Through the Black Hills

I still don't like the way Teddy Roosevelt is looking at me

Dense fog around Rapid City deceived us. Would we be deprived of the mountaintop sites necessary for a Black Hills visit? We didn’t know but set out anyway. The drive down U.S. 16 quieted any worries – the fog clung to the lower mountains, but the Black Hills were sunny and largely cloudless.

We only ventured a short distance into the Black Hills. Two national park units devoted to the underground – Wind Cave and Jewel Cave – both caves were closed from elevator problems, although they have natural wonders and fauna above the caves. Custer State Park is also known for its high points, Sylvan Lake and its bison herd. But my parents had days in Yellowstone National Park ahead, and I didn’t want to dampen any of those moments. I could come back again and visit all these places anew. We stayed closer to Rapid City and hit a few high points that might seem touristy but were worth visiting.

The first stop shined too brightly to miss. The interior of the Black Hills are where the action happens. The mountains grow craggy. One mountain glows when struck by the sun, the four faces blasted from its flank bright even through the trees.

The profile view

The mountain of choice for Gutzon Borglum’s presidential sculpture could only be Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore National Memorial glowed in the morning light, its sculptor having chosen a face of the mountain that stayed in sunshine most of the day. In crisp, cool air, we walked to the plaza limited by construction around the memorial, with visitor center restoration running into 2020.

I volunteered to walk the trail below the faces while my parents waited. At first I thought we could all handle the trail that ran past Borglum’s cabin, it was a steep descent to the cabin and several series of stairs and platforms to reach the viewpoint below the faces.

The day before, we watch my grandfather’s films of Mount Rushmore still under construction. The last heads were still emerging, although the boulder field below the heads was intact. The only major difference was the total lack of foliage, and the trees have grown back in the 80 years since the sculpture’s completion.

Despite the views propagated by Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, no trail leads to the top of the heads. Below the four presidents lies a hill covered in rocks and gravel blasted away from Mount Rushmore to carve the faces. All around Mount Rushmore, signs notes that Hitchcock filmed in the area.

Just a few bends in the road from Rushmore and we reached the second sculpture on private lands.

The Crazy Horse Memorial represents a different brand of mountaintop sculpture, just as controversial as Rushmore. An apprentice of Borglum, Korczak Ziolkowski started the project knowing it would not conclude in his lifetime. It was commissioned on the urging of Henry Standing Bear, an Oglala Lakota who wanted a Lakota monument in the Black Hills.

Crazy Horse rising from the mountain

Admissions to Crazy Horse fund future construction. The head is complete, with his arm and the horse’s head beginning to emerge from the stone. Many Lakota oppose the sculpture because extended family of Crazy Horse were not consulted, the chief purposely avoided being photographed in his lifetime and others don’t like the idea of a mountain being carved up for such purposes. We went conscious of the controversy, and the museum at the base of the monument is worth admission alone for the documentary about Ziolkowski and the project plus the extensive galleries of Native American artifacts.

After lunch, we chose Reptile Gardens over Bear Country USA, the latter waiting till morning when the wildlife was sure to be more active than late afternoon. It would be easy to write off both places as touristy – of course they are. Still, both places boast impressive animal collections worth stopping to see. The world’s largest reptile specialty zoo (with some bird of prey exhibits for good measure) has hundreds of rare snakes, lizards and crocodilians from around the world.

This was no simple roadside zoo, but a deeply established zoo in a place without a lot of native reptiles except for prairie rattlesnakes. Several live shows highlighted a few of the more colorful residents – a snake show ran from some calmer non-venomous species crawling harmlessly around the stage to an agitated king cobra that had to be kept in a secure cage.

Archelon fossil cast

Inside the two-story domed enclosure lived Reptile Gardens’ prime collection, from a 16-foot crocodile to rare snakes and lizards from around the world. The Gardens hosts the only fierce snake specimen in North America – also known as the inland taipan, the reclusive snake has the most potent venomous of any snake on the planet.

Also, the fossil skeleton cast of Archelon, the 15-foot-long sea turtle, is impressive. While not original, it was cast from a fossil found in Hermosa, South Dakota in the 1970s.

The bird of prey demonstration was even more interactive, with a barn owl flying onto the handler’s glove and a parrot that took cash donations with its beak and dropped the in a tip jar. The Eurasian eagle owl's amber eyes will stare right through the audience.

The next morning, we trekked up again the fog in Rapid City fizzling out into a clear, bright morning once we rose into the Black Hills. We passed Bear Country USA the previous day. Rather than tack it onto the end of a full Black Hills day, we decided to go first thing in the morning to catch the animals at their most active. The drive-through zoo brought us into close contact with numerous North American megafauna. At the start, a cluster of bull elk tangled antlers and fought with each other. Even inside the zoo, they could not avoid the hormones that surged as the annual rut began.

Arctic wolves blocking the road

Even with the windows up, it was impossible not to enjoy the Arctic wolves. They reclined when they warned and jogged through their enclosure, keeping pace with the car, then reclining again. Wild or not, they knew how to entertain and show off their canine character.

With the zoo’s name, no place was anticipated as the bear enclosure. Dozens of black bears fed as we idled through. The concentration of black bears was staggering. Several dozen in easy reach stood on either side of the car. One even stopped to poop.

The amount of food provided them – we could see carrots and other vegetables spread on the grass – preserved the peace. Although the gray wolves in the same enclosure would not have bothered with vegetables, their interest in the bears’ breakfast spurred a few black bears to break from eating and haze away the wolves.

Cubs

Hungry badger

The walk-through portion of Bear Country presented numerous mammals of note. I live in prime badger habitat but odds of seeing one in the wild are rare. Many public spaces badgers inhabit only stay open 9-5, eliminating any chance of spying the crafty nocturnal mammals. Watching the zoo’s resident badger scurry around its enclosure with those massive claws digging, I was almost glad to see one this way. Same goes for the active porcupine. They’re around, but rarely seen aside from roadkill.


Wolf cubs slept in the early morning. Bear cubs of the year romped around a broad pen, staying in the shadows where catching a good picture proved impossible. A lynx hid skillfully in its enclosure, invisible to all.

With the last lap through Bear Country, the time to split paths had come. I headed home, while my parents were bound for North Dakota, then over to Montana and Cody, Wyoming. The Black Hills are an interesting mix of tributes, nature and tourism worth a week of exploring, maybe more. Living seven hours away, I like knowing I can see those dark mountains rise from the horizon, and experience them differently on future trips.