Day 9: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Today’s theme was “massive rock sculptures” as we visited both Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

When entering Rushmore we were greeted by the “Avenue of Flags,” one for each US state, district, commonwealth, and territory. It was the first time we had noticed that only Washington has a green flag. The most common colors for other states were, not surprisingly, red, white and blue.

We strolled down the short Nature Trail to Presidential Trail, which is mostly boardwalk and passes right under the carvings. Cooper loved to learn more about each president from the information boards placed along the trail.

We wrapped up the small hike with an informative ranger presentation, covering the background of the sculpture and how it was constructed. We learned they used a beam and plumb bob system to map the 1:12 scale model (pictured below) to the mountain. It was supposed to be a full model vs. just the heads, but the artist died and their financing went away, so the project was cut short.

Junior Ranger badges have been a tough honor to earn. I am not sure why, but so many emotions often happen when completing the required packets. Today was no exception, with tears and a big emotions, fueled by dropping their prized pencils between the slats in the benches. They were both recovered, but not without lots of effort. Rob suggested we should have skipped it based on low morale already, and he was right.

After Rushmore, we headed back to the campground to pick up our RV. While loading up, a bee flew into Rob’s shirt–you’ve never seen a person remove clothing so quickly. A few minutes later, after shaking out the shirt, Rob put it back on and quickly discovered the bee was still in there! He removed the shirt quickly again, but not before getting 3 stings, his first ever, which is hard to believe for a 40-year-old.

On the way to Custer, we decided to see another massive rock, this time the Crazy Horse Memorial. Overall, it was underwhelming considering the $30 entry fee. Highlights were learning about the creator, Korczak Ziolkowski, and his 36-year experience building the monument, mostly on his own. He did have 10 kids just to help with the project, and some are still working on it.

We wrapped up the day with an ice cream treat in the town of Custer. The ice cream shop itself was cool, in an old building that used to be an often-robbed bank.

From there it was off to Custer State Park to set up for our 4-night stay.