Sighting Three of the USA’s Most Iconic Monuments: Devil’s Tower, Crazy Horse Memorial and the Grand Daddy of them all, Mount Rushmore…Plus, Sighting the Northern Lights over South Dakota.

Monday, August 19, 2024

Sighting Three of the USA’s Most Iconic Monuments: Devil’s Tower, Crazy Horse Memorial and the Grand Daddy of them all, Mount Rushmore…Plus, Sighting the Northern Lights over South Dakota.

Today was one of the most fulfilling of the many exciting days we have had on this trip. Today was all about rock formations & mountains in the American West as we shared the 6-7 hour drive from Cody in Wyoming to South Dakota. Three major rock formations made our day all about Bucket List ticking off!!!!

Breakfast in ‘The King’s Inn’:

As I explained in my blog post yesterday, ‘The King’s Inn’ in Cody, Wyoming, has a lobby crammed with stuffed African wildlife. The ‘King’ in the name of the hotel refers to the Lion, King of the Jungle. It is featured on the logo of the hotel and is the focal center piece of the lobby which features a lioness going for the kill—an antelope in its deadly grip! It’s quite terrifying, really.

Anyway, visitors to the hotel have no escape from the drama surrounding them, albeit taxidermied—as breakfast (included in the tariff) is served in the lobby which has tables and chairs on its periphery. As you munch your breakfast, you can look upon African wildlife in the process of hunting for their’s!

I must say that breakfasts in motels have come a long way since the time we were led to a lobby to a coffee machine with a couple of muffins under a plastic dome. This breakfast was a right royal repast and lived up to the name of the place! We were led to a large room in which there was every kind of breakfast imaginable—including hard-boiled eggs. There were bagels with cream cheese in a small fridge, bread of various kinds (that you could toast yourself) and a number of spreads and preserves. There were a variety of cereals. There was even a waffle maker—imagine! You could make your own waffle as the batter was ready and available—all you had to do was follow clear instructions and wait. I was overjoyed. Needless to say, I made myself a waffle and had it with maple syrup and light cream. With good coffee and fruit (in little plastic cups), it was a delicious and most satisfying meal. We would not feel hungry again until late in the evening.

The Drive from Cody, Wyoming, toward South Dakota:

When we’d finished loading our backpacks into our car, we happened to run into a couple of motor-bikers with whom I entered into conversation in the hotel car park. They were on a cross-country trip having begun in Pennsylvania and working their way to California. When we exchanged notes on where we were headed next, I told them that we were off to see Mount Rushmore—an item that has long remained on my Bucket List. They told me immediately that I should make a detour en route to see Devil’s Tower.

Now, while reading blog notes based on this trip, of various bloggers, prior to leaving India, I had first heard about Devil’s Tower and at the back of my mind was a thought that, time permitting, we should try to see it. However, it had not been a priority for me. But, after chatting with these individuals, I was convinced that we should make the detour as we might later regret that we were so close and yet ignored it. When Llew was ready to leave (he had been paying our bill and checking out at Reception), I told him about the bikers’ recommendation and we immediately decided to go there. We put the address into our GPS, using the Waze app and off we went. We crossed one mountain range after the other on our journey: all the way from the Shoshone Mountains to the Black Hills of the Dakotas, we made the most exhilarating scenery. It was nothing but rugged mountain landscape, the kind you see in Western movies, with rising peaks, red canyons through which we drove with wonder, miles of dessert scrubland. We drove around hair-raising hairpin bends as we rose up great mountain heights and then wound down to endless miles of prairie plains. We went past red rock mountains, tiny one-horse villages and road works that periodically held us up. At one stretch, we followed railroad tracks (built during the glory days of the Trans-Atlantic Railroad construction in the mid-1800s) that went on for miles. It immediately launched us into a conversation about the pioneers who traversed these hostile lands in the days when there were no tarred roads—just virgin grasslands—and certainly no railroad lines. My mind took me back to the days of the stagecoach and of the dangers involved in crossing the prairie in chuck wagons. It was hard to imagine the kind of hardships those early settlers endured in their passage westwards.

The entire drive took us about 6-7 hours. We did not stop anyway for food (as we were not hungry), although we stopped for gas and restrooms at a local gas station. All the time, we kept fighting the clock as we wanted to get to our ultimate destination, Mount Rushmore, before nightfall.

