Impressive Crazy Horse Memorial
After Wind Cave National Park, our next destination was Custer, South Dakota (4/20/2022). The first stop was the French Creek RV Camp, conveniently located in downtown Custer. Custer is a small town but it was close to two things we wanted to see: 1) Crazy Horse Memorial and 2) Jewel Cave National Monument. To our surprise, there was another highlight in Custer, Purple Pie Place.
Crazy Horse Memorial
After getting settled at the RV park we were ready for our adventure to Crazy Horse Memorial. It was a quick and easy 20-minute drive, and after paying our $24 entrance fee (2 people in a vehicle) we headed into the museum. While in the museum we watched the film about Crazy Horse, looked at the Native American art and artifacts, and checked out the gift shop. The Crazy Horse Memorial is sustained through admissions fees and private charitable gifts. It is not a Federal or State funded project.
There are two tour options: 1) Rustic Bus Rides and 2) Face-To-Face. The rustic bus ride takes you to the bottom of the mountain for a close-up view of the carving. This is a 25-minute round trip ride and only costs $4/pp. For only $4/pp it is worth it to take the bus and get a closer look. See our pictures below.
The face-to-face tour is a van ride up to the top of the mountain to the Crazy Horse Carving. Since the crew is actively working on carving Crazy Horse the face-to-face tours are limited to not get in the way of the crew. These tours can only be purchased through a charitable donation to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Wondering how much this face-to-face tour will cost you? There are no prices on their website, but while we were in the museum I recall seeing a flyer stating it was $125/pp.
Peak season begins on Memorial Day and during peak season they offer a laser light show in the evenings. The laser-light show uses the mountainside as a giant 500-foot screen. I would have loved to see that!
Dimensions
The entire carving is 641 ft long and 563 ft high and has been in progress for about 74 years! It’s taking a lot longer to build than nearby Mt Rushmore because the scale is larger and it’s all done by private funding. Wondering what the individual dimensions will be once this carving is finished?
Crazy Horse’s Dimensions:
Crazy Horse’s Face: 87.5 ft (completed June 3, 1998)
Outstretched Arm: 263 ft
Opening Under Arm: 70 ft wide, 100 ft high
Finger: 29 ft
Horse’s Dimensions:
Horse’s Head: 219 ft high
Horse’s Mane: 623 ft high
Horse’s Ears: 54 ft long
Horse’s Eyes: 20 ft wide, 15 ft high
Purple Pie Place
According to the Purple Pie Place website, they have “the best homemade pies in the Black Hills.” We had to check it out so we decided to walk half a mile and see what else Custer had to offer. We decided to share the Raspberry Rhubarb Jalapeno pie ala mode and WOW! We are not typically dessert people but that pie was delicious. So delicious we didn’t even stop to take a picture LOL. The jalapeno was subtle but such a good flavor with the raspberry and rhubarb. If you are traveling through South Dakota and happen to be in Custer we highly recommend you stop at Purple Pie Place.
The next morning we had tickets for a cave tour at Jewel Cave National Monument, but unfortunately, Penguin was not feeling well so we had to skip Jewel Cave. Luckily he was better the following morning, I was worried I was going to have to drive the motorhome, and we were back on the road!
