Medicine Wheel

We traveled up almost to 10,000 feet elevation where we stopped at the Medicine Wheel. This was made by the Indians around 1200 AD and was a place they went to when they prayed for healing, forgiveness, and other spiritual things. This is part of the National Park Service and is monitored by the Park Rangers. To see the Medicine Wheel requires a hike of about a mile and there was still snow on the ground. The view of the valley below was fantastic.

Sibley Lake, WY

Our stop for lunch was at a beautiful picnic spot in the Bighorn National Forest. We ate beside a small stream and had a friendly squirrel join us. He liked potato chips the best but also enjoyed some Cashews and Chocolate Chip Cookie crumbs.

Mount Rushmore

Our final stop of the day was Mount Rushmore. We ate dinner in the café here and then spent time walking around looking at the displays and such as well as the monument.. We hadn’t planned on staying for the light show since it would make it so late when we got back to the motel but Josh really wanted to see it so we decided to stay and we were very glad we did. It was great!

Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse Memorial

They are carving a likeness of Crazy Horse on the mountain and it was started about 50 years ago and they expect it to take another 130 years to complete. This is due to the fact that they accept no government funding for the project and can only do the work as private funds allow. There is a lot to see here as they have many displays on Indian history and such and they also have a movie that explains how the project got started and how they blast the mountain to form the sculpture. We also took a bus ride up to the mountain for a closer look. It was very interesting.

Pactola Dam and Reservoir

As we left the Circle B Ranch to travel to the Crazy Horse Memorial, we came across the Pactola Dam and Reservoir and the scenery was so beautiful we had to stop and take some pictures.

Pactola Dam and Reservoir is located on Rapid Creek in western South Dakota.

Circle B Ranch

We spent our morning on the way to Mount Rushmore going horseback riding at the Circle B Ranch. We all had a great time and ride, especially due to not having to have your horse led by another person.

This is a great place to experience a taste of the old west on a trail ride through the pine forest. Unfortunately, a lot of the other attractions were closed till late afternoon and we missed out on the shooting, etc.