One noticeable change has been the falling night time temperatures as we have moved westwards and upwards. Having started off without a sleeping bag I have gradually sunk deeper into it as the nights have passed. Last night the zip was drawn right up and the ties were pulled up tight around my neck. It was no surprise to stick my head out at (at 6.30) and find blue sky above and ground frost below. Two hours later and it is already hot enough to start shedding clothes. My first job was to tackle the cooking pot left from last night’s spaghetti. In the end I had to use my old boy scout trick of swilling round handfuls of grit to shift the residue in the pan. The trick still works!
First stop today was the Crazy Horse memorial. The whole thing was planned as a response to the Mount Rushmore memorial. In the 1940s the Lakota elders got together and decided to commission a prize winning polish sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, who had worked on the Mount Rushmore memorial to produce a suitable monument to represent indian culture. Chief Standing Bear announced this intent with the words “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes too.” Crazy Horse was chosen as the iconic figure as he was the only leader who never signed a treaty and was a proven leader in battle. He was one of the leading strategists behind the Indian success at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Korczak’s vision was immense, even now after 60 years of work the head is the only part of the memorial completed. In fact, when he died in 1982 none of what is now visible existed. Korczak left his wife Ruth and ten children with detailed plans of the memorial and seven of the children continue with the work. Once the whole project is completed, it will be the largest statue in the country and will include a university for Indians as well. It seems incredible that a project nearly as old as I am will not be finished for ages. The project is entirely privately financed based on admission fees and donations; indeed federal funding was rejected.
From here we headed back into the Custer National Park and took the allegedly three mile walk to Lovers Leap. We headed out through pine forest and plenty of light penetrated so that there was plenty of grass and wildflower cover lower down. As we got higher the spruce (mountain pine) trees began to dominate and, in this area few seemed to be suffering. The views from the top made the effort well worthwhile. The way back down eventually followed a small stream in a ravine. The stream, no larger than Booton Beck had a healthy fish population which makes one wonder what is wrong with the Beck. Some of the trout we saw were definitely big enough to eat.
Back to the camp site for a quick lunch and then we headed into Custer to buy blankets for the less hardy. Next stop was Sylvan Lake. Yet another beautiful spot with a full on American wedding making the best of the location.
Back to the camp site where it was my turn to cook again. I took an easy option and produced a chillie that included a secret ingredient from Rick’s Spam collection; turkey ham. Delicious!
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