Travelogue: "He Wakinyan Hohpi"

Trying something a little different today...

Put on your travelin' shoes, folks...from time to time I'll post a "Travelogue" of places I've been and photographed that you would find interesting and beautiful...and to give you something to sit and daydream over to avoid doing something you know you should be doing instead but just don't have the gumption to deal with it at the moment...!
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And you thought South Dakota was flat and boring...welcome to the Black Hills in the southwest corner near Rapid City.
(click pics to enlarge and explore...)

This is one of the more incredible locations there, as well as the highest point at 7242 feet...and one of the more sacred sites to the Lakota Nation. I refer to it by its rightful Lakota name, "He Wakinyan Hohpi" which roughly translates to "Nest of the Thunderbirds".

This is the place thought to be the birthplace of the sacred Thunderbirds, the center of the world...and also the focus of the famous 'vision' Oglala Sioux medicine man Black Elk experienced, well-documented in the epic "Black Elk Speaks". Today it is known as Harney Peak.

Though certainly below any sense of a timberline, this peak is mostly exposed rock, yielding phenomenal views in good weather...and as you can tell in the panorama shots, especially, the central portion of the Black Hills is especially full of large exposed rock formations (notwithstanding Mt. Rushmore only miles away...). Conversely, you can imagine how hostile this environment can be in storms or winter maelstroms.

There is a long-since abandoned fire lookout tower that sits atop the peak, easily identifiable from afar...as well as the gravesite of one Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, who was the doctor that treated Crazy Horse at the time of his death. In the overwhelming sea of 'white man' deceit, theft, and murders of the native peoples, Dr. McGillycuddy took the controversial stand to back the rights and welfare of the tribal nations in the late 1800s. Even the (at first) untrusting Red Cloud came to refer to him as "a young man with an old man's head on his shoulders."

The Black Elk Wilderness area within the central Black Hills offers excellent opportunities for extended 'wilderness' trail experiences, should you find yourself out that way. As you might can tell by the pictures, it's not hiking for the faint of heart!