Crazy Horse 10 km Volksmarch - Saturday, June 4, 2022

This morning looked like a lovely time to hike to Crazy Horse Memorial's arm. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. The forecast showed scattered thunderstorms for this afternoon at 2 pm. We don't want to be on the mountain with thunderstorms, and the walk will be closed down if there is imminent thunder or lightning.

The start time for the Volksmarch was 8 am to 11 am and finish it by 3 pm. They expected 2,000 to 3,000 people. The only times you can hike to the arm for a $3 walk fee are the AVA: America's Walking Club's walks in June and October. Any other time, you have to take a guided tour to the top which costs about $100, the last time I checked. 

I invited the Escapees "AVA: America's Walking Club" Birds of a Feather group to join us for the walk at 9 am. It's not as crowded an hour after the start time. Bob and I waited until 9:10 am. No one from the Birds of a Feather group showed up to walk with us. However, we did meet a couple from our home walking club in San Antonio who were there. We took off walking.

Bob and I waiting for
Escapees walkers.

While we waited for other
people, I ran ahead down
the trail to snap a photo.

Crazy Horse is a great family 
hike, although little ones
will need to rest along the way.

Randolph Roadrunners
Volksmarch Club was
well represented!

When you start on this 10 km hike, the trail dips down into a forested canyon and then climbs back out. It's very pretty.

The Black Hills are one of my happy 
places. I love the rocks, trees, and 
lakes. Thunderstorms are cool, too.

Directional arrows
for the walk.

This uphill section needs
a break to breathe!

Once you come up out of the canyon, the views of Crazy Horse are, well, crazy impressive.

Resting, with a view,
after the hill. 

A zoomed-in look at all the people up
on the arm.

Shooting stars.

Here, you can see the outline of where
the horse's head will be.

When we came out of the canyon, there was a checkpoint with water and snacks for sale by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I have to admit, you do use a lot of calories on the first part of the trail. A snack and a drink here is a great idea! 

And, now, we're going to hike up to the arm.

I love this photo of Bob.

We have hiked around to the back side
of the sculpture because that's where
the roads are to the top.

At the top, a number of workers were present who talked to us about how they do the carving of the stone. Some of the workers are members of the family who own the property. They have been working on the mountain since they were little. In the foreground of the photo below, you can see some of the saws they use.

On this side of the fence are
workers and the saws they use.

Crazy Horse's face. The
detail is awesome.

The important photo to
show I made it.

The views from the arm are amazing of the surrounding Black Hills scenery!

The Black Hills of South Dakota.

This is the route we took down the 
mountain.

Big equipment used to work on the 
mountain.

This tunnel is the armpit.

Proof that Bob made
it up as well!

The sky was clouding up quite a bit and started to look like it might rain. It was time to hightail it down the mountain!

Spreadfruit Goldbanner
(Thermopsis divaricarpa).

People coming and going.
You can see the clouds.

When we were about 1/4 mile from the finish, it started to sprinkle. It was 1 pm. By the time we got to the parking shuttle bus, it was raining a little more. When we got back to our campground two miles away, we heard thunder. That meant they were clearing people off the mountain in case of lightning strikes. We're so happy we finished before the rain came.

We found out later that a number of people complained about having to leave before they finished the walk. The walk instructions are very clear that if there is thunder or lightning, everyone will have to leave the mountain for their safety. No refunds are given.

We took it easy the rest of the day. Bob will be running the Deadhorse Marathon tomorrow morning. I will give him a ride to the start and then I will do the 10 km Volksmarch in Lead, South Dakota.

TravelBug out.