Black Hills Of South Dakota

 We made our way to the Black Hills near Rapid City, South Dakota and the scenery keeps changing. I'm loving it more and more. There is so much to see in this area. Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, Black Hills, Sturgis and Spearfish are within driving distance.

 And as you can see wildlife abounds in this area. We will show a few of the hundreds of pictures and a little history as well. Custer State Park is a sensational area to see mountains, valleys, wildlife, history, and alot of winding mountain grade roads.                        









The scenery is just beautiful. The
pictures on the right and below are
typical for this area. around every
corner is something else to see.

If you look close on the picture on the left you can see Mt.Rushmore. More on that in a bit.  We just love having the motorcycle with us and driving all of the crazy mountain roads and scenic byways of this country.  It is just so awesome to this the God's hand made all of this and we get to enjoy it.                            

 We did a 6.2 mile charity walk at Crazy Horse. The proceeds went to feed local people in need. The walk went thru the woods going from the bottom to the top of Crazy Horse's arm, yet to be completed. As can be seen on the right.                                                                                              

When you get to the top you can get a real feel as to the size of this monument. (That is after we all caught our breath from the hike)  It will be alot bigger than Mt. Rushmore when fully completed, which may not be in my lifetime.  Actually, all four head at Mt Rushmore would fit into just Chief Crazy Horses  head portion.  This is not funded by the government in any way. Just by donations and admission price ($10 normally)

 Driving can take awhile as you go through the Wild Life Loop in Custer State Park. You never know what is around the next corner. A herd of bison made us stop for a good photo opportunity. There are about 1200 bison in Custer State Park.

Buddy was with us and kept sniffing and looking at all the bison.  Scared me that the bison would get just as inquisitive and come even closer yet to investigate him.  But they didn't! 

 Another interesting thing we saw was an actual dig that was started in 1974, when a developer uncovered a large sink hole with about 50 Columbian Mammoths and 3 Woolly Mammoths. Other animals were also found. This exhibit was in Hot Springs, SD about 1 hour's drive from were we were. We spent a few hours reading all the information about the history of this area and the dig. These bones are still in there original place and not disturbed.

This is a poster form of a Columbian Mammoth and there's Randy standing by the front hoof.  Huge, huge animal.  Glad they are not hanging around here today.

 An of coarse no trip to this area is complete without a visit to Mt. Rushmore. We did the presidential walk and also the night show which shows a short movie and honors our service men and women in all branches. It ends with lighting of the heads for nighttime viewing. We will be traveling in this area for a bit longer before heading to Wyoming. Hope you will keep following and let us know if we could make this better.