Weather: sunny & warm, clouding over later. Evening thunderstorms
128 miles
I was up at 7.30 again, and soon claimed my breakfast (orange juice and a danish pastry) from reception. Before leaving at 8.45, I arranged to stay on for a second night.
A few miles up the road from Hot Springs was the entrance to Wind Cave National Park. For a few miles the road rolled through light forest and open prairies, with little sign of wildlife around. I then turned a corner to spot a couple of distant buffalo, and some vehicles stopped a little way ahead. I went up to join them, and soon saw and heard the reason for their stopping. The grassy prairies on both sides of the road contained prairie dog towns, with large numbers of the delightful little creatures visible on the surface: some eating, some on lookout duty, others nervously emerging from the tunnels they inhabit. The air was full of their chirping -- apparently they have a relatively complex language to convey the details of intruders, be they human or otherwise. Some of them were very tame and came up extremely close, allowing me to get some good close-up shots of these creatures, members of the weasel family and the size of a small cat.
After some time watching the prairie dogs, I carried on to the visitor centre to find out about cave tours. One was leaving in about 45 minutes, so I purchased a ticket for it and then spent a while browsing the visitor centre, which gave details of both the extensive cave system and the wildlife of the prairies and forests above ground in the park.
The tour started with a look at the cave's natural entrance, a small hole in the ground sufficient only for a fairly slim person to squeeze through. The system was discovered by hunters in 1881, who noticed the the sound of air rushing through the hole. This is a frequent occurrence as the air below ground attempts to equalise in pressure with that on the surface. Initially, visits to the cave were handled as a private enterprise, but in 1903 the area became a national park, the first to be devoted to a cave. A few years later, bison were reintroduced to the park from among the last remaining wild herd in Yellowstone.
The tour entered the cave through an artificial entrance nearby and over the course of 75 minutes went through just a tiny fraction of the passageways of the cave (in 2001, the total length of passageways known within the cave passed the 100 mile mark, all condensed beneath an area of less than one square mile on the surface). The most prominent feature, that for which the cave is most noted, is the ``boxwork'' on the ceilings. This was formed through the laying down of calcite in narrow cracks in rocks before the cave existed. Subsequent erosion removed the rock to form the cave, leaving behind delicate calcite structures resembling honeycombs or boxes. This is a very rare cave formation, and around 90% of the boxwork known in the world is contained within Wind Cave. Numerous other cave formations were visible, and countless passageways visible, new ones appearing at almost every step.
Following the tour, I headed up to the north end of the park. I stopped at another prairie area in which a few bison were visible at slightly closer range, together with a multitude of chirping prairie dogs, then headed up a side-road to the start of the Rankin Ridge trail. This trail was totally deserted, and took me through pine forests up onto the ridge, offering excellent views across the Black Hills landscape. At the top stood an old fire observation platform, up which one could climb for a higher vantage point.
By now I was feeling hungry, and headed out of Wind Cave into the neighbouring Custer State Park, where a very helpful ranger explained what there was to see and also where to find a source of sustenance. At the Blue Bell store I purchased a sandwich and a drink, and sat outside to enjoy this before continuing on my way.
I decided to take a longer and more scenic route up towards Mount Rushmore, first along the Wildlife Loop Road. This soon proved to be aptly named as I came across a large herd of bison, including many calves, much lighter in colour than the very dark brown adults. I was able to observe them at very close range, for they were not afraid to wander out onto the road and obstruct the traffic. While in places it was safe to get out and see them from a distance, when they were close by far the safest option seemed to be to stay in the car and let them pass, for the adults are very large beasts.
I stopped a couple of times further round the road, once for a brief look in a small visitor centre, and again on encountering a group of wild donkeys in the road.
I next turned onto the narrow Iron Mountain Road, by far the most interesting road to Mount Rushmore but full of sharp switchback corners, steep gradients, ``pigtail'' bridges taking the road over itself, and three short rock tunnels through which the giant sculptures appeared nicely framed, at least for those not too busy concentrating on driving to admire it.
Signs around Mount Rushmore did their best to force one into the main car park, with a rather steep $8.00 charge for what is otherwise a free attraction. I later learned that there was an older, free car park nearby, only slightly further away from the monument, but obviously not well publicised.
