Day 8

A thunderstorm rolled in again today so we were up at about 6:30.  After breakfast we decided to head out on a hike in the black hills.  We headed to Horse Thief Lake and although the beginning of the trail looked questionable started out.  We hadn’t gone far when we were on slippery rocks that were covered with moss and our path was blocked by a fallen tree.  We turned around and took the board walk around the lake instead.  Not exactly what we were hoping for but it was beautiful.

We decided to head back to Spearhead Lake to try one last time to find where they shot the winter scene. I found a site online that mentioned where they thought it was so I was hopeful.  As we approached the point it told us to look for we found….A SIGN!  Neither of us could believe we had missed it the previous day.  We drove down the dirt road.  The sign said 2 ¾ miles.  After 3 miles and no sight we decided to go a bit farther before turning around and seeing if we had somehow missed it.  About 4 miles down the road we found it.  It was over grown and hard to image that it was the site but we walked around and began to see where things had been.  Either way it was neat to walk where they had filmed.

On the way back we stopped at Crazy Horse.  Word of advice….save your money!  It was 20 bucks for the 2 of us to drive into the memorial.  There were works created by the original artist, lots of Natives selling goods and that’s about it.  We learned much more yesterday at the Tatanka ranch.  On top of that they repeatedly ask for donations after you already paid to go.  There was one native there dressed up in ceremonial clothing (think stereotypical Native American) and was asking for donations to be able to take your picture with him just like Elvis in Las Vegas.  In the native room they had flags from what they said were the tribes of the United States.  They had the Iroquois Confederacy and then the Oneida.  The Oneida were part of the Iroquois Confederacy!  They didn’t have any of the other tribes of the confederacy in separate flags so as a New York State history teacher I found this bothersome.

We got back to the camper just as the thunder and rain hit.  We are under a tornado watch until 10pm.  The campground is filling up.  This is our last night here then we go down the road for 1 night before heading out.  We missed Laura and Dave in Yellowstone L  Sorry guys!  Miss you and Hope to see you soon!!!!!!