Chiefs and Presidents

Sunday 30 August 2015

The bed must have been comfortable or we were both exhausted as we both slept through to 0730. Our plan for the day was to do a short drive through the north of the Black Hills.

We had quite a good breakfast, although 'biscuits and gravy' were on the menu again. I have to say that the combination of a scone (aka biscuit) and gravy (a white lumpy sauce) for breakfast doesn't do it for me. I can manage breakfast burritos, but biscuits and gravy is not for me!

After breakfast, we loaded our cool box with lots of cold water and headed out. Our road, the route 385, turned off in the middle of Custer and headed north. The road climbed steeply out of town and into rolling hills with pine trees and odd outcrops of rocks. Our first port of call was the Crazy Horse Memorial, this is an ongoing project to carve the head and outstretched arm of Crazy Horse, a famous Indian Chief. He was the tribal leader of the Oglala Lakota who led his tribe to victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn against Lt Gen George Custer. The Indians knew Litle Bighorn as 'Greasy Grass'.

The carving is immense, and we could easily see it from the main road. We did take a few distant photos, but neither of us really wanted to pay to get closer. The project is not government funded, so a whole tourist industry has grown up around the base of the rock. We just didn't want to go through that.

We continued on up route 385 until we found the route 244 turn-off to Keystone. The road winds around in the beautiful landscape of the Black Hills for a few miles before climbing sharply up a hill to the foot of Mount Rushmore. This is a National Monument so we had to pay $11 for a pass that permits us access until 31 December!

We found a parking space fairly close to the main entrance and walked in. The site was very busy, but well organised. The main approach led from the information centre up to Borglum Court where there is a shop, a restaurant and ice cream shop. We stopped for a few photos here before carrying on up the Avenue of Flags. The avenue has the flags of all 50 States and on pillars lining the route, the dates on which each State was admitted to the Union. Hawaii bing the most recent in 1959.

Beyond the Avenue is the Grand View Terrace. This allows visitors to take in the sight of the heads of four Presidents carved into the mountainside. It is an amazing sight. Danish-American sculptor, Gutzon Borglum spent 14 years carving, in a manner of speaking, the heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt into a mountain. When I say carved, I mean Gutzon and a team of 400 men used dynamite to roughly shape the rock and then hand finished it with chisels. The heads are each 60 feet high. They started in 1927 and finished in 1941. If you have time, look it up on the Internet.

We took quite a few photos and I walked the half mile trail up to the foot of the mountain. It was hot going with the temperature in the high 90s. We stayed for a couple of hours as we were also trying to spot the mountain sheep that apparently frequent the cliffs near the carvings.

From here, we drove steeply downhill to the town of Keystone, once a gold mining town. Nowerdays, it serves the tourist industry associated with Mt Rushmore and, quite frankly, is a bit tacky! We did find Teddy's Deli for a toasted sandwich, chips (potato crisps) and dill pickle spear. By now it had got to 98F, way too toasty!

We left Keystone and headed south down the route 18A back into Custer State Park. This section of road is known as Iron Mountain Road. The road boasts, 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 4 Presidents and 2 splits. Most of this is self explanatory, but 'pigtails' are where the road makes a very sharp 270 degree turn, crossing over itself on a bridge. 4 Presidents are the views of Mt Rushmore and 'splits' are where the road splits and follows different routes for a short distance. The road is fun to drive and the views and scenery beautiful. One pigtail makes its turn and dives directly into a narrow tunnel which, as you drive through it, gives distant views of Mt Rushmore.

We continued the entire length of Iron Mountain Road and ended up at the Peter Norbeck Visitors Centre. The centre is named after the Govenor who thought up the idea of Custer State Park. On the meadow outside the centre, were a large herd of Bison/Buffalo. We popped in to ask about bird boxes we had seen on fence posts, they were for Mountain Bluebirds.

On the way back to Custer, we stopped briefly at Legion Lake where it is possible to rent canoes or pedaloes. We also drove round a Stockade Lake and saw a couple of Ospreys.

We returned to the hotel to cool down in the air conditioned room and swimming pool! It did rain briefly, but it has stayed very warm. For dinner, we went to the Frontier Inn. Initially, were the only clients, not usually a good sign, but one other couple came in shortly afterwards. We both had sirloin steak and it was juicy, tasty and tender and for £8 steak and chips can't be bad!

 

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