Arrival and Tour of Devil’s Tower:

Getting to Devil’s Tower meant swinging off the main highway and taking a dusty by-road that took us deep into desert country. We drive for miles before, in the distance, we discerned a faint structure on the horizon that turned out to be Devil’s Tower. As we drove closer, the structure revealed itself. It’s a natural rock formation created by magma (lava) erupting out of the earth and cooling in the shape of uniform, pencil-like basalt columns. It looks like a stupendous tree stump. Amazing! What is even more amazing is that it is the only erect structure for miles. There are no minor structures that surround it or are anywhere close to it. For all these reasons, it is America’s 1st National Monument, named so in1908 by President Teddy Roosevelt (who probably visited the site at the same time that he visited nearby Mount Rushmore that features his profile on the mountain top.

Once we reached the site, we parked and walked towards the Visitors’ Center. We used rest rooms here and looked at the small exhibit that is run by US Park Rangers. It explains how this natural formation occurred and why it is protected today. There is a small gift shop attached to the Center where visitors can buy the ubiquitous T-shirts, magnets, etc.—which we did.

Since time was of the essence, we did not waste too much of it but drove on towards the next rock formation that was also highly recommended by all the guidebooks—Crazy Horse Memorial.

Visiting Crazy Horse Memorial:

By the time we followed signs (single lane dusty country roads) to arrive at Crazy Horse Memorial, it was already 4.30 pm. The site closes at 5.00 pm, which would leave us just 30 minutes to see it. Also, unlike Devil’s Tower and Mount Rushmore, to which we would proceed later, this site is not run by the US Federal Government. It is a private site and, therefore, visiting it carries a fee of $15. It did not seem worthwhile to us to spend $30 for a half hour visit. The ticket seller at the entrance suggested we return tomorrow (not knowing that we would be far away from this area by tomorrow). However, he kindly allowed us to drive us a little ahead to the bottom of a slope from where we could take really good pictures of the monument.

So, here’s a few aspects about this place and its history. It is close to the Town of Custer (which is named, as you guessed, after General George Custer who had a major defeat at the Battle of the Little Big Horn--referred to as ‘Custer’s Last Stand’). The battle was one of the many that comprised the Great Sioux Wars of 1876 and involved the native American Lakota tribe under the leadership of their Chief Crazy Horse. Since the monument at neighboring Mount Rushmore (a 45 minute drive away) gained so much fame in its celebration of the heroism of four US Presidents, the Lakota descendants of Chief Crazy Horse believed that he too should be celebrated and memorialized in some tangible way. Hence, they hired sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski who began working on a sculptural monument about thirty years ago. To date, it remains a work-in-progress—moving forward in very small steps. It features the Lakota Chief Crazy Horse with his horse. Way up on the topmost tier, you can easily see the subject’s face in profile. He has also begun work on the horse’s face to the right—but as not a lot of work has been accomplished so far, you cannot yet discern the profile of a horse. In my opinion, at the rate at which the sculpture is progressing, it will be decades before it is completed. I am not sure whether the lack of funding is holding back completion or if other factors are responsible for the snail’s pace at which it is moving.

We stayed at this spot, about half a mile from the official parking lot, only long enough to take pictures there. We then turned around and drove right back to the entrance.

On to Mount Rushmore:

Forty-five minutes later, we were at Mount Rushmore. Finally! I had made it to Mount Rushmore!!! I have to pinch myself to believe I was there! For so many years, I had seen photographs of this astounding monument. In Alfred Hitchcock’s film,’ North by Northwest’, starring Cary Grant, a large segment of the plot is set at Mount Rushmore. It gives the viewer a very graphic idea of the height of the mountain and the size of the sculptures in relation to it. I remember being blown away by those scenes and resolving to get to this site someday. And finally, it had happened.

We arrived at Mount Rushmore at 6.00 pm. There was still ample daylight enough for us to park our car in the official parking lot (cost $15 per vehicle) and make our way to the entrance, about a five minute walk away. As you enter the premises, your eye takes in the grandeur of the monument ahead—for at this point, you can see the mountain. What makes Mount Rushmore so special? Well, four of the greatest US presidents are sculpted on this mountain—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln & Theodore Roosevelt. It is a magnificent accomplishment from sculptor Gutzon Borglum (whose bust sits at the entrance) and more than a hundred assistants. I’m not sure what inspired the idea—but it is original and quite spectacular indeed.

