Some time ago we were talking about the places we wanted to visit and Mount Rushmore was on my list. This was the real reason we came to Rapid City, this was the goal, yesterday was just a bonus.
I had assumed that Rapid City would be quite empty but the place was packed with tourists. Apparently I was not the only one who wanted to see Mount Rushmore. Coming in we had flown by the monument and it was about 5 minutes from there to the airport. We were staying right by the airport and the drive back out was 35 minutes. Sometimes flying is a whole lot faster, trouble is nowhere to land at the monument.
We arrived early to catch the good light, Rushmore faces Easterly. The monument is free but parking costs $10 (I guess we could have hiked up from town). It is popular, there are 2, 3 story garages. The Monument is well designed. You walk down a aisle that frames the carving until you reach the observation point. From here you can walk a trail below the sculpture to get different views.
They also have a small museum with background on the design and construction. After suitable gawking and picture taking we headed off for our next stop. We had decided against the Crazy Horse memorial as it is still under construction and we had a good view the day before. Our drive took us by where we could see it from the highway.
Our destination was Custer State park. It happens to be by the town of Custer. It was supposed to have lots of wildlife. We entered the park and headed off on the wildlife loop road. They have 1300 Bison in the park so we expected herds.
After a bit we happened by a bull or should I say he happened by us. We saw him coming down the road so we stopped to watch. He came trotting right at us and walked by CC's side about a foot from the car. After that we continued the search but came up dry. A stop at the visitors center showed that the Bison had wandered off and were not easily visible.
We decided to drive over to town and get a snack and then do the Needles road. Custer, SD is a small town that looks like it caters to the park tourists. While we had only seen 1 Bison after driving for 90 minutes we saw several in town. We parked at one end and quickly walked down main street and back. Nothing grabbed us for lunch so we stopped at an old bank that had become a coffee shop and got Ice Cream cones for lunch. Life is uncertain so having dessert first is always a good idea.
Our plan was to drive to the Needles road and take it back to the park core and then return to Rapid City on the Iron road. We did this but added some detours. The Needles road really showcases the Black Hills. Now to be fair I would have called them the Dark Grey Hills but no one consulted me.
Coming off the Needles we stopped at the visitor center and found that the Bison had been sighted 25 minutes away in herd size numbers. We decided to go take a look. We did find some single Bison but no herds. We took the opportunity to drive up another dirt road and get the car dirty again. It was worth it though as we had a nice view. We also saw some storms building on the horizon and decided it was time to head back.
We made our way to the Iron road which runs from Custer State Park to Mount Rushmore. It is know for its views and cool highway design with loops and more narrow tunnels. The skies were getting darker as we drove and while we did make a stop, we decided to push ahead. This was a good move as the storms about caught us.
Heading back from the Black Hills into town we were finally pulling ahead of the storm. What started as a few showers was now an organized line of severe weather. We had left the plane tied down outside which is usually sufficient but with gusts of 50+ miles per hour coming I called the airport and asked them to put the plane in a hangar. It costs a bit more but a while later we were in our room watching the storm rage and it seemed well worth it.
I'll leave you with a quick video clip of the narrow tunnels on the Needles and Iron roads.
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