July | August 2006 Volume 80 Issue 4 |
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Features The Lakota people call it “the heartbeat of everything that lives.” Tourists think of it as the land of big monuments and wilderness scenery. Residents simply call it home. When it comes to the Black Hills of South Dakota, they're all correct. On a fast-paced but fun extended weekend drive trip from Denver , my wife and I explored the Black Hills and found it to be a wonderful surprise. “Sure we're known for Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial,” said Mike Brekhus, a fourth generation South Dakotan who lives in Rapid City, “but the Black Hills has so much more to offer.” On our trip, we not only viewed those famous sculptures that every American should see at least once, but also found tantalizing tidbits of Native American culture, magical roads, intriguing museums, and more wildlife—up close and personal—than we had seen in years. Nestled in the southwest corner of the state, the Black Hills covers an area roughly 70 miles long by 30 miles wide. Rapid City is the region's largest metropolitan area, with around 60,000 people. While the city is used by most tourists only as a base for Black Hills excursions, a visit to its Journey Museum is a great place for first-timers to start, giving depth to what will be seen later. The museum experience starts with a short film that presents an overview and a Native American spiritual interpretation of the land, its people and their histories. That's where we learned the Lakota Sioux consider the Black Hills —the literal translation of the area's Sioux name, Paha Sapa—to be the “heartbeat of everything that lives.” The film's final statement rings in the ears as inspiration: “Out of conflict [between Native Americans and whites] has come a shared love of the land—the journey continues.” In our case, the journey had only begun. We headed north to Spearfish to start our exploration, driving one of the region's finest roads—Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (14A). Only 33 miles long, it's a narrow band of winding road that's guided by a lively stream and dwarfed by towering sandstone pinnacles. The wilderness serenity leads to Deadwood, the town made famous by the likes of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane (both buried in the city's cemetery), and more recently by a television series drawing on its Wild West history. Today, Deadwood's casinos, honky-tonk bars and t-shirt shops are juxtaposed by the stately old Victorian buildings that house them. A respite from the active streets is the Adams Museum , next to the renovated train station that's now the town's visitor center. Adams Museum is in a grand granite building that boasts numerous alcoves and a second-story inside balcony that rings the entire structure. Exhibits include everything from curiosities such as a two-headed calf, to memorabilia of Deadwood's more notorious gamblers and gunfighters, and ethnic histories of the city's Jewish and Chinese populations. “Deadwood is so much more than violent men with handguns,” said Darrell Nelson, curator of the museum. “My hope is that anyone who comes in finds something to linger over.” We would have liked to linger, but it was time to go in search of giant heads. We headed south on Route 385 toward the center of the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore (55 miles away). No photos, no TV shows, no second-hand images can prepare anyone for what is seen in person—coming around a bend in the road and there, in the distance, nestled among a field of granite spires, are the 60-foot-high heads of four American presidents. Even the crowds of tourists and the grandiose entry with its flag-topped columns all fade to nothing in the shadow of this stunning image. While the outdoor amphitheater is the best place to study the monument as a whole, the Presidential Boardwalk trail gets visitors closer and gives more varied views of the individual faces. The Lincoln Borglum Museum under the amphitheater gives excellent background, such as what each president represents: Washington to represent the founding of the country; Jefferson for its territorial expansion; Lincoln for its preservation and permanent establishment with equality for all; and Roosevelt for America 's 20th century role. The Borglum Historical Center in nearby Keystone completes the picture of the monument and its creator, Gutzon Borglum. From Mount Rushmore , it's only a 15 mile drive west to the Crazy Horse Memorial, but a much better alternative is to take a longer route via two tremendously scenic roads: Iron Mountain Road (16A) with its soft evergreen forests, and the Needles Highway (87) with its bold and dramatic stone pinnacles. Their magnificently tiny tunnels give your car only inches of clearance and, in two cases, frame Mount Rushmore in the distance. Along both of these roads—and the road through Custer State Park that connects them—the abundance of wildlife is striking. We saw eagles, mule deer, prong-horned antelope, bison, big-horned sheep and even a porcupine waddling around. By the time we got to Crazy Horse Memorial, we were ready for another manmade wonder. Lakota Sioux Chief Henry Standing Bear asked sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski in 1939 to carve the monument “so that the white man would know that the red man has great heroes, too.” Crazy Horse (1842–1877) was chosen by Native American leaders as the most inspiring and suitable subject for the sculpture, and the finished work will picture him in a pose chosen to reflect a famous quote. When asked derisively, “Where are your lands now?” he pointed and replied, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.” While still a work in progress (the face was completed in 1998, and current work now focuses on roughing out the horse's head), it is nonetheless dramatic—especially when you stand beside a scale model and eyeball it with the distant sculpture. Thousands of Native American artifacts and artwork fill the huge visitors' center, and the working artisans are happy to chat with interested visitors. A sense of Native American presence seemed to permeate all of our wanderings through the Black Hills, and one legend that we had heard at the Journey Museum stuck in our heads throughout the trip. It said that “each piece of the universe was given a piece of the ancient song, but only in the Black Hills can you hear the whole song.” After only a few short days in the Black Hills, we were beginning to understand just how true that sentiment was. Jeff Miller is editor of EnCompass.
Planning Your Trip For further information, contact a AAA Travel professional, click on “Travel” at www.aaa.com, or Black Hills, Badlandsand Lakes Association, 800-344-9834, www.blackhillsbadlands.com.
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