We woke up bright and early from our first night in our cabins in Custer, SD to head to Crazy Horse to take part in the Volksmarch. Never heard of the Volksmarch? What exactly is it?
"The bi-annual Crazy Horse Volksmarch (an organized hike) is a 10K or 6.2-mile woodlands ramble to the world’s largest mountain carving in progress in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota. The Crazy Horse Volksmarch is the most popular organized hike in the United States (15,000 walkers in a record year). This family event is sponsored by the Black Hills Chapter of the American Volksmarch Association (AVA) and hosted by Crazy Horse Memorial."
So, the majority of our group marched the 10K... (including Neil and our 6 big kids!!)
While I stayed back with my parents and the babies and toddlers...
Now it's not a race. It's a march where you start anytime between 8am-1pm and go at your own pace. I don't even remember about how long it took our group? I'm guessing 2-3 hours?? So, I definitely had some time to kill with my littles. Thankfully there was a movie on the history of Crazy Horse, multiple museums to walk through, a beautiful deck area to view the Crazy Horse Mountain. We also grabbed a little snack, as I was in the first trimester of this pregnancy and needing to eat quite often just to feel decent. There was also a teepee, so the littles and I played around in there for a while. Thankfully with a "Barney-type" mom, I was able to keep these two little birds entertained and happy during the March.
Here are some shots of the marchers during the initial part of the march and before they got to the mountain...
And, now some shots from right up by Crazy Horse's head and WAY up high...
At the FINISH line!!! Yay!! Great job, crew!!!
I was pleasantly surprised what an awesome attraction and march this was. I totally could see us going back in 10 years as a large group again, just to see the progress of the mountain and to do the Volksmarch again. Maybe I'll get to march then too!!
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Click the image below to see all our destinations with details
and pictures from our trip Way Out West....
