Twice a year, spring and fall the public is invited to walk up and on the Crazy Horse Memorial on a sanctioned Volksmarch. The memorial is a huge sculpture set into mountain, and when finished it will be larger than Mount Rushmore. The work on the memorial has been funded all by private donations and principally has been worked on by the Korczak Ziolkowsky family. Korczak, a sculptor by trade, won first prize at the 1939 Worlds Fair. After that he was asked to work on the Mount Rushmore project. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote to him appealing to him to create a memorial to the american indians. After serving in World War II Korczak accepted Chief Standing Bear’s offer and started working on the massive project by himself in 1947. He continued until his death in 1982 at age 74. During his 36 years of working on the memorial he refused to take any salary. His entire family carries on the project today and is a testimony to what can be done with enough passion and hard work.
The walk stated in the parking area at 8AM and wound through the aspen forest surrounding the memorial. It’s obvious that we had to walk up extreme elevation changes. Fortunately the steepest switch-backs didn’t occur until right at the base of the memorial itself. The total walk encompassed about 4.5 miles.
The Scigliano family left to right Steve,Dave,Sue,Nancy and Connie
It was a beautiful walk through the Aspen forest
Enjoying the day! (Not really texting)
At each mile point volunteers were there passing out water and other goodies to all the hikers.
Are we there yet?
Hole started under the arm
Getting closer
Close-up detail of the eye
The whole gang at the top!
On the way down we stopped at the hole under the arm for a photo op.
The walk down was significantly easier than the walk up the mountain. we stopped several times along the way to get one last look. The sun was shinning at such an angle on the face of Crazy Horse that we thought that we saw a tear in his eye.
Such a sad look
Back at the visiter center we looked at the many sculptures by the same artist, and some Native American cultural displays.
The total experience was fantastic and we consider ourselves fortunate to have done it. The five of us had a great time together on the mountain. It’s hard to say how many more years the Volksmarch will continue. If you are able, it is a great family adventure. add it to your “bucket list”!
bluegrassnomads.com 