Day Seven - Crazy Horse/Volksmarch, the Badlands and Wall Drug

We got into the Black Hills area at a particularly good time, apparently. The weekend of June 6th and 7th is the Crazy Horse Volksmarch, a 6.2 mile, noncompetitive hike all the way up to the Crazy Horse Memorial, in areas usually closed to the public. It was a really good hike, especially after sitting in the car so much, and we got to see the monument up close. The final part of the hike was actually the arm, and from there, you could see the face above you. It was a really great experience. The vision behind the memorial is beautiful and moving. After the hike we stopped by the visitor center a bit. Everything there is funded through private donation and purchases, so I felt very compelled to buy most of my souveniers there. I found a lovely porcupine quill bracelet and the artisan herself showed me how to care for it. The son of Ehanamani was there selling his books, and I bought his much published dissertation Mitakuye Oyasin (or We are all related) with its references to Jung, dreams and the oral history of the tribes of the Americas. I can't wait to get into it. We had a nice conversation about work with children (he and his brother also work with kids, at the JDC) and how important it is to have community and ritual for them, and to really intervene on the family level. At the proper gift shop, I found another piece of pottery to add to my collection and of course a few postcards for that other collection.

By then, I could really feel my knees and hips complaining about the hike! So it was kind of nice to get back in the car and sit for a while. We began to approach Rushmore, amidst a heavy, heavy fog. Visibility was a couple of yards, at the most. We even missed the Rushmore visitor center when we first arrived and decided that it probably would not be worth it, since you could barely see a few feet ahead, let alone from the visitor center's viewing area. We continued along in the fog, eventually stopping for lunch at a place off the highway called the Gaslight Saloon - really yummy broccoli cheddar soup that was perfect for warming up in the chill of the fog.

We got on our way and as we got a bit closer to the Badlands, the weather cleared a little, so at least the Badlands were more visible, despite the cold and a bit of rain. The Badlands were really interesting, another strange and beautiful landscape. It used to be an inland sea, and then a subtropical forest, and then a grassland, and finally the plain/prairie it is now. Because of this history, there are lots of fossils and even skeletons of prehistoric creatures found there. The current view of them was formed through sand/mineral deposits and erosion. You can see the different layers of history in the various colors in the rock formations.

Once through the Badlands, we stopped at Wall Drug. There was a lot to see there, but I managed to keep my purchases to a few postcards. I was tempted, but did not buy a mounted jackalope (or figurine). We had dinner there - first veggie burger I've seen since California! I had the famous free ice water...and also a really good, fresh-made donut.

From there, we drove to Murdo to stay the night before continuing on to Indianapolis the next few days.