Friday, October 5, 2007
Game Lodge Campground, Custer State Park, Custer, SD - Sept 12-16
71,000-acre Custer State Park sits at the southern end of the Black Hills. It contains some of the most incredible scenery in the area and doubles as a wildlife preserve, most notably for bison. Dave & Diane West were staying and working at the park, and we camped a few days at this lovely cg in order to spend more time with them -- we played 4-handed cribbage almost every evening. 
The day we arrived we decided to drive the Iron Mountain Road that winds up to Mt Rushmore NM, and "winds" is no exaggeration -- rarely did our speed exceed 30 mph. There are three one-lane tunnels along the route, each cut in order to present a view of Mt Rushmore as you drive through. There are also three curly "pigtail bridges", each bending 270 degrees to pass under themselves. They are quite lovely. We arrived at Mt Rushmore Natl Mon in mid-afternoon and spent a couple of hours there. 
One of the most recognizable monuments in the world, Mt Rushmore was originally conceived as a way to draw tourists to the Black Hills. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who spent 14 years carving the figures, decided to represent presidents rather than western figures such as Buffalo Bill Cody (the original plan). 
We had an enjoyable ranger walk led by Jerry Jessen, an ex-teacher of art and history. He must have been one of those teachers who made history come alive. We returned to camp via the Needles Highway which derives its name from the needle-like granite formations that is passes. 
There are also three more tunnels, including one that was barely wide enough for our truck. It took us almost an hour to navigate the 14-mile stretch. Some of the delay was due to our strolling around looking at the interesting formations.
The next day was supposed to be cold & rainy so we headed over to Jewel Cave NM, currently the second-longest cave in the world at over 140 miles. It is estimated based on wind volumes & velocities that only about 5% of the cave has been explored. The cave entrance was discovered in 1900 by two rancher brothers whose horses were spooked by air coming out of hole in the ground. They did what any red-blooded American boys would do -- they came back the next day with dynamite. What they discovered was a cavern covered with what they thought were precious jewels, but turned out to be worthless calcite crystals, known as dogtooth spar. They hyped the cave's beauty, still in hopes on making it rich. President Roosevelt heard about the cave and declared it a national monument in 1907. The ranger-led guided tour lasted 90 minutes with 743 stairs. It is a lovely cave, but it is unfortunate that you can only go with a guide, since it would be nicer to stroll along at your own pace and enjoy it longer, like you can at Carlsbad. You also need your own flashlight for these ranger-led tours, since you miss a lot that is only illuminated briefly by the rangers.
The following day we drove back to the town of Custer to view the entries in the Third Annual Custer Stampede, a local art event where 25 pieces of bison artwork are unveiled each year in May, then after being displayed around town for the summer are auctioned off in September. We were expecting this to be painted bison, similar to other painted animal displays (ponies, catfish, etc) that we have enjoyed in the past. This is more than that, however, with three different categories: life-size (which was what we were expecting), table-top (smaller & more manageable), and free-form (self-explanatory). 
The breadth of ideas was truly amazing -- one entry was from Jerry Jessen, the NPS ranger we toured with at Mt Rushmore. We took a different scenic route home, along the Wildlife Loop Road. While no Yellowstone, Custer SP is a respectable wildlife preserve in its own right. It was reported that we were seeing it at a "down time", since the park was preparing for the annual Buffalo Stampede in early October.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 4:59 PM 
