Just days ago I didn’t even know what it is now we have been on one.  A pretty impressive one at that; typically it is a once a year Spring opportunity to hike Crazy Horse Memorial Mountain.  Luckily this year they also held a Fall Volksmarch and we got the rare chance to come face to face with the larger than life image of the great Chief Crazy Horse as it emerges from Black Hills granite.

Chief Crazy Horse Monument

We hiked 6.2 miles through woodland, across blast debris zones, and up the mountain along the progressive blast lines to find ourselves standing right at his chin.  When complete all of Mt. Rushmore will fit in the space occupied by his head.  This is a colossal undertaking driven forward by the sheer will of one family and the dollars of thousands of individual private donors.

The project is awe inspiring no matter how you feel about the politics or the ecological impact.  This was a great way to see it up close.

Model and Mountain

Today is the Buffalo Art Show and Auction at the Park.  As you might have guessed, the Buffalo is the subject of nearly all pieces displayed.  Pieces range from fine art paintings and pottery to welded scrap iron sculptures.  Two life size buffalo statues, one painted with a collage of natural scenes and wildlife and the other a buffalo with an ornate USA emblazed on it’s hip.   Both are fantastic pieces.  However, neither is a suitable choice for my home décor just now.  We checked out all manner of buffalo adorned items, tasted at the dutch oven cook off, and watched some pretty talented cloggers.  I even tried my hand a “chip flipping”.

Lynn flips a buffalo chip

I brought home a buffalo hide shoulder satchel.  Ooh, I love the smell of new leather.  It isn’t too crazy that I can absolutely melt when I look into the big dark eyes of a gazing bull or watch a prancing, playing calf yet buy a buffalo leather purse?

A majestic bull elk and his harem of 20+ stole the show at the buffalo roundup.  They got swept up with the Bison and disrupted the whole process.

A single rider appeared on the far ridge.  Before long bison appeared; first in small groups then as a mass of brown dots pouring over the hilltop across the prairie.  In a closer valley another stream of bison came into view.  We had anticipated a thundering herd it was more like a meandering bunch.  Before long it was clear why.  The bull elk appeared on the ridge standing tall and proud wonderfully outlined against the sky.  He stood there just taking in all that was happening in front of him: thousands of people and 50 or so riders, probably 10 pickup trucks, all trying to direct this huge mass of bison.  Then the cows and young elk appeared but they didn’t stop to consider the happenings.  They kept running and headed right down the valley that split the bison herd.  They encountered fences but still ran.  They were chased up over the far ridge by a pickup truck, they ran.  But, they circled back right into the center of the herd again.  All the wranglers (and all the spectators) could do was wait until the elk herd eventually raced back the valley and out if sight.

We turned our attention back to the bison who by now had settled into munching on grass and milling about in every direction.  There were a few false starts but ultimately the riders won and the bison were pushed on into the corrals.  It was not as dramatic as I had envisioned with all the stops and starts but it was still a great experience.

They day had warmed a bit from the 40s at 6AM so we wandered over to the holding corrals.  We enjoyed BBQ buffalo and some cowboy beans for lunch and stayed to watch them handle a few bison; health checkup, shots, ear tags and brands for the new ones, and the ultimate determination, “herd” or “lot number xxx”.  There is an auction in November when they will sell off animals of every age group to maintain the herd size the park can support.    The bison get some rather rough treatment and I am a bit uneasy about the eventual plight of those with a “lot number” sticker but the event is exciting to watch and it is necessary they manage herd size somehow.  This approach at least gets more animals out into more herds and encourages the preservation of these magnificent creatures.

This is a pretty cool little town to visit.

They have dinosaurs.  6 life sized concrete dinosaurs roam a city park on a ridge high above downtown.  They are the product of at 1930s Works Project and have been carefully maintained.  You can see them standing watch over the city as you enter from the North, you can go wander among them, and yes, even climb on them.

They have presidents.  Life size bronze statues greet you at every downtown corner.  There are 42 of them (they get a statue once they are a past president) and they are amazingly detailed.   Attire, pose, and props all serve to tell the greater story of each man.

They have a Norwegian Chapel.

Well actually it is a replica, from the pegged construction to the ornate carvings, of an 850 year old Church in Norway.  With a close-up look, the construction and handwork are amazing.  With a deep breath and a moment of silent presence, I’d have to say that they achieved their overarching goal, to connect those who enter with the loftiness of Faith.

A small Black Hills log house houses a museum packed with mostly everyday items seen in homes of early settlers.  Most unique to me was a yeast ring, a wreathlike wall hanging made of interlocked pieces that had been dipped in yeast and dried then stored as part of this wreath until the yeast was needed for bread.   Fantastically ornate carved spoons and needlework rest beside simple wooden shovels and chairs made from hollowed out tree trunks.

They have lots of local artists.

There is a gigantic studio filled with First Nations’ Peoples work carrying powerful messages of mans’ connection to nature.  A huge work-in progress sculpture garden fills the Main Street square and we watched them cutting and polishing to bring images of the Black Hills out of great slabs of SD granite.  Artisans create Black Hills Gold jewelry and pottery accented with the subtle tracings of Bison hair.

They have airplanes.

Just outside the main gates of Ellsworth Air force Base is the SD Air and Space Museum.  They have a great collection of aircraft both indoors and outdoors.  A display provides a very detail account of the Minuteman missile story.  It is big here; there are silos all around this part of the country.  Exhibits also include flight training and simulator cockpits, full chronological accounts of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, flight suits, emergency gear, and a tribute to the many who have served based here out of Ellsworth.  It is a great “proud to be an American” stop.