Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway

Framed by the thick evergreens of the Black Hills, Hwy. 87 follows a cliff face and even cuts through the mountain in places.

A lone hiker walks among the thick emerald-green forests of the Centennial Trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The sun shines on this vertical rock face along the Needles Highway, while the rest of the roadway curve remains in shadow.

The Peter Norbeck Visitor Center features several dioramas of animas in their natural habitats.

Framed against a backdrop of the rocky pinnacles called the Needles, this display features information about mountain goats.

The Peter Norbeck Visitor Center blends into the natural landscape along the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

Despite the snow that covers the rocks, the ponderosa pine retains its deep green color.

The shaded vertical rock faces rise parallel with the weathered post on the right in this winter view from Breezy Point.

Light mingling with shadow casts the landscape of the black hills from Breezy Point in an interesting variety of textures and colors.

More ice-blue snow clings to the shaded side of this rocky protrusion.

The orderly layering of tracked road, serene forest, towering mountain, and ice-blue sky creates a serene winter landscape along the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

Bison surround these two cars while crossing the road inside Wind Cave National Park.

The face of the Crazy Horse Memorial shows through a space in Korczak Ziolkowski's original sculpture of the Native American hero.

The Museum's three native pine wings include this one dedicated to Plains Indians, which contains a teepee. The culture of many tribes also is represented in the Memorial's Native American Educational and Cultural Center.

The angle of the Texas flag and its pole frames the great American Presidents carved into Mount Rushmore.

When completed, it will be the largest sculpture in the world, standing 641 feel long by 563 feet high. More than eight million tons of granite have been removed to date. The nine-story-high face of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998.

Granite dust billows from the largest drill operating on the Crazy Horse mountain carving. The nine-story-high face of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998 after which work shifted to the 22-story-high horse's head.

Korczak Ziolkowski came to the Black Hills in 1947 at the invitation of Chief Henry Standing Bear and his fellow chiefs who asked him to carve Crazy Horse so "the white man will know the red man has great heroes, too." Photograph taken during the 1948 dedication.

Volksmarchers give a dramatic size perspective to the nine-story-high face of Crazy Horse on the colossal mountain carving now in progress in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Mt. Rushmore towers above the byway.

Although smaller than the truck, this motorcyclist still must wait his turn before passing through a narrow one lane tunnel in Custer State Park.

The giant busts of Washington and Jefferson gaze out serenely from their granite mountainside.

A lake near Mount Rushmore National Monument reflects the surrounding bluffs and forests in its quiet waters.

A thunderhead cloud gathers in the Black Hills of South Dakota near the Willow Creek Loop Trail.

Silver clouds drift over the dark pine forests of the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota.

Sun rays dance on the mists over the majestic Black Hills in South Dakota.

Hikers pose for a photo along the Horsethief Trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Horse riders follow the rocky Centennial Trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

A road cuts through the thick evergreen trees lining the mountains of the Black Hills National Forest.

Boxwork formations line the walls of the Jewel Cave National Monument.

Gold, green, and gray lichen clings to a rock face in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve.

The Rushmore Cave provides views of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln framed by the cave walls.

Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln look out across South Dakota from their famous carved rock faces.

A clear blue sky frames the faces of America's four famous Presidents carved into the rocky mountain.

Buffalo graze at Custer State Park in South Dakota

The colossal Crazy Horse mountain carving, seen nearly one mile in the distance, will look like Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski's 1/34th scale model when completed. Crazy Horse will be the world's largest sculpture, 641 feet long by 563 feet high.