Heads in the Mud

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Many years ago we did a family camping trip to the Black Hills and hit most of the major tourist sites with our 2 boys (son #3 hadn't come along yet.) The youngest at the time was about 3 years old and didn't quite grasp the idea of a sculpture so he referred to the four presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore as the "heads in the mud". Hence the title of this blog post. 

The AirBnb apartment where we were staying was an efficiency built above a large garage next to the owner's home. The upstairs space had been quite warm when we arrived the previous afternoon so when we went to bed I had left the windows open and the ceiling fans running. As the temperatures dropped during the night the apartment became cooler and cooler and by the time we woke up both Bob and I were freezing! 

Last year we didn't make it to Mt. Rushmore so this year it became a priority on our to-do list. We got an early start and as we were pulling out of the driveway our car showed an outside temperature of 47º in the valley. When we arrived at the Mt. Rushmore National Monument 45 minutes later the temp had risen to 67º!

Admission to the monument is free, but there is a fee for the parking garage. It was a bit confusing trying to figure out how to use the automated kiosk to get a parking pass. The regular fee is $10 (good for a whole year!) but the senior citizen rate is half of that...$5. It was unclear how we were to prove we were "old folks", but at one point a question popped up on the screen asking if we were 62 or older. There was no human interaction at any point in the process so I'm assuming it must be on the honor system. The machine spit out a parking pass which we would show as we pulled out of the garage. I doubt we get back to Mt. Rushmore anytime in the next year but if we do, our parking pass will still be valid!

At 8:30 am, the monument was already quite busy. After walking through the Avenue of Flags, we took the obligatory selfie from the viewing terrace. 

Stairs led down on either side of the terrace to the beginning of the Presidential Trail. This .6 mile hike through the wooded area at the base of the mountain provided interesting and unique views of the sculpture. Along the trail, plaques provided information and history for each individual president. The beginning part of the trail was handicapped accessible and easy to walk. 

Stairs leading down to a small cave.

An opening in the cave frames a photo of George Washington.

Eventually the trail started to go downhill with a long series of steps. I knew that there were a lot of stairs after this point and I debated about turning around and backtracking to the viewing terrace. But FOMO (fear of missing out) kicked in and I convinced myself it couldn't be too bad...especially since it looked like most of the steps were going DOWN. 

I should have known going down so many stairs would eventually require going back up!

After a long downhill stretch in the trail (I'm thinking this isn't so bad!) we arrived at the Carver's Studio. After a year and a half of social distancing, seeing the number of people inside the studio was outside my comfort zone. I sat outside while Bob did a quick look at the exhibits inside. Masks were required since this was a federal building so I probably would have been fine, but sitting a spell wasn't a bad idea either because I realized from there the trail just went up, and up and up.

About half way up, I was already huffing and puffing so when we reached the Borglum View Terrace it seemed like a good place to stop, rest a couple of minutes and (thankfully) use the restroom. The National Park website states that there are 422 stairs on the Presidential Trail. I would love to know just how many of those are going UP! The trail ended back at the Grand View Terrace where we sat for a short while just enjoying the beautiful weather and people watching. On a Tuesday morning in late September it seemed like most of the folks visiting Mt. Rushmore were just like us...older, retired folks. 

Photo copied from nps.gov website.

When we left Mt. Rushmore, we drove through the town of Keystone and then on to Hill City. A stop at the 1880's train gave us a chance to kill some time (since we were too early for our lunch plans) and also a good place to FaceTime our 4-year old grandson. Our son's family had been in the Black Hills during the summer and one of the highlights was when they rode the train. 

About 10 minutes before the 11 am opening time, we arrived at the Alpine Inn Restaurant in Hill City. We joined another couple and sat down at one of the tables on the long front porch to wait. The weather was perfect for al fresco dining...a light breeze and temps in the mid-70's.

Many German dishes were on the Alpine Inn lunch menu. I ordered wiener schnitzel and Bob ordered the "German plate" which featured two different types of bratwurst. Both of our meals came with German potato salad, sauerkraut, red cabbage and dark rye bread. Delicious! 

When we were FaceTiming with our grandson, we were reminded about another interesting place they had visited...the worlds largest Smokey the Bear! Smokey is located at Dahl's Chainsaw Carving shop. From what I read, Smokey has a long history with the town of Hill City. Back in 1939, some students from Hill City helped battle a forest fire. In exchange, the U.S. Forest Service granted the school the right to be the only school who has Smokey as their school mascot and also gave the school the right to hold their high school graduation at Mt. Rushmore each year! 

When we returned to the apartment Bob took off hiking up one of the hills near where we were staying. He was on the hunt for some quartz rocks and he was able to find some beautiful pieces. Jim, the owner of the AirBnB knew he would have trouble carrying down the pieces by hand, so offered his 4-wheeler for Bob to use. Bob strapped a big box on the back and off he went! It took 2 trips to haul it all down!

After dinner we hit the road again, this time in search of wildlife. Jim gave us directions on where he thought we might be successful. His route took us through back roads in both Wind Cave National Park and also Custer State Park. I wasn't sure I could remember the details so I had Jim verbally record his directions on my iPhone. 

Jim's route first took us to the top of a hill that overlooked a beautiful valley. The sun was getting low in the sky, the golden hour. 

A herd of buffalo was off in the distance and by following Jim's route, we circled back and went right through the middle of two large groups of bison. At times we had to stop when the large animals were blocking the road. 

By the time we reached the last group, the sun had set behind the hills and it was starting to get dark. Seeing the bison silhouetted in the twilight was magical and had me snapping photos like crazy. 

My prize winning photo! 😉

The Badlands & Black Hills Tourism Association has a weekly photo contest called Fan Photo Friday and I submitted the previous photo. Viewers vote on the entries and mine won! There are many beautiful photos entered into the contest...often by professional photographers...so I was very excited to win!

When the gravel road we were driving met up with the paved Custer Wildlife Loop Road we encountered another "buffalo jam". The bison were in no hurry so by the time we were able to get through it was very dark.

I can't even estimate how many deer we saw on the long drive back to the apartment. It was quite nerve wracking in the dark, often requiring us to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting the animals. It wasn't the deer that we saw that were the problem, it was the ones that we might NOT see that worried me. A collision with a deer does not end well...for the deer or the car. Been there, done that. 

All was well though. We made it back to the apartment with no deer encounters. 

Up next...driving the beautiful Needles Highway in Custer State Park.