Day 4 - 11/29/2021

Day 4 - 11/29/2021

Today was a big day. We had following destinations to cover - Badlands National Park, Mt. Rushmore National Monument, and Crazy Horse Monument.

Our morning started really early today. Each of the three destinations are about 60-70 miles away from Rapid City, but they are not in the same direction. Badlands National Park is located about 70 miles in south-west direction from Rapid City. We started our trip at 7:45 AM towards Badlands. I have only seen few photos of it before, but when we reached there, only then I could realize the vastness of it: Badlands - as name suggests - just barren landscape of rock formation, perhaps some sandstone as well - over 244,000 acres of land. We decided to follow Rte. 240 which is the loop road to cover as much Badlands landscape as possible.

The timing was perfect. The sun was just rising and the shade of orange in the sky was blending superbly in the orange - red shades of Badlands landscape.. But as beautiful of a sight as it was, I could not stop thinking about the vast emptiness one could not stop thinking about. The native indians gave this land the name "Mako Sica" which means "land bad". Extreme temperatures, lack of water, rugged terrain makes this land inhabitable.

In the visitor center for Badlands, I found out about the "Passport for National Parks"- pretty interesting journal or logbook. Certainly got one for myself, and got it stamped, too.

On the loop road, we also noticed a lot of wild life - wild Rams, Bighorn Sheeps and Bisons. I wonder in such "bad lands" what would they survive on, but apparently there is enough grass and shrubs for them. But they looked pretty wild out there.

After Badlands, we started next to Mt. Rushmore National Monument. But on our way there, we stopped at Wall Drug.

Wall Drug is best known for the retail opportunities and house for variety of Native American culture and art. We grabbed something to eat as well and started towards Mt. Rushmore.

Mt. Rushmore was on my wish list of places to visit for past many years. Ever since I first watched it on Discovery channel in my teenages, Mt. Rushmore has always fascinated me - simply for the majestic figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved in the Black Hills mountains. A sculptor named John Gutzon Borglum chose these four ex-presidents of the USA: signifying the important events in the history of the USA. I find it quite fascinating to build something as grand as this monument to pay homage.

One thing I did find unusual is that when we parked the car and started walking towards the monument, it did seem smaller than the pictures, but as we approach near the edge of the monument, the grandeur appearance of it starts to realize. I was also surprised to learn that the Mt. Rushmore Monument is unfinished. The last and most recent sculpture of Abraham Lincoln is unfinished for Borglum could not raise enough money - Such a shame.

After Mt. Rushmore, we arrived at our final destination for today - Crazy Horse Memorial. Really impressive feat. Started in the year 1948 by a Native American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, it is designed to be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall. It is being carved out of Thunderhead mountain and is considered to take another 50 years at least, to complete. Once finished, it will depict a Lakota Warrier "Crazy Horse" riding a horse and pointing to a tribal land.

we reached the visitor center and purchased tickets for a bus ride. While talking to the lady at counter we learnt that this monument is in fact located on a private land and no government has any say or control over any of its operations. Started with crew of one person back in 1948, it currently is being worked on by a crew of eleven people, including son & grandsons of Korczak Ziolkowski. The bus ride took us a little closer (of course at an additional cost) and the guide informed us on the recent updates on the overall development. Overall it seems to be a pretty amazing endeavor for many more years and I am curious to follow its development.

So we successfully hit all our desired marks for today. I personally am very content with everything we visited today. I think all of us are pretty overwhelmed and tired today.

That is it for today. Tomorrow we start our journey back to Denver. We plan to cover few more parks on our way back, but for now I am going to stop. Looking forward to rest of the trip but one of the pinnacles of the trip, Mt. Rushmore is covered. I am content with it for now.

More to come tomorrow.