We arrived in Keystone South Dakota early evening, secured a camp sight a Horse Thief Campground then headed to Mount Rushmore. The steep winding roads were not for the faint of heart. During the summer months they add a lighting ceremony to the events and we were happy to be able to witness it. The park ranger gave a 20 minute presentation about each president sculpted on the rock and why they were chosen. It was followed by a patriotic movie and then our veterans in the audience were honored. The evening concluded by all of us singing America the Beautiful. It was truly spectacular and I don't think there was a dry eye in the audience.
After a restful night sleep and waking up to the beauty of the Black Hills, we were ready to explore. First stop, Crazy Horse Memorial. A tribute to a great Indian leader of the Lakota tribe. It is the largest mountain carving in the world and is considered the Eighth wonder of the world in progress. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began his carving in 1948 and devoted his life to it. 7 of his 10 children has continued with the project. The U.S. government has offered twice to purchase the project but Korczak wanted no part of it. Below is a replica of what the completed project will look like.
Crazy Horse's head measures 87 feet high, in comparison to Mount Rushmore faces of 60 feet.
We took a bus tour closer to the memorial and could see the development of his out stretched hand and a few of his fingers taking shape.
On this site is also an Indian University and museum. We loved this memorial and are quite impressed with Ziolkowski and his vision. He truly was a remarkable man and he lies in rest in a tomb at the bottom of the memorial.
We had some lunch then headed South to Cave of the Winds. Another national park and one to check off of our bucket list. Unfortunately, tickets to the cave were sold out so we visited the museum and drove a bit of the park road that overlooks the bison and elk that live on the prairie.
We decided to drive into town and discovered a mineral springs swimming hole named Evans Plunge. Oliver was so excited so we decided to visit. 5,000 gallons of water per minute flows from a thermal spring and the water is a constant 87 degrees.
This is what the site looked like in the early 1900's
Today it has a couple water slides and a kiddie area. Guy and Oliver enjoyed the slides.
We secured a campsite closely at a state park that was really nice. It was on a damed lake and we enjoyed some time with the dogs and just relaxing.
The next morning we traveled to Mammoth Site which is an active dig site.
Apparently 190,000 years ago during the last ice age, there was a sink hole that would attract animals to the watering hole. They would fall in and because the sides were Shale which is slippery, the animals could not escape. Entombed are 60 Wolly Mammoths and other small creatures. Paleontologists are actively digging this site and it was fascinating to see what was being unearthed. Oliver joined a class where he learned how to use the tools in a dig and how to uncover the fossils. He was fascinated by it all.
We had a quick lunch and headed out hoping to get tickets to Cave Winds but no such luck....sold out again. Oliver was really disappointed as he wanted to go inside a cave so we decided to head back up to Keystone and visit a gold mine.
Oliver intently panning for gold. He did find a couple of flakes!!
The two hour tour took us deep into the mine shaft as we learned about the history of gold mining in the black hills. Apparently there is still billions of dollars of gold left in these hills that is unattainable due to flooded mines or environmental hazards.
It was a fun filled day! We walked the streets of downtown Keystone which is a tourist trap for sure. Lots of tee shirt shops and memorabilia. Guy and I visited here about 10 years ago and none of this was here. We had a nice dinner at a mexican restaurant while trying to look for a campsite. No luck....all sold out everywhere so we headed out towards The Bad Lands and found a Traveling J's (basically a truck stop)where we spent the night.
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