Last night we arrived at the Bavarian Inn near Custer SD. A great little motel with a lot of ammenities such as restraunt, breakfast included, wifi, tennis, indoor outdoor pool, pool tables, basketball and a fitness vitacourse. The motel has a German mountain decor both inside and out and it fits in the black hills here with granite crags and rock faced moutain spires. In the info packet at the office was an entry form for the local VOLKSMARCH ( peoples walk) at the Crazy Horse monument. So we did it Saturday morning.
It was very foggy with a light misty rain and temps in the high forties so we could not see the monument until we got up to the top of the hike. The distance was 10k or 6 miles to the granite memorial to Chief Crazy Horse which is an ongoing carving of the indian warrior. The trail was not difficult but was a little muddy and the last mile on the way up was a dirt ( mud) access road to the statue. I finished the entire hike in less than 1.5 hours so I was moving at over 4 mph. (to stat warm) Got a nice comemerative medal at the end. I've included a picture of the Crazy horse head which is the only part finished to date after 60 years. The project is funded by donations and procedes from activities such as this hike, and some funds go to a local childrens charity.
A very impressive visitors center here made entirely from the Ponderosa Pine that cover all the black hills here. There are movies about the memorial and a full american indian museum as well as restraunt and a laser light show after dark where they project the finished statue picture on the side of the mountain as well as pictures set to music.
Later we will check out the town of Custer for a saloon to watch the Belmont horse race if there is one there. Maybe we will drive into Custer state park to take the wildlife drive. They have a herd of Bison there that is 1500 strong. You have to be careful on the drive as they sometimes stand on the road. Could crunch the car a bit as they average 2000 pounds .
Hope the weather improves so we can visit Mount Rushmore, the forecast says better by monday.
There is also the Mickelson trail here to hike and bike. It is 146 miles of converted rairoad rails to path. We may hike or maybe Jim will bike some of it if the section is paved or packed gravel.
Tommorrow if it rains as expected, we may do a drive thru a local wild animal park where the animals roam and you are the caged one in your vechicle.
Jim, Suz and Beau
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