turned off the scenic
route shown on our road map to the Badlands, and went in search of the
Monument to the infamous massacre of several hundred unarmed Sioux by the US
Army in 1890. Somehow we failed to spot the monument but
drove through the village of Wounded Knee and got a glimpse of life on the
Indian Reservation.
The very informative White River Visitor
Centre and its two friendly Lakota lady rangers gave us much more
information about the history of the Sioux peoples. We
learned that the word Sioux was a collective word invented by the settlers
for the various tribes of the regions, including Lakota and Dakota.
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We continued towards the Badlands becoming
increasingly desperate in our search for fuel for Harvey.
Finally we tracked down the aptly named "Cowboy Corner", where
their aging pumps were unable to keep up with the increase in petrol prices!
Arrival at the Badlands Park proved a little
problematic. We wanted to purchase the National
Parks Annual Pass but the Entry Station's credit card machine was out of
action, resulting in us being cleared out nearly all of our remaining cash
to make our purchase.
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Sign of the times at Cowboy
Corner!
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Of course when we arrived at the campground,
their machine was also out of order, so we needed cash to pay for the
site. Hmm. Luckily by scraping together
all our remaining change and searching under cushions on Harvey, we finally
came up with enough money to pay $10 for the night! Whilst
the National Park Campsite was more like a parking lot than a campground, we
had spectacular views from our spot.
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Next morning we tackled a couple of short
trails. The first was a loop nature trail where we spotted a
mule deer tucking into breakfast. The next
trail took us out into the Badlands themselves, where it was easy to imagine
how trekkers regularly become disorientated and have to call on the cell
phone for ranger assistance. A Ranger told us that the
biggest problem is working out which bit of rock the lost souls are looking
at, so they can track them down. Of course we had our handy GPS
along, just in case. The landscape was very surreal
indeed.
Another trail took us to see some of the many
fossil remains located in the park. Apparently fossils are still
being spotted all the time by tourists, who then have to remember where they
are to report the new finds to the Park Rangers.
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Mule Deer Breakfast
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It sure is a big country -
Harvey looking lost!
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We drove along the Badlands loop road, feeling a
little overwhelmed at the sense of space. As we left
the National Park we started to spot intriguing billboards, advertising all
kinds of things from free iced water, 5 cent coffee to western gear and
tacky souvenirs. We were approaching the town of Wall and
its famous Wall Drug emporium was making its presence known to all passing
travellers, with billboards every few minutes. Naturally
we had to stop, along with all the other tourists, to see what the fuss was
about.
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The Hustead family bought the store in 1931 with
Ted's inheritance. They found that business was far from brisk
in the small town located "in the middle of nowhere".
After five years of struggle, it was Dorothy's idea to advertise free iced
water, to attract thirsty travellers from the busy highway
nearby. She began the roadside marketing campaign, which brought
about the company's great success and transformation into the multi-faceted
tourist emporium which exists today, still run by the
family. Wandering through this retail overload was hungry
and thirsty work. After viewing all sections of the store from
pharmacy to western wear, tourist tat to art gallery, visiting with the
selection of stuffed local wildlife, the performing T-rex and bucking
bronco, it was time to enjoy the free iced water, 5 cent coffee and sample
the not-so-cheap but tasty doughnuts.
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Phil washes down his
doughnut with 5 cent Wall Drug coffee.
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After this serious brush with retail therapy, we
headed to Rapid City and tracked down Wal-mart, to stock Harvey up for a
week in the Black Hills. An hour later we were at the
entrance to the Custer State Park in search of a
campground. We were told we were in luck, three spots were
still available in the campground ten miles away. We set
off, wondering if they would still be there after we'd driven ten
miles. On the way we had a major wildlife fix,
finding first a buffalo, peacefully grazing alongside the highway, causing a
major traffic jam and then a flock of Bighorn sheep chewing the cud only
about 20 feet from the road.
We arrived at the campsite but found it
wasn't to our liking, the sites were close together, the location wasn't
particularly scenic and the facilities were somewhat
lacking. The Ranger had mentioned a commercial campground
near the town of Custer where we would have to venture in order to empty
Harvey's dump tanks, so we thought we'd check it out.
Despite it's unlikely name of Fort Welikit, the campsite proved to be far
more scenic, convenient for the park and well equipped. We
settled in and sat down to plan our time in the Black Hills
area. On the way through the park to Custer we'd observed
the natural beauty of the area and had decided to devote some time to
exploring. First however, we decided we'd better tick off the
"big giant heads", we'd told everyone we were coming to South
Dakota to see, Mount Rushmore National Monument and the Crazy Horse
Monument.
We ignored the recommendation in our Rough
Guide to visit Rushmore first and then Crazy Horse and later regretted this
decision when the scale of the Mount Rushmore monument was somewhat
overshadowed by the immensity of the Crazy Horse Monument we'd already
visited. However, it had to be said that both monuments
were breath-taking.
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Bronze miniature statue of
the Crazy Horse Monument and the work-in-progress carved in the mountain
behind.
(If you look very closely
below the horse's eye drawn on the mountainside, the enormous yellow
excavator shows the scale of the project!)
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Progress of the monument
since the start of work in 1948
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The monument was begun in response to the Mount
Rushmore monument, when Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear invited sculptor
Korczak Ziolkowski to design something fitting. His fellow
chiefs and he had decided that they "would like the white man to know
that the red man has great heroes too". Korczak
began work in 1949 at the age of almost 40, with only $174 to his
name. He believed the project should be built by the
interested public, not the taxpayer and it was funded primarily by the
admission fees charged, twice he turned down millions of dollars of federal
funding. The admission fee was well worth paying as there
was an impressive museum of Indian heritage and artifacts as well as a craft
centre with artisans from different tribes at work. Despite the
sculptor's death in 1982, the work is continued by family members.
We timed our visit right as tribal dancing
was being filmed right in front of the monument.
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Between visits to "big giant head"
monuments, we made a stop for lunch at beautiful Sylvan lake in the Custer
State Park. Whilst there we spotted a likely
location for our own "big giant head" monument!
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Not sure that rock is big
enough!
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Beautiful Sylvan Lake
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Lunch break was over and we were en route to the
next monument, which was certainly well visited. Portraits
of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln were carved high
in the side of Mount Rushmore by sculptor Gutzon Borglum as a memorial to
the nation's history. The images are said to represent the
birth, growth, development and preservation of the country. We
were a little disappointed that part of the trail was closed during our
visit, as Rangers were busy hoisting fireworks to the top of the monument in
preparation for the up-coming July 4th celebrations (curiously being held on
July 3rd) but that feat in itself was interesting to watch.
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With all the tourist "must-sees" done
in one day, we returned to our campground, tired but happy, ready to enjoy
some of the regions natural beauty for a few days....
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