Sylvan lake and Crazy Horse Memorial

Day 4 of our 9 day challenge

So far on our challenge, we have only used 1/3rd of our fresh water and even less in the tanks as that 1/3rd is spread across three holding tanks.

Today was a light hike day. We are still trying to recover from the big hike.

We drove to Sylvan lake. The drive was interesting with lots beautiful views, curves and a very tight tunnel.

​It is a small lake surrounded by rock spires and mountains.  The dam is only about 40 feet across because the lake has a natural dam of rock at the lower end.

​Along the back of the natural dam, we looked to the mountains and saw these trees holding onto the side of the rock trying to survive.  Amazing!  Both were at least 5 feet tall.

​Huge blocks of rock fill that end. There are only a couple of places that are open to allow any water through.  The largest one creates a pretty little waterfall.

 The dam is about 60 feet tall so the rocks are holding back a lot of water too.

Our way over the dam was a break in the wall. Several huge boulders were caught in the gap.

 All around the lake there are spires of rock.  

If you have watched “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets,”  you have seen this lake.  It is the scene that was supposed to be behind Rushmore was filmed.  The characters are trying to find a buried treasure city.  The spot where Nicolas Cage puts his hand in a crack to pull a lever and open the “door” is a natural rock.  The spot where the city entrance is supposed to be is actually a gap in the rocks they filled in with material to fall away.

The lake is very popular with the locals.  It is convent to all three towns in the area.  They swim and fish here.  We watched some people catch trout.  There were several paddle boarders and kayakers.

There were also some pretty flowers, birds,  and  butterfly's.

​We also passed two families of Canada Geese, one on each side of the lake.  In both families, the goose and gander were carefully watching over their 5 goslings.  They let us walk on the trail just a few feet away.  As long as we made no sudden moves or stopped, they were not alarmed.

After the 1 mile hike,  we drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  

 It is very impressive and will be enormous when complete. The problem is that at the current progress rate it will be something our grandchildren’s grandchildren may see finished. It is sad since the entirety of the time it took to complete Mount Rushmore was 14 years. The Crazy Horse Memorial has already been under sculpting for more than 70 years. The reason for the delay is that Korczak and the Native Indian tribes refused any Federal Funding and only accept donations.

Korzak was approached by Chief Henry to carve a monument to the Native Tribes.  He told Korzak, who had worked on the Rushmore Memorial, that he wanted the “white man to know that his people had heroes too”.  Crazy Horse was chosen by the tribal chiefs to be the representative because he never was party to the signing of any treaty and always fought for his people.

​The reason for the statue pointing is to answer a question.  He was asked where is your land and Crazy Horse replied “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”

The museum and movie on the project were very good.  I took only a few pictures of the museum because so many of the objects were in glass cases and would not have photographed well.

​The sculptor made a 1/34th scale model to show what his project would look like when complete. Even that is 16 feet tall and weights 16 tons.

 The poem that will be carved next to the statue will be enormous and each letter 3 feet tall.

When completed it will be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall. Taller than all the other monuments that existed at the time construction started. His face is over 87 feet tall and his nose is 27 feet long. The face was completed on the 50th anniversary of the project in 1998.

The out stretched arm will be 263 feet long. The horses head will be 219 feet tall and its ears will be 45 feet long. The horses eyes will be 16 feet wide and 13 feet high.

 The finished project should look like this:

The buildings will be the expansion of the University for the Native Tribes which is already graduating students.
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At the end of the tour ,there is a way to take home a piece of the work - for a donation.

​On our way to the parking lot, we saw this van.  Now this guy has seriously gotten the solar bug.

 Behind the post office was a huge log building. It was the local ‘Y’.

 The Mt Rushmore brewing company has a sense of humor.

​Shawn got a “flight” of beers to sample.  The names she selected were Rail Splitter, Black Hills Gold, Blended Cherry Ale, Bamberger Rauchbier,  and Holy Terror on Nitro.  

One on the list she did not select that I thought would be “interesting” was “Buffalo Snot”.  I know!?! What made that name come to mind and if it did, why wouldn’t you throw out the batch that made you think that!?!

I got a coke and ½ dozen buffalo wings. We shared the wings.


We ended the day by having real rain at the campground. It was more of a light rain or heavy drizzle but it was rain. There was thunder rolling through the mountains. It is a bit of a different sound. Somehow it seems deeper and lasted longer. We have not had rain since Chimney Rock. Over two weeks ago. We got sprinkled on a couple of times but not enough to even need to dry off or use the wipers on the truck.