Black Hills of South Dakota
Waking up this morning at the campground was not that difficult with all the children crying and screaming at 6:00 a.m. We managed to stay asleep until about 8:30 a.m., however, and we packed up the tent and headed over to all you can eat pancakes for $2.50. After our quick but very filling breakfast, we drove to Mt. Rushmore to feel some real American patriotism. I was amazed at the precisely sculpted appearance of the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The faces were situated on what seemed like every other mountain in Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park. Each face was about sixty feet high, with their noses being about twenty feet high. Before today, I never understood how this monument was sculpted, and what I learned was that ninety percent of the rock was blasted away with dynamite. The dynamite was drilled in very exact locations to remove tons and tons of limestone. The result was an awesome American marvel.
Not to be outdone, the American Indians who called the Black Hills home for centuries wanted a monument of their own to show the "White Man" that they also had heroes. They called upon Korczak Ziolkowski to sculpt Crazy Horse, a legendary Native American war hero, into a mountain. Started fifty years ago, the monument is not even close to completion. This makes sense, though, considering its immense size; all four of the presidential heads on Mount Rushmore could fit inside Crazy Horse's head. The connection between the sculptor Korczak and the sculpture made the monument more meaningful for me. After Korczak died, his wife and seven of his ten children continue to work on and for the monument and museums at the base. They deny any federal funding because they believe that people should want to come and pay to see the progress or donate to help it along. It is and will always be a sculpture for the people.
After seeing the Crazy Horse Memorial, we drove to Wind Cave National Park. Wind Cave has two main components, a large prairie and forest above, and a huge cave below. The prairie above is home to bison, which we passed on the way into the park, and many other prairie animals. While the pastures above are nice, what's amazing is the labyrinth of cave below. In the 1970s, there were about thirty two miles of cave mapped, and now there are one hundred and forty miles mapped. Geologists estimate that there could still be another ninety five percent of cave that is yet to be discovered. Wind Cave is already one of the largest caves in the world, with thirty stories worth of cave. Most caves that I've seen have the typical stalagmite and stalactite formations, but Wind Cave has some rare features consisting of "cave popcorn" and "boxwork," which is composed of thin calcite fins resembling a honeycomb. The cave popcorn are just small knobby growths from the sides of the cave where the water seeps through the limestone. The physical characteristics of the cave along with the history of its discovery made this one of the highlights of the road trip so far.
By now it was evening, so we drove back to Hill City via the Needles Highway where we almost got run off the very narrow road. We drove through some awesome rock formations and finally reached Hill City unscathed. Famished because we skipped lunch, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and are now sitting in our hotel in Rapid City, SD looking forward to our six-hour drive tomorrow.
Waking up this morning at the campground was not that difficult with all the children crying and screaming at 6:00 a.m. We managed to stay asleep until about 8:30 a.m., however, and we packed up the tent and headed over to all you can eat pancakes for $2.50. After our quick but very filling breakfast, we drove to Mt. Rushmore to feel some real American patriotism. I was amazed at the precisely sculpted appearance of the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The faces were situated on what seemed like every other mountain in Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park. Each face was about sixty feet high, with their noses being about twenty feet high. Before today, I never understood how this monument was sculpted, and what I learned was that ninety percent of the rock was blasted away with dynamite. The dynamite was drilled in very exact locations to remove tons and tons of limestone. The result was an awesome American marvel.
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse Memorial sculpted in wood
Crazy Horse Memorial at current status
Drew in Wind Cave National Park
Closeup of "Boxwork"
Closeup of "Cave Popcorn"
Driving through narrow rock formations on Needles Highway
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