Scenic Drive

There is a lot to see in South Dakota. We drove the Spearfish Scenic Drive to see the tree leaves in "full" color, however, the leaves were less motivated to be in "full" color, but were willing to tease.
                                                                              The drive was beautiful, Carol is standing in front of Bridal Vail Fall, which is on of three falls that can be seen during the drive. We are taking our time playing tourist, only visiting one or two places a day.

Custer State Park on a sunny day is great, on a sunny, very windy day is chilly, requiring a good coat. Other than that it was fun driving through the park looking for wildlife. Driving through the park there are opportunities to see bison (buffalo), prong horn antelope, deer, elk, prairie dogs, and a few other creatures I'm sure. After entering the park, probably a couple miles in, a bison was grazing along side the road not more than 5 feet from the truck. Farther into the park we stopped at one of the turnouts and took pictures of the bison in the corral area. They corral the bison to conduct health checks, and counts, then they are are release to roam again. The park keeps their herd  between 800 and 1400 members for sustainability, and land management. I recommend you have apples and carrots with you when you visit the park. About half way through the drive we were stopped by a small group of donkeys, holding us hostage until we paid their ransom demand for handouts. Fortunately we had an apple available, which I cut in half to feed these guys. We did see some deer, antelope, and a couple of prairie dogs. There is an opportunity to visit another part of the park, unfortunately we could not go through the scenic way. There is a tunnel on the Needle's Highway that does not like vehicles wider than 8 feet, we happen to be close to 8 and 1/2 feet wide. There is a back way around to this piece of the park, but while driving it we decided to go to Crazy Horse Monument, which was only 16 miles away.

 

This monument is phenomenal. The mountain was privately purchased, and work began in the late 1940's by the sculpture designer. The family continues work to this date with assistance from 10 other workers. This monument is funded by donations only, no federal support, although it has been offered, and refused. To understand why federal funding has been refused, requires an understanding for the purpose of the memorial. To give some perspective to the effort: only 15 people doing the work, whereas Mt. Rushmore had over 400 men working on it for 27 years. For most of us this monument will not be done in our lifetime. Oh, size. This monument will stand over 560 feet when completed, if they stay to the original plans. Mt. Rushmore in it's entirety, fits into the head and cleared portion behind the head. For $4.00 per person you can ride a bus to get closer to the sculpture, it is worth it.