Note: We visited Mount Rushmore during the Covid-19 Pandemic, so things were a little different than normal.

Perhaps only the Statue of Liberty rivals Mount Rushmore for the most iconic American landmark. In all honesty it is a rather strange feature to have rising out of the Black Hills of South Dakota, perhaps its very novelty is what makes it so iconic. Unlike Four Corners, which turned out to be a huge disappointment, Mount Rushmore is definitely a novel iconic location that you should visit.

How to Get to Mount Rushmore

There are several ways to get to Mount Rushmore depending on your direction of travel. Rapid City is the largest town nearby, if you are coming that way you will take Highway 16 out of town and most of the way, then get on 16a to go to Keystone (nominally Keystone is the town of Mount Rushmore). Just outside of Keystone you get on 244 which will take you to Mount Rushmore.

We actually camped in the town of Custer which is another way that many people come to Mount Rushmore. From Custer the easiest way to get to Mount Rushmore is to take Highway 385 out of town, this will also conveniently take you right past the Crazy Horse Monument, then you get on 244 going East, which will take your right to Mount Rushmore.

I want to say you can’t miss it, and technically that is true. As long as you get on 244 you will not miss seeing the faces of Mount Rushmore, but actually getting in to the parking garage can be a different story. 244 makes a big curve around the Mount Rushmore area, when you are on this curve watch carefully for the signs guiding you to the parking for the monument.

Because Mount Rushmore can be very popular they have built a parking garage to accommodate visitors. Technically entrance to the memorial is free, but parking costs $10. That $10 is good for a year though, so if you want to come back a couple times you can.

What You Will See at Mount Rushmore

There is really just one thing to see at Mount Rushmore, and that is Mount Rushmore. Now there is a visitor center, but since we were there during the pandemic it was closed. I had gone to the visitor center as a kid, but it looks like it has been redone since then so I think it is quite a bit different now.

You have several options for viewing Mount Rushmore, if you go up by the visitor center and gift shop you can see a good view of it straight on. If you want to get close there are two paths, one that is easy and one that involves a lot of stairs. While we were there the easy path was closed for construction, so we got to take the stairs. Technically when both sides are open it can be one trail that is a loop.

To get on the trail we took you need to actually go outside of all the arches and walk to the right (if you are facing the memorial). If the easy path is open you go through the arches and down to the left of the amphitheater. The more difficult way will take you past the sculptors studio. The studio was closed for the pandemic. So, we could only peer inside the windows at the scale model that the sculptors made.

There are a lot of stairs to climb to get up right by the faces. Along the way there are several good lookouts to view them from. It is not a particularly long or difficult hike, unless stairs give you trouble.

Another fun option is to view the memorial at night while the lights are on it. Since we now had a year long pass we thought we might as well go back after dark to see it. It is kind of fun to see.

Why is it called Mount Rushmore?

You, like me, might be wondering why this is called Mount Rushmore. You are in luck because I am going to tell you. In my mind, this should be called something like Presidential Memorial. It turns out that the mountain had a name before they decided to carve the presidents here. A lawyer by the name of Rushmore was traveling through the black hills. He asked what the name of this mountain was. His guide told him that it did not have a name, but from then on they would call it after him.

Yeah, it is actually not a very exciting story, and I don’t know why they didn’t just change it when they made the memorial, but you can read more about it here.

Sum Up

Interestingly, Mount Rushmore is really something akin to a patriotic roadside attraction. There isn’t really a history that relates it to the place that it is. Nothing necessarily connects the four presidents who are depicted here. Crazy Horse actually makes sense in the Black Hills, I don’t know that Mount Rushmore does. It was primarily built to drive tourism, so by visiting it you are fulfilling its purpose. I think you should visit, because it is fun and pretty cool to see.

During normal, non-pandemic, times you can go to the visitor center to learn more about the carving. You can also get an audio guide to use on your walk. Also, there is a patriotic ice cream shop which was pretty good. It claims to use Thomas Jefferson’s own vanilla recipe.

Bathrooms located along avenue of flags as well, which, along with the gift shop, were open during the pandemic.

There is a lot to do in the Black Hills, so while you are visiting you ought to stop by and see the presidents.