Mount Rushmore
Four presidents, 18-meter faces and fourteen years of dynamite in the Black Hills.
Photo: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mount Rushmore guide: the Presidential Trail, evening lighting, the best light for photos, Lakota history, Crazy Horse Memorial and scenic drives in the Black Hills.
In the Black Hills of South Dakota, sculptor Gutzon Borglum and about 400 workers carved the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln into granite between 1927 and 1941. Each face is about 18 meters tall. Most of the rock was removed with carefully placed dynamite, then finished with drills and hand tools.
The short Avenue of Flags leads to the Grand View Terrace, and the Presidential Trail loops beneath the sculpture for closer views. On summer evenings a ranger program ends with the lighting of the monument.
For the Lakota people, the mountain is one of the Six Grandfathers and the Black Hills are sacred land, a story told at the park and at the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, a gigantic mountain carving in progress since 1948. Make time for the Iron Mountain Road, whose tunnels frame the presidents, and for Custer State Park’s bison herds.
Don’t miss
- 1The Grand View Terrace in the morning light
- 2The Presidential Trail beneath the faces
- 3The evening lighting ceremony in summer
- 4Iron Mountain Road, with tunnels that frame the sculpture
Insider tips
- Entry is free; you pay only for parking, and the pass is valid for a year.
- Combine the visit with Custer State Park, the Needles Highway and Crazy Horse Memorial.
- Late summer is busy around the Sturgis motorcycle rally in early August.
Photo gallery
No reviews yet. Been here? Be the first to share your tips!
Traveler reviews