Road Trip - Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

After Mount Rushmore National Memorial, we went to the Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial. The sculptor is Korczak Ziolkowski, who was born in Boston and of Polish decent. This memorial started primarily because the Native Americans "would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes too." The project started in 1949 and it is still ongoing. Only the face of Crazy Horse is completed (see above photo). Eventually, it should look like the sculpture in the photo above. Crazy Horse rides his horse and points to the lands before him and says, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

It took us about 20 minutes to get from Mount Rushmore National Memorial to Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial.

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

These photos are taken from the carpark. There is actually a shuttle to bring visitors to the bottom of the mountain but there is a separate charge from the admission fee ($27) and we didn't think it was worth it so we didn't go.

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

Sonya pointing like Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

This is a close up of the face that has already been completed and was unveiled on 3 June 1998. How they craved the mountain was to use dynamites to blast off all the excess stone before adding in the finer details. It is a very ambitious project. When completed, it will stand 563 feet high and 641 feet long. The 4 heads of the presidents at Mount Rushmore National Memorial is only the size of Crazy Horse's head and hair! I wonder when it will be completed... probably not in my lifetime I think...

Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial, South Dakota

This is a replica just outside the gift shop. Now, Clara is pointing like Crazy Horse!