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Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Clearly if you are an American, Mount Rushmore is a place you might want to visit. For me, and probably for many others, it is little more than a tick in the box.

An interesting spectacle, but not on quite the grand scale I had expected. Well presented, with a reasonably impressive son et lumiere show in the evening and a large visitor centre, just about sums it up for me.

We made a couple of days of the trip out here, visiting Badlands, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park and a few other local spots. The lower pictures are of Golden Valley, I believe it was called.

This valley was the highlight. Crazy Horse Memorial was, for us, typical of the usual unfriendly Indian rip off sort of place, Deadwood was more dead than anything else.

Badlands was a drive through. Nice, interesting, unusual - we had a little run in with a couple of small rattlesnakes there - but by and large, this is an area for relaxation, taking in the sights and ticking a few boxes.

There are many places I would return to in the US, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Olympic, perhaps these great places are just too good. They overwhelm Mount Rushmore and the area around. I even preferred the one hit wonder of Devils Tower to this.

Well now we've been to Deadwood, the Black Hills, Rapid City, but I wouldn't return without jolly good reason.

Mount Rushmore pictures
mount rushmore
golen valley
south dakota
windy road
badlands bus
All images Copyright Avery Little