Another day of exploring around Rapid City. We started out with a good breakfast and some fortified coffee before driving south on Hwy 70 until we turned west into Custer SP on Hwy 40. We continued on Highway 40 through some extraordinary terrain with grasslands on the fairly level sections and everything else being very abrupt vertical sections of rock. It is quite striking and a wonderful drive through stunning beauty until you get to Keystone. Keystone is the result of way too many tourist traps competing for dollars in a tiny area. The sign going into town shows a population of 396 but there must be that many activities alone in this tourist Mecca. It has a full spectrum of caves you can pay to see, food joints, taverns and bars, a steam train to ride for a price, dinosaur exhibits you can pay to see, chainsaw carvers and, of course, Indian jewelry which may or may not have been made by Indians. It is pretty ugly.
We continued through Keystone and as soon as we left town, the scenery returned to spectacular. We got on a road called 16A that takes you through some very difficult terrain on the way to Custer SP. The road is very narrow, has a few one-lane tunnels, about 350 curves, some pigtail bends where the road curls over itself as it climbs and, incidentally, some striking views of Mount Rushmore a few miles away. The pullouts are rare but the scenery from them is spectacular as you pass through the Black Hills NF. I could easily spend quite a bit of time driving every road in the Black Hills, both directions. It is absolutely magnificent scenery.
We finally pulled into Custer SP and parted with $15 that gives access to any SD state park for a week. We had not gone more than about 3 miles when we came across a pretty big herd of bison grazing in a big meadow at about 4000′ elevation. They had their babies with them and although I cannot call them cute, they certainly look better than their folks. A big bull crossed the road in front of our vehicle, because he could, and we got a picture indicating he occupies about the same volume as a mini-van. We also spotted some more prairie dogs, out of their holes doing prairie dog stuff but they always have one or more watch prairie dogs keeping an eye on any approaching enemies. When the watchdogs make a certain chirp, all of them promptly disappear into holes leaving only the watchdog leering at the interloper. Not too far away, some antelope were hanging out and calmly grazing but not too near the cars. These animals have it right; keep away from men. We also spotted some white-tailed deer browsing off the side of the road.
We eventually passed out of the park and back into the Black Hills NF. We continued to the town of Custer where we turned on Hwy 385 toward Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse was a great strategist because he was instrumental in killing off Gen. George Armstrong Custer, a renowned Native American elderly, woman and child killer who had been transferred here after doing tons of wacky stuff in the Civil War. He led headlong poorly thought-out charges in the Civil War where almost all of his men were eradicated but, miraculously, the jerk was not killed. Numerous horses took a bullet for him. He hounded the Sioux for years in his attempt to force the policy of Manifest Destiny on folks who were not too skookum on women-killing megalomaniacs being in charge. The Sioux, led by Crazy Horse, greased him and all his accompanying soldiers of the 7th Cavalry not far from Rapid City. I bet the rejoicing was widespread through the Native American population.
Crazy Horse is being commemorated with an enormous carving of his likeness astride a horse made from a pretty big mountain. You can spot him from miles away but we elected to go into the site and look at the work up close. There is a pretty good museum containing stuff about the mountain carving efforts and Native American, mostly Sioux, societies. We came to see Crazy Horse in 1979 and they have made quite a bit of progress since although they have primarily removed overburden to get down to the good stuff. His face is complete now but it was only a nose in 1979. His arm is mostly completed and they are blasting down to where they can start work on the finish of the horse. They have been working here for 65 years and think they might be done in another 35. The project is really massive – Rushmore’s four presidents will fit below Crazy Horse’s arm and above the neck of the horse.
Today was a magnificent drive and I would not be upset if I got to repeat it.