Mount Rushmore National Park – Keystone, South Dakota

The next day we headed to check off one on my bucket list – Mount Rushmore.  We arrived at the park at 6:30 am, and as we had hoped, there weren’t many early risers and could take photos and walk the Presidential Trail at a leisurely pace.  It is surreal to view a monument up close and in person after many years of seeing it in books and TV. 

We then headed toward the Black Hills and took a 5 ½ mile hike.  Thankfully, it was still early, and the heat of the day was at the end of the hike.  It has been unseasonable warm with temperatures in the 90’s.  We have tried to follow the 70’s, but that has not worked out too well.  Upon our return to the dispersed campsite, we saw a wildlife sighting of a longhorn sheep walking across the gravel road right beside our trailer.  We enjoyed our stay at the site immensely except for the one day when there were 50 mph gusts of wind that shook our 40 ft 5^th wheel about like a rinse cycle in a washing machine.  We were thankful we weren’t there the week before.  One of the campers we met, told us the previous week there were 100 mph gusts.  That’s when you get the heck out of dodge. I don’t even want to think about being in the trailer during that storm.  So long, South Dakota.  We will be back and look forward to hiking more of the trails in the Black Hills.