Where the Buffalo Roam
South Dakota lies below North Dakota. That was the extent of my knowledge of it. People who are not from the United States assume that we are all experts on our massive country, but I will brazenly admit this is not so. I am plenty familiar with my home state of Ohio and the ones that surround it. Having lived in Arizona, I also can claim credit for a certain amount of knowledge of the Southwest. Beyond that I am a tourist, so when my good friend proposed a road trip from her home in Nebraska to South Dakota last summer, I was thrilled about the opportunity to fill in the blanks.
Our first stop was Carhenge, a replica of Stonehenge made from junked cars. “Of course it’s real!” she said when I wondered aloud if she was pulling my leg. She wasn’t joking and we were far from the only people there to see it. Everyone, myself included, walked around it with the zombie-like stare of people who can’t quite interpret what their eyes leading them to believe. It is weird and wondrous at once and opened the door to an intriguing question: What else is out here that I never heard of? I would quickly find out.
Next on the itinerary was Custer State Park and the Mammoth Site. As a big fan of wildlife and US National Parks, I was very excited about the prospect of seeing live buffalo. I tried to keep my expectations in check, however, because wild animals are so unpredictable. As much as I would like to believe they’d show up for me, reality is often different. Imagine my surprise when we drove through the park gates and within minutes spotted five of the enormous animals grazing in a grassy meadow! Photos were immediately captured and knowing we would have more time to roam in the park, we moved on to the Mammoth Site.
In Hot Springs, South Dakota, there lies a place so fascinating that fully-loaded tour buses fill the parking lot all day long. The unique draw of this location is that it holds the perfectly preserved remains of Columbian and Woolly Mammoths as well as other creatures that lived on planet Earth 26,000 years ago. Remarkable is not too strong of a word to describe what visitors see here. The explanation is that it is a kind of sinkhole that collapsed under the weight of these animals and they remained trapped inside for eternity. These bones must be seen to be believed, both for their pristine preservation as well as their unusual shapes.
It blew my mind, this miracle uncovered by a construction worker in 1974 that I had never heard of. Though I was somewhat embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, I couldn’t wait to see what the road had yet to offer. As it turned out, Custer State Park is loaded with buffalo and they are huge. On the road near Wind Cave National Park, we hit a traffic jam. Most of the obstacles were brown and fur-covered, but there were several cars patiently waiting to cross when the buffalo had made their point and moved on. The point is that you cannot move a buffalo that doesn’t want to be moved! The mini-traffic jams throughout these intertwined parks are many, each one a photo opportunity not to be believed.
What next?? You ask! The scenic drive of Iron Mountain Road was next. This curvaceous, chipmunk-ridden, tunnel-laden beauty is one of the most beautiful roadways in the Black Hills. We stopped so many times on the way for photos that I nearly forgot our destination—striking Mount Rushmore. As we climbed up Iron Mountain Road, we were passed by clusters of bikers and I envied their freedom. It seemed appropriate that we were on our way to the monument which is the epitome of American independence.
Full disclosure: I didn’t expect to be impressed by Mount Rushmore. I will basically go on any road trip others are willing to take me on, but I thought the other sights would prove far more interesting. Perhaps it is because I underestimated it that it was so striking to me. It is strategically developed to maximize anticipation, urging Americans to locate flags and memorials to the year their state entered the union on the way to the main feature of the four former US presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, & Lincoln. I think for any American, it is a moving experience. For one that doesn’t get reminded daily of her American heritage, it was even more so.
But it was the last stop that did me in, a visit to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse was a great leader of the Lakota tribe. Chief Henry Standing Bear commissioned this mountain-sized work of art in his likeness and invited Polish artist Korczak Ziolkowski to create it in 1947. It is intended as a lasting monument to the subjugation of native cultures and minorities and as such takes no money from the United States government to fund its progression. The striking contradiction between the glorious, perfectly-constructed monument to the founding fathers of the United States and the slow progression of Crazy Horse’s raw power being pulled from mountain stone will never leave me. It is a “must see” in every sense of the word.
If your opinion of South Dakota is anything like mine was, I highly recommend this itinerary. It will forever change your view of the American west. Maybe you won’t enjoy a buffalo burger quite as much as I did and you won’t be charmed by sitting at an antique bar in an old saloon, but I’d venture a guess that most people will get something out of this journey that they didn’t anticipate. If I’m wrong, it’s just fine with me. That’s one less car between me and my buffalo.
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