Spearfish Canyon - Custer City

Day 14 Sept 15 Spearfish – Custer City

This morning we drove towards Deadwood via Spearfish Canyon, The road followed the Spearfish River and wound through the floor of the canyon. The trees are just beginning to change colours. Would be really spectacular in another month.

Arrived in Deadwood, found a carpark and went exploring. I was a little disappointed as I expected it to be wild west – mind you there were lots of motor bikers driving up and down the street and a casino in every bar. It must not be compulsory to wear a helmet as very few bikers had one on. There was also a music jam there so lots of people were heading for that. We took the tour bus – saw where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane were buried. Calamity was a disappointment, as I visualized Doris Day as Calamity but the real person was not nearly as attractive.

We walked down Main Street, saw the brothels – 33 of them in the 1880’s, saloons etc and then had lunch in the one now owned by Kevin Costner. He filmed “Dancing With Wolves” here.

Next stop was the town of Hill City. I liked it better than Deadwood. Had the wooden verandahs in front of the some of the shops and people sitting on chairs out front. We had a great coffee there. Then headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We met a person enroute who said it wasn’t worth paying for a visit but we were overawed by the sheer magnitude of the project. It is the largest emerging mountain carved structure in the world. It stands 195 metres long and 172 metres high. Much bigger than the carved monuments at Rushmore.

In 1948, the Lakota leaders invited Korczak Ziolkowski to create the memorial. This is a memorial to all North American Indian Tribes. He died before he could complete it but his wife and children have carried on the dream. It may be another 120 years before it is finally completed. Took the bus ride to the base with Frank as our driver. He played a haunting tune for us on his Indian flute.

We booked accommodation in nearby Custer, named after the General, then were back for the lazer light show that started at 8 PM. Managed to get a few photos of the show.