Mount Rushmore

We decided to hit-up Mount Rushmore again by day on our drive back to Denver. Even though we got some great shots 2 nights prior at sunset, we didn’t get an up close view of the Presidents and it was only a 30 minutes detour or so past Rapid City to get back into Custer State Park and re-tread our path out of the Badlands back in to the mountains.

To remind you, here’s what we did at sunset on Saturday night for great lighting We found a perfect vista lookout point off the road coming from Custer State Park, which put us about the same elevation as the carvings. We recommend this approach because it makes a spectacular first-time epiphany viewing moment.

Mount Rushmore from Custer State Park

Mount Rushmore from Custer State Park

Here’s another one, framed by trees.

Mount Rushmore Framed By Trees

Framed By Trees

We learned our lesson at Crazy Horse and decided not to pay the entrance fee to Mount Rushmore, but rather just stayed outside and grabbed some pics from viewing areas along the road. Perhaps this is part of the reason we like Mount Rushmore much more than Crazy Horse (because we weren’t suckered in to the tourist trap – which I’m sure exists all inside the Mount Rushmore area).

Mount Rushmore Again

Then I was able to capture your over-top-top American cheese flag-waving in the background obligatory pic.

Mount Rushmore with Flag

Mount Rushmore with Flag

Poor Teddy – in this lighting I couldn’t get a good picture of him without the shadow.

I did some reading afterwards on the creation of Mount Rushmore and how these faces were carved into the granite mountainside of the Black Hills near keystone, South Dakota. The sculptor was Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American, and the product of Mormon polygamy – having grown up in the Mormon community in Idaho. Borglum is an interesting character and is worth a read on Wikipedia. He had a penchant for sculpting on a larger than life scale, and even sculpted Abraham Lincoln’s head from a 6-ton marble block, that was ultimately exhibited at the White House (and is now in the Capitol Crypt). Borglum believed that the “monuments we have built are not our own.”

Mount Rushmore was carved from 1927-1941 and had several failed attempts at the presidents’ faces, which were blown up and re-done. It was the brainchild of Doane Robinson but the idea of American President faces was from Borglum.

Just prior to Mount Rushmore, while driving through Keystone, we decided to do a little panning for gold.

CJ Gold Panning

CJ Gold Panning

We found a few flecks and improved over the course of the hour, but we didn’t find anything of value.

Panning for Gold

Panning for Gold

CJ

About therestlessroad

The tar in the street starts to melt from the heat And the sweats runnin’ down from my hair I walked 20 miles and I’m dragging my feet And I’ll walk 20 more I don’t care And I’ll wander this world, wander this world Wander this world, wander this world all alone I’m like a ghost some people can’t see Others drive by and stare A shadow that drifts by the side of the road It’s like I’m not even there And I’ll wander this world, wander this world Wander this world, wander this world all alone Well I’ve never been part of the game The life that I live is my own All that I know is that I was born To wander this world all alone, all alone Some people are born with their lives all laid out And all their success is assured Some people work hard all their lives for nothin’ They take it and don’t say a word They don’t say a word Sometimes it’s like I don’t even exist Even God has lost track of my soul Why else would he leave me out here like this To wander this world all alone And I’ll wander this world, wander this world Wander this world, wander this world all alone –Jonny Lang, “Wander This World”

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