Mt. Rushmore
We had a simple plan for today: visit Mt Rushmore. We drove the Norbeck Scenic Byway as it curved and switchbacked down the mountain through ponderosa pines to the valley below. Then we drove back up the next ridge to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Park. Interestingly, the Park Service doesn't charge admission to Mt. Rushmore (people with senior passes or annual passes could enter free), but they charge for parking that everyone has to pay for. Tricky!
The colonnade and Avenue of Flags provided a dramatic entrance to the main viewing area at Grand View Terrace. We were there early enough in the morning that it wasn't terribly crowded. After we shot the enormous sculptures, we hiked the Presidential Trail, which loops along the base of the mountain, drops down to the Sculptor's Studio, and finally returns to Grand View Terrace. We lucked out by going clockwise around the loop. That saved us from climbing about 100 steps. It's much easier going down the majority of the 237 steps than climbing those steps.
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The highlight of our day was watching 188 people from South Dakota become American citizens. The naturalization ceremony was held in the amphitheater directly below the Grand View Terrace. They do the ceremony annually at Mt. Rushmore, and we just happened to be there on the right day. The majority of the new citizens came from Southeast Asia and Africa. I don't usually associate immigrants from those parts of the world coming to South Dakota, but that shows how out-of-touch I am with modern immigration.
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On our way back to camp, we saw two mountain goats feeding beside the highway. We pulled into a turnout, grabbed our cameras, and began photographing. They were so close and so tame that we didn't even use our long lenses. After we had been photographing them for about 20 minutes, we eventually went back to the car for longer lenses. The only problem with photographing the mountain goats was that they stayed right at the edge of the road. We hoped they would climb the ridge and stand in a rocky outcrop, but they eventually crossed the road (we had to step back to give them room), jumped the guard rail, and then continued feeding right next to the guardrail.
We drove back to camp, had lunch, and then crashed. We woke up in time to make a delicious steak dinner.
We've definitely passed from the high-elevation spring at Yellowstone to summer weather in South Dakota. We're enjoying getting up in the morning without having to turn on the heater or wearing our fleeces at night to keep warm. This morning was gorgeous and in the mid-70's until the clouds rolled in. It's completely overcast now, but it's still very pleasant outside at 9:00 p.m.
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