On the Presidential Trail

The Trip – Day 19 Part II

Gillette, Wyoming – Rapid City, South Dakota

Devils Tower, Mt. Rushmore

170 miles

When we left Devils Tower in the early afternoon, the valley between the tower and the interstate was still hazy with smoke from the wildfires the night before. As we traveled on I 90 toward the Wyoming border, we saw thick smoke on a mountain near the state line. We stopped at the South Dakota Welcome Center just in time to see a helicopter, dangling a large sack, fly to a pond behind the rest area, dip the sack into the water, and head toward the smoking mountain. Other helicopters arrived, doing the same. Though about five miles in the distance, the orange glow of the flames was visible through binoculars. Fortunately, the fire, though extensive, was in a unpopulated area of the Black Hills, and no homes were in danger.

Forest fire off the interstate on the Wyoming/South Dakota border

Helicopter bringing water to the fire

Close up of fire, orange glow on the right and top

We exited the interstate, drove through Rapid City, South Dakota, past our hotel for the night, to our destination for the afternoon, Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Though administered by the National Park Service, Mt. Rushmore and its carved granite likenesses of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln is not a national park, nor a national monument but a national memorial. I'm not sure of the nuances of the distinctions, but it was the first time my senior pass was met with the words “That will be eleven dollars, please...” The senior pass had so far given us free admission to six national parks and one national monument on this trip, so I asked if I had gone to the wrong entrance. No, I was told, but the parking for the memorial was outsourced to a private company, so I was paying for the privilege of parking in a multi-sectioned, multi-level parking garage, obviously needed to bring order and sanity to this very popular tourist spot. 

Surrounding area, showing type of granite that the faces were carved from

The Boys

Avenue of Flags

Plaster models in sculptor's studio

Detail of Lincoln's eye

The Mt. Rushmore Memorial is small by national park standards, but very developed with an ornately-paved Avenue of Flags, an amphitheater, a viewing terrace, a museum, a cafe and ice cream shop, a large visitor center and a sculptor's studio. There was also a Presidential Trail, a well-maintained half mile staircase that passes below the presidential sculptures. After almost non-stop sun for the previous 18 days, the weather threatened most of our time at Mt. Rushmore. Thick dark clouds overhead and constant rumbles of thunder made one of us very nervous about “hiking” the metal-railed, tree-lined, higher-than-anything-else-around Presidential Trail. (This was not the one who was afraid of getting his feet sandy...) We waited out the threatening weather in the sculptor's studio, containing large plaster models of the sculptor Gutzon Borglum's original vision. We also spent some time at another inside exhibit showing how the faces were “carved” with precisely positioned dynamite charges. The thunder faded off in the distance, as did the darkest of the clouds, and the few sprinkles of rain stopped, so we ventured on the trail and got a closer look at the famous carvings. It was impressive to see close up how accurately one can sculpt with explosives, and then how the sculptor worked the finer details, choosing to form Roosevelt's eyeglasses and the other presidents' eyes with simple shapes that give the illusion of eyeglasses and pupils from a distance.

Detail of Roosevelt's eyeglasses

With the sky still black, we headed back to Rapid City to check into our hotel and find a place to eat. There were severe storms nearby, but we managed to avoid them. Late afternoon storms are common in the Rapid City area in the summer, and were predicted for the following day as well. To avoid the worst of the storms, we planned on an early night and an early trip to the nearby Badlands the next day.

The sky was like this all afternoon.

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. – Henry Miller




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The Trip – Day 20

Rapid City, South Dakota – Murdo, South Dakota

Badlands

155 miles