Mount Rushmore

The purpose of the trip was to see Mount Rushmore. The site is very well done. There is a parking deck for cars and a golf cart escort for RVs. I rented the audio tour and took the whole tour while walking the loop.

My first picture shows Mount Rushmore in the background of the RV parking area. You can really see how much smaller in scale it is than the Crazy Horse memorial from this perspective.

I like the avenue of state flags. It was a nice touch.

Up close you can see where they left off carving the faces.

Compare that with the models which show what was intended to be carved. Apparently they ran out of money.



Another item to notice is all the rock chips lay where they fell in the carving. At the Crazy Horse memorial they are hauling them away to give a prettier outcome when the carving is finished.



The trail is quite easy if you follow along with the audio guide. It is almost all down hill. All the climbing is left to the end.



There was also a video on the monument in the theater. Overall I left feeling a bit disappointed. I think I had built it up in my mind so the reality couldn't match what I thought it would be, especially after having seen the Crazy Horse memorial.

Horsethief Lake National Forest Campground

Our next night was at the Horsethief Lake National Forest Campground. There is a similarly named commercial campground that is easy to confuse with this one.

Similar to Bismarck this was $28 ($24 + $2 per pet per night). It was also on a road and on a small lake.

It did have a trail head right next door which we hiked over to. Loved the trail! The campground was OK. It should be a $12 or $14 a night campground not a $28 per night one.

Our spot was very nice. Level and surrounded by trees.




Big Pine trail head right next to the campground leads to trail 89. There was also a trail from the south part of the lake but we didn't get to that one.

Crazy Horse Memorial - Highlight of the trip

After our Jewel Cave tour we drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial. I was perplexed as to how this carving could be going on for so long but seem to have made so little progress. All I can say is you have to visit and watch the video for yourself. This is an amazing site. In addition the sculptor who started it was a phenomenal talent. There are other examples of his work at the site and they rival anything you see in Italy or Greece. Why he is not more famous is a mystery to me. For me this site outshone everything else we saw on the trip.

From a distance.


A little closer. I think the white lines are to guide the blasters who dynamite the rock off.




Here is the sculpture superimposed on the mountain. In the video they compare the size of the Mount Rushmore carving. All 4 faces fit in the space of Crazy Horse's hair. They also show the original mountain. There has been alot of rock removed. More than you would think just looking at it. The original mountain extends well above the arm (even over the top of the head) and well beyond the horse's head.

This is what the sculpture is meant to look like when finished.



This is the model on display at the visitor center.

Jewel Cave National Monument

Jewel Cave National Monument was our next planned stop. We were up bright and early in order to make the first tour. I think this cave is more spectacular than Wind Cave but the tour is more hurried so not as enjoyable as you feel you don't really have time to do much more than glance at the items you pass. I felt both tours were worthwhile but the Jewel Cave tour could benefit from a more relaxed pace with more explanation as to what you are seeing. However, we just barely made the tour in the time allotted so my guess is they keep things moving fast so they can get more tours in per day.


















After the tour we hiked on the local trails.

The dogs are always napping while we tour so afterwards we have to exercise them.

Bismarck Campground National Forest

I chose Bismarck Campground for our next stay due to it's proximity to Jewel Cave National Monument. But for $28 this park didn't make the cut. It is $24 for an overnight (no hook-ups, no amenities) plus $2 per pet per night. I would not stay here again. You hear the road noise and the lake is crowded with lots of people for very little shoreline. We don't look for amenities like hook-ups because we like to be away from it all. We also like spending very little on a campground. This one met neither of those criteria.

Bismarck Lake was pretty but small.

We got a pretty water view site.

Just a bit uphill from the water.

That was surrounded by trees.

We then took a walk over to the spectacular Stockade Lake. It was very pretty and across the street. If I had it to do over again I probably would have stayed at Stockade Lake which has a choice of two campgrounds. We visited the South Campground which was nice and entirely in the forest. The North may have been a better one to visit but since we didn't have a map we didn't know it was closer. By the time we walked to the South one we were too tired to walk to the North one. We did think about transitioning but since it was a state park you had to call to see if anything was available (it was almost empty) but you can't drive up and select a site, registering with the host. They do it only through a central reservation system. Or some such thing. The off duty hosts tried to explain it but it didn't really make sense for a camping facility.

However the lake was extremely pretty.

Blossom enjoys a swim at Stockade Lake.

Custer State Park

We drove through Custer State Park and saw some buffalo. But things didn't get interesting until we saw some by the side of the road. The people in the picture below are getting the scare of a life time as they drive by on their motorbike a buffalo is charging right at them.

But he wasn't serious and was bluffing as he pulled up and just grazed on the side of the road. Below he is calmly grazing. I think the noise of their bike irritated him.

Wind Cave National Park

In the morning we took the Wind Cave guided tour. First we saw the natural opening through which the cave was discovered.

The tour was very enjoyable and informative as our guide was an excellent one.

The cave is famous for its boxwork.

It was hard to get good pictures in the dark.