Mount Rushmore

What a glorious sight! They have done a wonderful job of setting the monument up to help you focus on the carvings from the moment you enter. What is to say – 4 of my favorite presidents memorialized in the top of a mountain. You can see pictures of it from now until forever but it isn’t the same as being there.

Mt. Rushmore is in the Black Hills, which I must say are green, not black. They are rolling hills covered in pine forests right until you get close to Mt. Rushmore and then they become granite pillars. In the 20’s they imported some mountain goats to hang out in the rocks. There is at least one who has decided that hanging out in the parking lot provides for better, easier foraging.

Park mammal count: 7 – deer, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, red squirrel, prairie dog, rabbit
Trip mammal count: 10 - deer, moose, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, antelope, rabbit, mule deer, red squirrel, prairie dog

Dollars saved on this trip with Park Pass: $52.00