TrekPass – Travel Blog

We started early in the morning (since we are now in Mountain Time Zone, we were gaining one hour!). The first landmark we visited was Mount Rushmore, a monumental granite sculpture with 60-foot (18m) sculptures of the heads of former U.S.Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. It is stunning and overwhelming when you stand in front of the monument (it looks much smaller on the pictures). The four sculptures were finished within 14 years (1927-1941) with the help of Gutzon Borrglum, the sculptor and leader, and 400 workers.

We then moved on to the next monument, Crazy Horse Memorial, a stunning monument carved into a mountain. However, so far only the head is visible, when completed, the monument will be 641 feet (195 meters) wide and 563 feet (172 meters) high.

Our last landmark that we wanted to see for today was the Custer State Park. Arriving at the park we had the opportunity to drive on the Wildlife Loop (18miles) where we captured deer and bison on camera. It was quiet fascinating since we were pretty much the only visitors in the park, when we passed hundreds of bison. There was one incident when about 10 bison faced us on the street, we were hesitant to keep on driving, but then figured that they weren’t interested in us, instead, they were passing us only inches away from the car. What a nerve racking but fun experience!!!