Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park Wildlife Loop Tour

If the weather is good we go to Mt. Rushmore first for 1½ hours. There is a 14 minute video about the carving, the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, and workers. The Lincoln Borglum Museum has some great displays about Borglum, his family and his works, the mountain and machinery and the workers. The Presidential Trail is a gradually inclining walk that goes under the faces in the rock rubble with great spots for pictures of the individual faces. If you go further there is a strenuous walk down to the Sculptor’s Studio (open only in the summer months) then back up to the viewing terrace. The Avenue of Flags represents all 50 states and the territories, and their respective dates of admission to the Union. There is also a new Youth Exploration area recently opened. The large gift shop has many items. The Carvers’ Café and an ice cream shop are available for refreshments. As we leave we stop for a picture at the side profile of George Washington.

We allow 1½ hours here, or more if we eat lunch in the Laughing Water Restaurant. This is a 3 sided sculpture which will be the largest in the world when completed. There is a 20 minute video about the carving and the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and his family that are doing the work. The North American Indian Museum has items from many different Indian tribes, with 90% of the items being donated. The gift shop has many Native made items for sale. Ziolkowski’s workshop and the log home he built, filled with antiques, are available to walk through. There is a Native American Cultural Center where you can watch Natives making items for sale, as well as display items to see and touch. There is a brass Nature Gate and a huge statue of Fighting Stallions.

t town in the Black Hills, and down into Custer State Park where we drive the 18 mile Wildlife Loop Road. In the spring there are around 1300 buffalo including newborn calves in the park. There are also antelope, deer, prairie dogs, begging burros and breath-taking scenery. We make a comfort stop by the State Game Lodge area at Coolidge Inn Store or Custer State Park Visitor Center, then we drive back to Rapid City.