Mount Rushmore

South Dakota provided a chance to tick off another thing on my US Bucket list- Mount Rushmore! I tried to squeeze activities into a couple of awesome days, but ultimately, I was only passing through.

Game plan: Depart accommodation in Sioux Falls, see Badlands National Park & Mt. Rushmore and head for the border in Wyoming.

I crossed most of South Dakota today, after a few hours driving, jamming to my USA playlist. The weather began to turn, hiding the sun behind the clouds and some fog set in. Stopped for gas and determined that the Badlands National Park car entry was $25 – it was already 2pm after losing an hour across time zones. This meant I would be driving at night if I have a proper afternoon of exploring. I made the executive decision to continue driving, I told myself that I need to leave SOME things for when I return to the US. It was pretty disappointed to make a detour, (I had spent the morning bopping to Badlands, by Bruce Springsteen). For the poor weather conditions and the cost for barely 1 afternoon, it made sense to continue. I drove toward the border, in Custer, for Mt. Rushmore, and my (yet to be booked) accommodation for the night.

Good ol’ Booking.com hasn’t failed me yet, I have been able to book a hotel/Airbnb and check-in within the hour, this entire trip! It’s one unexpected perk of off-season travel, the ability to show up at 5pm and find hotels with vacancies. My travel plans change minute to minute so this flexibility is super convenient for someone without a plan.

There was little to no traffic, the entire town was closed. Wooden shopfronts and stores looked theatrical and ye olde, I’ll have to come back and look around when business is booming in the Summer. I drove through the mountains and stopped beside Mt. Rushmore for a look around. The memorial is free to visit, and there are partial viewpoints on the road outside the monument. I pulled into the carpark for the visitor centre and main observation deck/auditorium, parking was $10.

To my disbelief, I was one of two people there. The monument itself is kind of underwhelming, perhaps it was the cloudy and overcast day, or the actual size of the sculpture (it’s smaller than you think!). I couldn’t help but think of the movie Richie Rich when the family hides their heirlooms inside the mountain. I tried to set my phone up on the trash can and take some self-timer pictures. There was nobody around to ask to take a picture for me. It was freezing outside, but I had a decent look around and facetimed my family, then headed down into the museum and information centre. They had a lot of artefacts and videos about the original engineering and construction of the mountain. It was really interesting to see the original plans, and how it was altered due to faults in the rockface.

There is a free partial-viewpoint of the memorial on the mountain road however it is not a great angle. I was happy to pay and have a look inside the museum and the visitor centre and escape the cold! I spent around 1 hr here took my pictures, admired the craftsmanship, and did some learning. They had many artefacts and videos of the construction process, making some history.

I booked a last-minute room at the Eagle’s Landing Lodge, about 15mins from the memorial.

Custer State National Park

Departing the Lodge in the morning, I hit the road and drove into Custer National Park, purchased my pass and headed toward the visitor centre.

Online I had seen an Instagram reel about a ‘Bison carwash’, and a drive through tunnel in the park. I needed to know about trail closures for the season and what to expect, so I stopped and met a lovely volunteer named Denny. I grabbed a map and had some questions, is this even appropriate terrain for my 2WD in mid-winter? He was so knowledgeable and made me feel at ease encountering animals on the wildlife loop, he had lots of information. I headed toward the hill and held my breath for a brief moment as the Celica hit the ice, but she was cruising.

A short drive along the park roads gave me some confidence that the conditions were safe enough for me to proceed, I finally saw the herd of Bison from afar and pulled over to take a picture of them on the hill.

I continued slowly around the corner and found a few more animals just off the side of the road, I pulled over to take another picture. Half considered getting out to read the signage and even setting up my camera to take a remote picture of the car and I.

Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a huge herd who were all taking a keen interest in my car. The Bison are known to lick the salt from the roads off of the car, hence the ‘carwash’. I was stuck for a good half an hour.

It was hilarious watching them lick across my windows and try and scratch themselves against my tiny car, the whole thing was shaking as they nudged my spoiler and tucked my side mirrors in. I hadn’t cleaned my car in months, so they had a lot of work to do.

I got some fantastic photos, and I could not stop laughing. I almost wish I had someone to share the experience with – an Aussie who had never seen Bison before and here I was, (safe as anything), surrounded by a tonne of wild animals.

It was so funny and honestly blew the pants off of Mt. Rushmore. What a day.

I headed toward the border that afternoon and made it into Montana. It was a successful state crossing, I saw some new things, covered some miles. Yet another state I would really like to come back to visit!

Hilary