Crazy Horse, South Dakota

 

to Fort Robinson in Nebraska and then on to Custer South Dakota

June 11 2025 Wednesday

We departed Manitou Springs and traveled first east and then north on state highways. We drove through Colorado and most of Nebraska for a total of 350 miles. We are parked for the night at Fort Robinson State Park in the northwest corner of Nebraska. It may have taken us longer to get here but we saw some beautiful countryside. We’re spending the night in the park’s campground for $42.. 

Overnight at Fort Robinson State Park



If you’ve ever spoken with someone who has driven across Nebraska, you have probably heard it is flat, boring and hundreds of miles of nothing. That is not true in the Northwestern part of the state. It is true that like the rest of the state it is very rural, but it is exceptionally beautiful. The land rises into rolling sand hills and vast expanses of grass lands. Further north there are mountain ridges that appear to have been formed by some long-ago upheaval of the earth’s crust.

View of mountain ridge from Fort Robinson State Park


We had a 2 pm check out from the campground so we had plenty of time this morning to tour the main campus of the historic fort. I won’t go into detail about the fort except to say its history goes back to the Indian wars and it has had many military roles until it was made a state park in the 1950’s. 

Parade Grounds at Ft Robinson 


There is also a Nebraska History Museum on the fort grounds that has the fossilized remains of two ancient giant mammoths that died together when their tusks became interlocked in combat.

Millie and I both highly recommend a visit to Fort Robinson if you’re ever in the area.

Thursday June 12

At 12.30 we departed the Fort Robertson and made a relatively short (117 mile) run up to Custer South Dakota. We camped just outside of town at Heritage Village RV Park. $32 a night FHU. We came here to check on the progress of the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Our overnight spot


View from the visitor's center 


We can literally see the carving from our campsite but you need to go to the visitors center to get full effect of the mountain. Besides the project is funded largely through admission fees. The transformation of a granite mountain into a stature of Chief Crazy Horse on his horse has been in progress for 75 years and still has a long way to go, but it’s slowly taking shape. 

They've got a long way to go!


Give Crazy Horse a visit sometime, they can use the money, they don’t take any funds from the federal government. Not many organizations can say that nowadays.



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