The pine forests and granite peaks of the Black Hills of South Dakota are rich with Old West history, and despite the breathtaking natural beauty it's impossible to ignore the legacy of greed when you visit. These hills used to be rich with gold and freely roamed by a large community of America's native people. Now Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore stand at odds, representing two very different versions of our shared American history. One side is told by the federal government, the other is remembered by the Lakota Nation.
These photos are from a camping trip to Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. Though small (and man-made) this lake was truly an oasis in the vast grasslands of Wyoming and southwestern South Dakota.
These photos are from a camping trip to Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. Though small (and man-made) this lake was truly an oasis in the vast grasslands of Wyoming and southwestern South Dakota.
Camping = Roughing it
Well, not exactly!
This cup made the trip all of the way from this event last year. Remember?
One morning, we hiked a riverside trail into Sunday Gulch. The scenery was gorgeous and the air was fresh and filled with the scent of ponderosa pine trees.
We drove to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial but didn't feel like paying entrance fees of $11 and $20, respectively. These are sculptures of mammoth proportions, and you don't exactly have to be up close and personal to see them and appreciate their scale. I don't have a picture of Crazy Horse, which is in the early stages of its construction, but to give you an idea of the scale and proportion: Mount Rushmore is 60 feet tall; the Crazy Horse Memorial will be 560 feet tall.
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