Varied Skies

Two monuments to great nations stand carved in granite in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Both are unfinished, yet inspiring.

Started in 1927 and “finished” in 1941 upon the death of its sculptor, Mount Rushmore is known the world over as a quintessential U.S. monument that celebrates the birth, expansion, preservation, and ascension of a great nation as represented by four of its most prominent leaders. For us, Rushmore also represents the end of the beginning of our journey.  We left Georgia with only a vague itinerary, but Rushmore loomed large as the first “biggie” outside our typical vacation range.  We made it!

Just a few miles southwest of Mount Rushmore lies a much larger sculpture of the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse.  The entirety of the carving of Mount Rushmore could fit within the carved face of Crazy Horse.

Started in 1947 as a tribute to all American Indian nations, the Crazy Horse Memorial remains an active blast site today.  The picture below shows what the finished carving will look like with the actual carving about a mile away in the background.

68 years in the making, there is no end in sight.  Progress has been slow.  Private donations and revenue from entrance fees and gift shop sales provide the only source of funds for the Crazy Horse Memorial.  They are currently working on blocking out the horses head, a process that requires the removal of hundreds of thousands of tons of granite.  Maybe M3 and L can bring their kids to see the finished carving someday. In the meantime, the existing memorial and construction process is fascinating, as is the nightly laser show (like that of Stone Mountain) shown on the side of the carving.

But it was the promise of a “Night Blast” that compelled us to move so quickly across the Midwest toward the Black Hills.  The Memorial holds a “Night Blast” twice each year.  The June 26 blast commemorates the Battle of Little Bighorn.  Each Blast is different, but they usually involve some form of pyrotechnic display, as well as an actual blast that removes granite from the mountain.

This particular Blast involved a series of pyrotechnic explosions marching rhythmically across and up and down the sculpture, culminating in several large blasts toward the bottom of what will be the horses head.  This video gives you an idea of what it was like, but fails to capture the thrill of feeling the “whump” of each blast.

Big Mountain.  Big Carving.  Big Explosions.  Rockin’!