Crazy Horse & Custer State Park

The uncompleted & probably never-to-be completed carving of Crazy Horse is about 17 miles from Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of SD.
Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear commissioned the memorial to be sculpted by Korzcak Ziolowski in 1948. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain , considered scared ground to some Native Americans. It does not come without much controversy - It is a not-for profit undertaking & even though the federal government offered Ziolowski $10 million, not just once, but twice, he refused to take it. Ziolowski died in 1982. His wife & their 10 children remain closely involved in the project.

This is a scale model of the completed momemorial carving.

To learn more about the Crazy Horse Memorial click on this link www.crazyhorsememorial.org/

Later that same day we went to Custer State Park & wildlife reserve. The park is South Dakota's first & largest state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The park is over 71,000 acres of hilly terrain & is home to many wild animals including a herd of 1500 free roaming American Biscon.

As we drove through the park we saw pronghorn antelope & bison.

This lone buffalo was trapped, so-to-speak, outside the fence, unable to get to rest of the herd. He was making a moaning noise, kinda like crying... so sad. Liam just stared at him. I think he wanted to help him.

Further down the road we saw several prairie dog towns and ferro burros roaming the streets begging for food. These two stuck their heads in the back window & scared Liam half-to-death.




This poor couple was surrounded by burros, unable to escape.

We weren't going to let that happen to us - No way Jose!

Scout dog Tazzy spotted a couple of domestic Wheaten Terriers and a elk crossing!

On our way back to Rapid City I got this shot of Mt Rushmore through a break in the trees.

Don't forget, click on photos to enlarge.

Until next time...