#7. Volksmarch at Crazy Horse.

The Volksmarch at Crazy Horse quickly made it's way to the top of my "Things to do in South Dakota" list.  Once a year the Crazy Horse Memorial opens up it's roads and paths for visitors to trek up the mountain and get close and personal with the legendary Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse was a well respected Lakota.  He was a war hero who fought until his death to keep this land for his people.  Crazy Horse fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn.  When complete, the mountain carving is expected to by 641 feet long by 563 feet high.  Many joke that the carving will never be finished, but the slow process behind this has a lot to do with the Ziolkowski family (the family of original artist Korczak Ziolkowski) continuing to refuse government funding - as their father had.  Korczak believed that if the public believed in the project, they would donate.  When complete, the memorial will truly be that of the people.

We arrived at the memorial at 10am on Sunday morning to begin our hike.  After donating our cans of food to be admitted into the park (usually $10 per person) we were escorted to a parking spot via the parking patrol horsemen!  From there we registered, received checkpoint stamp cards, and were on our way.

The weather in the morning did not look promising.  As we strolled through the woodlands, gray skies grew increasingly worrisome overhead.  The scenery was gorgeous.  Through the greenery, jagged dark gray rocks jolted up from the soft ground.  The hike in itself was well worth the 45 min trip up.

Every mile or so, the Boy Scouts and local high schools set up check points with concessions.  The trail had quite a few people on every stretch.  People from all over, all ages, all levels of fitness - a large array.

The majority of the 6 mile hike was on the way up.  There was a good compromise of up and down hill.  Of course at the end, uphill was give!  Adrenaline got us through the last stretch.  Seeing the cheek of Crazy Horse off in the distance, the burn of ones thighs and calves seemed to go away as they readied their cameras.

The view from the top was phenomenal.  We could see for miles and miles!  The Black Hills of South Dakota are breathtaking.  The air was crisp.  The rain was nearing!  The rush was great.

Until next time...