Custer State Park Loop

We're off to see as much of the Custer State Park area and the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway. The roads wind through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Black Hills and covers 1.2 million acres. .

This magnificent sculpture is made up of 100's of small sculptures and graces the entryway into the town of Hill City .
This is the only self sculpture that Gutzum Borglum did of himself and his son Lincoln. Borglum is the artist who designed and made the Mount Rushmore carvings. When Borglum past away his son finished his work.
Borglum is also known for this life size bronze work of President Lincoln.

The faces of Mount Rushmore were in view throughout our day.
Korczak Zioldowski, a New England sculture created this carving of Crazy Horse. It is 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The 90 foot face was completed in 1996. Korczak's family is now continuing the carving which is to have Crazy horse astride his horse and pointing to his ancestral lands. This is being funded through visitor admissions and donations without government support.


As we drove through these winding roads, we passed picturesque lakes, towering granite needle rock and six picture perfect tunnels.
Amazing spirals along the way.
Will we fit????? Never in the motorhome Some of these tunnels are only 9 feet wide.
Along the way we spotted antelope grazing.

The scenery never stopped amazing us. Of course Dick got to drive the hairpin turns, spiral pigtail bridges and mile high overlooks. I got to sight see.
The Bison ruled the road. I had never heard the grunt of these guys but as they passed right next to our car, we did get an earful. Nearly 1300 of these mammoth animals, one of the largest herds anywhere roam this park.

Little did we know these beggars had a plan. While many of the burros block the roadway, one or two would saunter up to our window to beg for food. Smart guys know we visitors are suckers for this smile.

Dick enjoyed feeding his friends.

And more of the big guys taking over the road. What a sight. Yes, they do have the right of way.

I couldn't capture it, but as we travel through the tunnels we could see Mount Rushmore. Can't imagine how this massive carving was accomplished during a time of national challenge and hardship..the Great Depression of 1930's. It was interesting to me how the shadows changed and the view would be totally different.
THe old bridges were amazing.
A stop in Keystone on our way home and Dick found a job combining his love of bikes with his need to do some mowing.
One near disaster this week when a rogue wind blew through the park and caught our awning. Boomer friends to the rescue. Looks like government work with 4 men watching and one doing the work. Wonder where they learned that. End result great minds came up with a plan and got us back together. On to Gillette tomorrow.