Rushmore

We spent the day driving from the Tetons to the Black Hills area of South Dakota and stayed in a hotel near Mt Rushmore. There are two small towns near Rushmore, Hill City and Keystone.  I selected Hill City even though it was 13 miles from Mt Rushmore but I was concerned that we might arrive late and I didn't want to drive on 11 miles of twisty roads to get to Keystone which was just past Mt Rushmore.

Our goal was to get to Rushmore in the early morning before the crowds and the heat...We pulled up to the entrance and there was already a long line. From the approach from Hill City we were able to turn left into the driveway and into the payment lane and wait about 6 cars to pay our entrance fees.  I could not see the approach from Keystone but I could see a line of cars waiting on the highway waiting to turn into the driveway so by staying in Hill City our wait was reduced when entering the parking lot!

We arrived just in time to take a ranger guided tour which took us to the path to the base of the statues.  The monument is impressive even when you first walk in, but is even better when you get closer at the base.  After the tour we continued down the circular path which took us down many flights of stairs and different perspectives of the monument and to the sculptors studio and back up to the visitors center where we started.

On our way out we drove towards Keystone and saw that the line to enter Mt Rushmore was about a half mile long while there was still no line from the approach from Hill City.  I'm glad we stayed in Hill City.