Busy Weekend

Friday and Saturday were pretty busy days here in Western South Dakota. On Friday we drove North to see Custer State Park, the Crazy Horse monument and Mt. Rushmore.

Custer State Park has a big herd of wild buffalo (bison). We didn't see any up close but could see some in the distance. Every year in the fall, the buffalo are rounded up so they can be vaccinated and examined. We saw the corrals that are used for that.

Buffalo in the distance.

There are also antelope in Custer State park. We didn't see too many of them but did find one close to the road, behind a fence. He didn't run away so we got a nice photo.

The Crazy Horse monument is similar to Mt. Rushmore. It is a huge carving into a mountain side. It is to honor a great Indian Chief. When it is done, it will show him on a horse. So far it is just his face showing. This project is being done with private money and donations, no government money, so the work is slow.

Here is a model of what the finished sculpture will look like.

Mt. Rushmore is such an icon. It's impressive to see it in person. The entrance has all the state flags flying. The visitor center has movies and displays about how the faces were carved into the stone. Our timing worked out great. Just as we got there, a thunder storm was moving in. There was lighting in the dark clouds behind the mountain. So we went in to see the visitor center, when we were done the storm had passed and the sun was out again.

Saturday we went to the county fair and rodeo. There were many interesting events going on. The rodeo was not a professional one, so there were lots of local cowboys from the local ranches. Their families were in the stands cheering them on. Each ranch had a team of four cowboys for the ranch hand events.

A fun one to watch was the sorting.  Cattle have a very strong herding instinct. About 20 cattle were placed into the smaller arena and they huddle together in one corner. These cattle had numbers on them. The first cowboy would start with number 1 and sort that animal out and get it to the other end of the arena and keep it there. The next cowboy would sort out number 2, etc. There is a line about a third of the way down the arena, only the correct numbered cattle can cross that line. The tricky parts are sorting out just the one animal and not letting any of the others over that line. The cowboys also have to keep an eye on the ones that have been sorted to the far end because they don't really want to stay there by themselves!

The other team events were a branding event (not with hot irons, just a marker) and milking a cow.
The rodeo also had the usual events, bull riding, bronc riding, calf roping, barrel racing.

The main event of the early afternoon was the Hog Mud Wrestling. It wasn't really wrestling but there was mud! Teams of 3 people would try to catch a pig in a ring full of mud and water. The fastest time wins. Pigs are pretty fast and slippery so it's not easy. There were different age groups. One of the teenager groups had a very fast time, around 12 seconds and the winning men's team was about 10 seconds. They looked to be in their early 20's and were quick and strong.