I purchased an ice cream from the cafeteria (next door to the one in which Cary Grant is shot in the Hitchcock film ``North by Northwest'') and sat outside to eat it. From the terrace I could admire the four presidential faces on the mountain ahead, and also the avenue of state flags, with columns indicating the admission of each to the Union.
Next I walked along the so-called ``Trail of the Presidents'', right up to the mountain and offering good views from below of the four faces, namely George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Mount Rushmore has its origins in the mind of South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson, who had the idea of having carved a huge monument in the Black Hills, depicting some historical hero, attracting tourists to the area and boosting the local economy. He arranged for sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who already had some experience of mountain carving in Georgia, to come to the area to see whether a suitable site could be found. The Mount Rushmore site was deemed suitable, and Borglum began considering as to whose likenesses should adorn the mountain.
He had already settled on former presidents. He selected Washington (as Father of the Nation), Jefferson (author of the Declaration of Independence and purchaser of the vast Louisiana Territory in 1803, which enabled the western expansion) and Lincoln (as Preserver of the Union). Measurements however determined that there was room for a fourth, and, somewhat controversially, Theodore Roosevelt was chosen as ``protector of the working man''.
Construction work commenced in 1927, and over the years continued on an on-off basis owing to repeated lack of funding. The monument was declared complete in 1941, a few months after Borglum's death, still far short of what had originally been envisaged, following the entry of the USA into World War Two. Borglum had intended the figures to be carved to waist height and wanted the site tidied up -- a vast pile of rubble from the construction work remains to this day. He had also envisaged a Hall of Records in the mountainside behind the heads, as a sort of caption to explain the significance of the carvings to generations tens of thousands of years into the future. This was left unfinished through lack of time and money, although the vault was finally completed in a scaled-down form in 1998.
After walking around the monument, I spend some considerable time in the visitor centre, which explained the details of the carving process (using drills and dynamite) and of the problems encountered along the way, such as the instability of the rock face on which carving of the Jefferson head began, causing Borglum to erase his work and start again elsewhere, displacing the Lincoln head in the process. Photographs of the mountain's summit showed no sign of James Mason's house, although there were some exhibits on display relating to the filming of scenes in ``North by Northwest'' at the site.
I left around 7.00, pondering which route to take back to Hot Springs. I decided upon a slightly slower one for the reason that it would take me past one further attraction, in the form of a mountain carving dwarfing even the considerable scale of Mount Rushmore. This was the Crazy Horse monument, depicting Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. The project was begun in the 1940s by Korczak Ziolkowski under commission from Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, who wished the world to know that ``the red man has great heroes too''. The project was envisaged on a monumental scale, depicting Crazy Horse on horseback in a sculpture measuring 641 feet long by 563 feet high (195 by 172 metres) -- in comparison, each head at Mount Rushmore is a ``mere'' 60 ft (20m) high.
Progress has been slow -- while millions of tons of rock have been removed, so far only the face has been completed and work will continue for decades to come. To occupy visitors in the meanwhile (who must be kept a safe distance from the explosive workings), a large museum of the Native Americans stands nearby, with associated art, craft and gift shops. I viewed the monument from the museum, took a brief look around, and then continued on my way back to Hot Springs.
I arrived back in Hot Springs at 8.50, and proceeded to spend a few minutes attempting to park in the space in front of my motel room, considerably handicapped by the presence of a badly-parked giant sports utility vehicle next to it (I was reminded somewhat of Cam Winston in ``Frasier'').
I had been thinking of going back to the Elk Horn Café (to see whether they had caught any more bison) but by this time the place had closed. I walked further up the road and found the Red Rock Café, which unfortunately advertised live music but was at least still open. I had a meal of salad followed by a very filling chicken fettuccine, eaten in peace save for a little piano music towards the end (fortunately not too annoying).
As I returned to the motel, I noticed several impressive lightning flashes around the valley, the storm reaching the town a few minutes after I returned to my room. I spent the remainder of the evening considering my plans for the next day: I had been considering visiting Badlands National Park, but as this was nearly two hours' drive to the east I decided that I would not have a vast amount of time to see it before turning round and beginning the long journey westward to Yellowstone, which I planned to be reaching in three evening's time at the latest. I settled instead on visiting some of the nearby attractions and then heading up towards the Devil's Tower, a couple of hours to the northwest and one of the main attractions on the drive across Wyoming. I retired to bed at 11.40.