south dakota: custer state park, mt rushmore, and crazy horse

I'm pretty sure that in an earlier post I mentioned renting a Prius. I loved it. Quiet, (almost eerily so,) very fuel efficient, easy to handle. When I showed up at the car rental place for this 'trip' I saw the Prius in the parkplatz, yahoo. The lady gave me the Prius again, yippee!
Then I started driving west. A long way west. A very long way west. I ended the day in Hot Springs, South Dakota. (According to google maps, I drove approximately 925 miles.) along the way I stopped twice, for petrol and food. Again, I bought unhealthy food, as that is by far the easiest and cheapest you'll find close to most highway stops.
The Prius seemed to be the most efficient around 60mph. The speed limit in South Dakota is 80mph, so I was able to get across that state faster than other states.

Upon arrival, I used google maps to find my hotel. Unfortunately, Google suggested I drive on a road that was blocked off. Thankfully, hot springs is a small town, I was able to drive around a bit and get where I needed to go.
After checkin I headed down the street to a diner. I walked in the door ten minutes before closing time, without realizing it, but the place still served me without complaint. Grilled cheese, yum! And blueberry pie for dessert. More yum!
The next morning I woke up early (I was still on Chicago time, which is an hour ahead of most of South Dakota,)  but didn't get up to the hotel breakfast until 730am. The breakfast was included in my price, I was disappointed in the offering. All carbs, except for the hard boiled eggs. Powdered donuts, muffins, toast, rolls. Only coffee and milk to drink.

I grabbed my camelbak (loaded with 3L of water, and pretzels,) and cameras, then got in the car again. I drove to Custer State Park, less than 45 minutes away. The entry fee was $15, (per car,) and good for a week. I remember seeing some complaints about the fee, but I thought it was more than reasonable, especially considering it was per car and good for a week.
I found the visitor/information center easily enough. The Rangers working the desk handed me maps, and answered all my questions. I always end up asking a few ridiculous questions in addition to normal questions. They showed me where I could find hiking trails all over the park, and gave suggestions along the lines of what I wanted while hiking.
Even though I was in Custer state park, the Rangers told me how to get to Mt Rushmore, which is outside park boundaries. It's a national monument.

Armed with my maps and information, I started driving again. I found the road that basically leads straight to Mt Rushmore. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, with beautiful landscape views along the way. I pulled off the road a few times to take photos and just enjoy the views.
The road to Rushmore is called needles highway, because of some of the rock formations in the park. There are a lot of switchbacks on the road, you never get to go fast because there are always very sharp turns coming up. There are three places where a natural tunnel frames Mt Rushmore (though to it through the second one you have to turn around backward, which isn't very safe) which requires slowing down because everyone wants to stop and take photos.
Finally, I got to Mt Rushmore. 

Or, at the least, the parkplatz. (Parkplatz is one of my favorite words, I much prefer it to 'parking lot.') Mt Rushmore is the only thing to see there, but they charge $11 for parking!!!! Sure, it's good for a week, but I reckon the maximum number of times anyone sees the mountain is twice. Once during the day, and maaaaybe once again after it gets dark, when the faces are lit up for a little while. $11!!!!! Ridiculous.
After parking, I followed the crowds. It's not difficult to figure out where to go. There are a couple 'gates' built of stone blocks, people like to pose in front of those for photos.
The first one is at the start of the alley of flags. There are 54 flags: one for each state, 1 for Washington DC, and 1 for each US territory. The flags are posted in order of when they became states, it's kinda fun to hunt around to find your flag and see where it stands. (Indiana is the 19th state, which happened at the end of 1816.)

There are two viewing platforms to look at Mt Rushmore. Both have bleacher seats, the lower platform has many more seats. Occasionally there are performances of various kinds in this amphitheater.
The two of you reading this blog already know the basics of Mt Rushmore, but for anyone else who stumbles onto this post, here are the facts of Mt Rushmore: it's a mountain with the faces of four of the most prominent U.S. presidents carved into the rock. The presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Construction started in 1927, the monument was opened to the public in 1941. The faces are 18m tall.
Before seeing the mountain, I was expecting to be wowed. But I wasn't. Yes, it was impressive, but it didn't seem as big as I had thought it would seem.

There is a short trail that gets a bit closer to the mountain, but it doesn't get super close. I wish it was possible to get a whole lot closer, to 'feel' how big the faces are.
I hopped back in the car, and started driving toward my next destination. Crazy Horse memorial has been under construction since 3 June 1948, it isn't anywhere close to being finished. I wonder if there is a projected finishing date. When finished, this memorial will be HUGE. Heaps bigger than Mt Rushmore.
Again, parking was $11. Argh. Sure, it's good for a week, but does anyone see this one more than once? This memorial is being funded by private monies, they don't get federal dollars. My parking fee is funding the construction of the memorial. Judging by the number of people visiting, I can't imagine funding being a problem, at all. 

My parking fee got me a little ticket that allowed me into the visitor center. Inside there were historical displays, and a model of what the finished memorial will look like. You also have the opportunity to watch a video about the family doing the entire memorial. A Polish immigrant family.
Visitors can pay another $4 to take a bus a little closer to the memorial, but you don't have the chance to get out and walk around. I didn't take the bus ride, I was a bit annoyed by the money grubbing feel of everything.
Back in my car I drove into the town of Custer. It's in the state park, it is mostly full of tourists now. A few of the buildings look like the old west, and there was a good (but overpriced) bakery. I liked my piece of red velvet cake roll. 

On the way back out the other side of the park, I followed the wilderness loop. If you take a tour with a ranger, they point out more animals, but all I saw were buffalo. I'd read stories of traffic being stopped by buffalo crossing the road, but I didn't think it would happen to me. But it did! Very very cool. Also a little scary, as they are big, and strong. You can't tell what they're going to do. When they are grazing close to the road, everyone slows down and stops to take photos. Awesome.
That night I went back to the same diner as the night before. YUM.
The next day I again had another carb loaded breakfast, then filled up my camelbak. I drove back to Custer state park, and talked to the Rangers a bit more.

My first hike of the day was through the Needles. Cathedral Spires trail. Only a mile and a half each way, but absolutely beautiful. I loved it. Beautiful, natural formations of rock; quiet except for a few other random hikers.
Then I drove to a small lake, called Sylvan lake. Parking was a bit of a challenge, it was pretty crowded. There are plenty of people camping or staying in cabins in the park, this is a popular area.  The lake is pretty, I liked it.
I walked around the entire lake, which only took about 20 minutes. (Well, it might've been longer because I kept stopping to take photos and enjoy the scenery.)
Then I had to make a choice for my second hike of the day. Both options sounded good, but one was 3-4 hours, and the other was 4-5 hours. I wanted to do both trails, but didn't have the time.

I chose the hike that took me to Harney Peak. The longer hike of the two. Harney Peak is the highest mountain west of the Rockies, if I read the signs correctly.
The whole circle took me around 5 hours, for a few reasons. One, my normal stops to take photos and enjoy the many views. On a clear day you can see really far at various points along the trail. Another reason was that I added a small bit, to get to Little Devils Tower on my way back. Well worth the extra bit. I liked climbing up the rock, and figuring out how to get down without falling.
The end of the trail had a lot of down, my legs were pretty well wrecked, in a good way.
Another dinner at the diner that night!