
Custer State Park Bison

Custer State Park Burros

Custer State Park

Sylvan Lake in the Clouds

Sylvan Lake Lodge Exterior

Sylvan Lake Lodge Lobby

Custer City Storefronts

Crazy Horse Museum Paper Doll

Cray Horse Museum Apple Face Doll

Stephen Yellowhawk and his Two Sons
Breakfast each morning was served in a hexagon shaped room called the gazebo. The breakfast buffet was very extensive featuring coffee, juice, fresh fruit, pancakes, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with cheese and green chilies, tortillas, salsa, bacon or sausage, pastries and muffins, cereal, bagels, toast and more.
The weather on this day was extremely different from any day we had experienced thus far. The temperature all day ranged between 49 and 55 degrees with a near constant drizzle and low clouds or fog. It was cold, dreary and a bit depressing.
After breakfast in the lodge, we headed out to Custer State Park and Wildlife Preserve in the Black Hills. The park was named after Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer who was an Army officer and Calvary commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. On June 25, 1876, Custer, while leading the Army’s 7th Calvary Regiment at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against a coalition of Western Native American tribes, was killed. Along with Custer, every soldier of the five companies he led was also killed. This event became known as “Custer’s Last Stand.”
We took an 18-mile driving tour around Wildlife Loop Road which is just a small portion of the park. The park covers more than 70,000 acres of local terrain ranging from rolling prairie grasslands to rugged mountains. The park is home to a herd of 1,500 bison, elk, coyotes, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, river otters, pronghorn, cougars and feral burros. We were able to see a cluster of the burros, some deer, elk and many bison.
We enjoyed lunch at a popular lodge in Custer State Park called the Sylvan Lake Lodge. The lodge dates back to 1891 when Theodore Reder built a dam to create the lake, and his wife Elizabeth, designed the original Sylvan Lake Lodge which opened in 1893. The lodge was a popular attraction but the original structure was destroyed by fire in 1935. The current lodge was built on the site in 1937 and is beautiful.
Lunch was served in a lovely restaurant added to the hotel in 1991. Kent, Sandy and I all enjoyed a fresh salad with crispy chicken. For dessert we had a variety of lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies and date bars.
After lunch, we headed to the site of the Crazy Horse Memorial where we were greeted with fog and low clouds that completely hid any signs of the memorial. Our tour guide suggested we not visit today, but wait for better weather tomorrow.
The memorial depicts the Native American Chief Crazy Horse. This enormous sculpture, when completed, will measure 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The head of Crazy Horse, which was completed in 1998, measures 87 feet high while the president’s heads on Mount Rushmore measure 60 feet in height. Crazy Horse’s outstretched arm, which they are working on now, measures 263 feet in length with an index finger of nearly 30 feet in length. It was begun in 1948 by Polish American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on it until his death in 1982. His family continues the work today with only private funding and no tax dollars. Because of its size, it could take many more years to complete.
We visited the Crazy Horse Visitor Center and five Museums where we learned about the campus repository for Native American artifacts, arts and crafts, and the Native American Educational & Cultural Center. The visitor center is comprised of many buildings and features a wide variety of things as well as dance performances, visiting artists and events.
After a pot roast dinner in the lodge, we were joined by a local expert who shared with us stories and dances that are representative of the local Indigenous peoples. Stephen Yellowhawk along with his two sons shared with us their life stories, native dress and dances.
We had hoped to make it back to Mount Rushmore this evening for the light show, however, the poor weather conditions required us to cancel once again.