The last stop in our Epic Road Trip from Minnesota to Yellowstone National Park and back was the majestic carved faces in Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is a national monument just west of Rapid City, South Dakota. We were on a national park/national monument inspired trip because of the 4th grade park pass that gets you into national parks for free with your 4th grader! Check out the everykidoutdoors.gov website to get your park pass if you have a 4th grader! We had visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Devils’s Tower. Mount Rushmore was the icing on the national park road trip cake! Getting into Mount Rushmore is free, but you do have to pay for parking, and the park pass doesn’t cover the parking fee!
Avenue of Flags
You get glimpses of the faces as you’re driving up the mountain towards them. When you enter the monument area, you’ll walk down the Avenue of Flags. There are flags representing every state, territory, commonwealth, and district of the United States, displayed in alphabetical order. The kids had a great time finding the flag for our state!
Walking into the Monument
As you walk in, there are also gift shops, a cafe, and an information center. In front of the Presidents, there is a big auditorium style seating area where you can sit down to take in the view known as Grand View Terrace. The faces are carved into the already beautiful granite hillside. Gutzon Borglum began drilling the faces into the Black Hills in 1927. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt’s faces emerged from the rocks as work progressed until 1941. Gutzon Borglum passed away before the sculpture was finished, and Lincoln Borglum watched over the final months of construction.
Borglum chose these Presidents because he thought they were the most important Presidents in America’s history. The information center and Sculptor’s Studio give you a good idea of what it took to complete this monumental project!
A Sneak Peek
Ok, here is my favorite little tip about Mount Rushmore! If you’re standing on the Grand View Terrace facing the Presidents, take the trail that begins at the far left and it will lead you down a handicap accessible trail to the bottom of the hill below the faces, about .2 miles. You’ll get an up close view and there is even a little cave that you can peak out of to see a close up of George Washington. It’s a fun little place to take the kids and feel like a real Mount Rushmore insider!
As you keep walking along the Presidential Trail, it will have quite a few steps to get back up to the top. To remain on the accessible path, you will have to return the same way you came down. The path around will lead all the way around the base of the Presidents and around to the Sculptor’s Studio before arriving back at the Grand View Terrace. The .4 miles of trail back around to the other side has 422 steps on your way back up. (You could follow this trail in either direction.)
A Patriotic Feeling!
Visiting Mount Rushmore is awe inspiring and leaves you with a real feeling of patriotism! Walking down The Avenue of Flags to overlook this impressive feat of engineering gives a sense of wonderment as you look in admiration at the carvings set into the beautiful Black Hills. An appreciation for the history of the country and the monumental efforts it took to accomplish this feat, especially during the time it was created, will fill your heart when you visit! A must stop if you’re in the area!