Arriving at 6.00 pm. gave us enough time to have a leisurely look at the exhibition inside a special museum-like space and to take a guided tour (with a park ranger) who pointed out highlights for us. We then watched a short film on the making of the monument and bought a couple of souvenirs. It is a really beautiful exhibition which details the engineering details that made the sculpture happen—indeed the talents of the sculptor had to match those of engineers and architects who built the structural support system that would permit the sculptor and his assistants to spend hours fashioning the features of the Presidents out of granite and then to polish them to a smoothness that is most impressive. What is astonishing is that each of the Presidents looks exactly as they actually were in real life—the resemblance is striking. But, I must add, that visitors can only see the monument from the base of the mountain. This is the one and only perspective that visitors receive. Hence, it makes sense to watch the documentary in the Museum as it positions the camera within inches of the nose or the mouth of the subjects—incredible! No mode exists, at the moment, for visitors to be hoisted up the mountain to receive a closer perspective of the subjects.

Staying For the Dramatic Stage Show:

As if viewing the achievement of the sculptured monument is inadequate, the US Park Rangers have set up an interesting side show, at the end of each day, to serve as a fitting finale to one’s visit to Mount Rushmore. They have erected a stage at the foot of the mountain just in front of the vast amount of remnant granite that was chipped away from the mountain during sculpting. As no more knows better how to create pomp, splendour and spectacle than the Americans, there is a sound and light show that lasts about half an hour each evening. We were lucky that we had arrived in time for it. In fact, we were lucky that we had arrived in time to see the monument by daylight, then to watch twilight fall all around it and finally to see it illuminated artificially as darkness fell.

show began at 8.00 pm by which time every single one of the seats on the stands erected facing the stage were filled. It lasted half an hour and involved the sudden lighting of the monument to allow for the illumination of the sculpture. This was so skillfully done that only the light fell upon their features—you could not see the concealed light-bulbs at all.

Once the lighting was done, there was a slide show that took us across the length and breadth of the United States highlighting its most distinctive natural monuments such as the Grand Canyon and its best man-made landscapes such as the New York City skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. While those slides played, patriotic Souza marches could be heard in the background. Then, at the very end, all veterans and service men, past & present, were called up on the stage for the flag-lowering ceremony (there was a prominent flag that had been waving on stage on a flagpole throughout the show). There was a really good emcee who then invited people to sing, “America, The Beautiful” and when that song ended, as the flag was lowered for the day, the national anthem was sung with the veterans still on stage. When its last notes were sounded, the emcee invited the crowd to clap for the servicemen as a gesture of gratitude for their service to the nation. Indeed, it was a most stirring ceremony at the end of an awesome day and contributed a great deal to the sense of patriotism that you will feel when you are at this sight.

At about 8.45, we hurried out with everyone else so as to get to the parking lot and out of it, as quickly as possible, as we anticipated a long wait with everyone trying to leave at the same time.

Engulfed by The Northern Lights:

It was while we were leaving the settlement of Keystone and the heights of the mountain range that comprises Mount Rushmore and while we were making our way to our hotel for the night (which was situated about an hour away in Rapid City, South Dakota) that we had one of the greatest highlights of our travels. You would imagine that nothing more spectacular could possibly be seen by us that day. Well, you’d be mistaken!

As I was driving down the mountain, one major flash of lightning followed by about a dozen others in quick succession, hit me. The skies were tinged a vivid pink and each time the lights flashed across the skyline, the pink, engulfed by the clouds, became visible. It took me a few seconds to realize, as the lights danced in front of me and sounds emanated from the skies that I was not just watching lightning—we were actually seeing The Northern Lights! This phenomenal natural feature that is usually visible in the uppermost reaches of the globe, was actually here, before our very eyes, in South Dakota. Now, we have traveled to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and when we’d done so, we saw only a very faint movement of grey clouds. To think that we were witnessing one of Nature’s greatest (and rarest) spectacles was so overwhelming to me that I had to pull up on the highway to shoot video & stills. This is the kind of unexpected bonus that has often made our travels truly unforgettable! We could not have had a more fitting finale to our travels!

The Northern Lights went on and on for over two hours. They followed us all the way along the highway to Rapid City and to the parking lot of our hotel for the night, the Best Western Plus where, even after parking our car and finding our way to our room on the first floor, we could still see them staining the sky in periodic flashes that made the pink waves very distinctive indeed.

We ate cereal bars and had hot coffee in our rooms (obtained from the lobby below) before we had our showers and called it a night—at the end of what had been a truly unexpected day!

Until tomorrow, cheerio…