Through America's Heartland – Black Hills South Dakota

Society Travel & Tourism
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Pictures from a trip to see the famous Mt. Rushmore, crossing north eastern Colorado, eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota. Here is a map of US with the area highlighted, for those who are weak in geography.

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To be more exact.

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So, we started kinda late on Saturday (yesterday) morning and were totally ready for the boring first few hours. Those who have ever traveled through Kansas or Nevada Dessert, rest assured that eastern Colorado is not any different. It is considered high dessert. Actually all of the front range of the Rockies above New Mexico falls more or less into the same criteria. It is usually windy and trees are hard to find, but hey, at least the traffic is great (hardly anyone on the road).

Anyway, my wife had the camera and she shot pictures at will.

As most of you who live in the east coast of the great land are generally used to trees and greenery on both sides of the interstate. Especially in the great planes and I have traveled through most of the east coast several times but here in the west the trees are few and far between. Generally if you see a tree which is not the ‘ever green’ kind, it has most probably been planted by someone. Anyway, here is what you see on both sides of the interstate I-25 most of the way.

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The state of Wyoming claims that they do have wildlife, which I am sure they do but kinda hard to spot.

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There are some interesting spots here and there along the way. Especially the mountains/hills beside changed as we headed north. First there are just small grassy hills, then they start to get rocky (red rocks) and then you finally start to see some trees on ‘em too.

Farming seems to be a summer endeavor and as it is still March the most you could see of the farm lands are the live stocks.

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The roads are empty and if they do turn west (we are going north-east) you can see the Rockies and on a clear day (unlike yesterday) they would look wonderful. I am sure on our way back we will be able to witness some of that.

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As I said traffic was great, hardly anyone on the road and so chasing trains seemed an exciting thing to do.

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Snow started to cover the grassy land around as we approached close to the South Dakota state line.

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And more snow covered grass.

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Finally we reached the state line and hoped to see something exciting!!

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Ah, some green & good size hills.

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Some more.

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We drove through a couple of forests and then made it to civilization in the form of a town called Rapid City. It’s not too big, not too small, typical western town. I would say the population is no bigger than some of the suburbs of NYC or DC but as you can actually get a cell phone service and a couple of fast food places, it's far better to stay here than in the mountains, unless off course you are ready to do some camping.

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So, this morning we headed out to go see the Presidents! First a look at the planes/Rapid City from hills.

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Mt. Rushmore is about 20-25 miles from Rapid City and highway [16] is pretty good, so you can easily make it in half hour. There is an $8 annual enterance fee/per car and your year around ‘National Parks’ pass wouldn’t do jack for you.

Here is how the Presidents look at the first glance as you enter the site.

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There are about 5/6 levels of parking and even though we made it there around mid-afternoon on a cold/windy day, most of the lots were full. Now, I am sure if we go there again tomorrow, there would be hardly anyone there as it is going to be a weekday.

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The good thing is that a lot of old people visit there and thus the whole area is handicap accessible. So it was kinda easy for us to get our daughter in her stroller and walk on. Otherwise I would have had to carry her in my hiking gear which was not a problem when she was less than 20 lbs but now … :silly:

As you enter the main gate, there are flags of all the states along with information on when they became part of the union - you can see at the bottom of this next pic.

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Ok, here are some close-ups of the presidents:

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Those who are unfamiliar with the history behind the monument, they were envisioned by a state historian Doane Robinson in 1923 and bring to life by a sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who died shortly after they were completed in 1938-39.

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The head of George Washington was formally dedicated in 1930, followed by Jefferson in 1936, Ab Lincoln in 1937 and Roosevelt in 1939.

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There is a trail/parameter around the monument where you can walk. Not all of it is four-wheels accessible as I later found out but you can get some close-up pictures. There is a amphitheatre, which would be a cool place for a concert and a then there is a bookstore/gift shop along with two movie theaters that show a 10 minute long infomercial about the monument with some great footage.

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We also went to see Mt. Crazy Horse, (I am sure you all have seen the movie) which is actually work in progress.

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After it is done it will look something like this (I didn’t take the following picture).

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To spend the rest of the evening, we roamed around the black hills and surrounding lakes. Some of the scenery is really divine.

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Tomorrow we plan to do some more sight seeing around the same area, do some shopping, and if we get a chance do some hiking on the trails as well. Which reminds me, I better get to bed and get some rest! :-)

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Very nice thread ahmedjee. I spent a few years in Rapid city myself and have recently moved to Chicago. I couldnt have written a better diary of events myself :)
If y ou get a chance, see the badlands. They are awesome too! And you gotta go to the national parks so Misbah can get excited seeing buffalos, little rabbits, mountain goats etc roaming around! have fun!

Hello World!
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Ira, there was a Desi, let alone a Pakistani soul in Rapid City? W.O.W

Any Desi resturants around?

Hello World!
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People actually go to places like Dakotas..like, where is the party?

Looks nice…Mount Rushmore is a piece of art that everyone should witness and appreciate. I’m sure the pictures don’t do justice to the magnitude of these carvings. It’s amazing how gora generates tourism out of nothing.

The drive looks quite boring though…but I am sure the little one kept you busy. You have very cute daughter mashallah.

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Nice pics ahmadjee :k:

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Lol ahmedjee! there are a few desis around, trust me. Most of them are indians ofcourse. A few bengali families and the only paki family just left. But anyhow, dont get too excited, no desi resturants around. A good place to eat is BJ Grinders on main street (atleast I loved their pizza ). Also a place called Saigon on East North St is awesome chinese/veitnamese cuisine. Both are family owned small places to eat.

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nice pictures..hope you had fun

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You forgot to mention the lack of radio stations as well ( I know most desis would have a Urdu/Hindi tape in the stereo).
You should stop at the Teepee stores along the highways and check out the handi-crafts they make.

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I think we drove through part of the Dakotas on our way to Seattle - gosh what boring country that was!

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lol. beautiful pics by the way.

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Nice pictures. Maps too! Now thats my kinda thread.

Never been there, but will. I am voluntarily off US soil till Jan 09.

Those were good presidents.

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Ira, I didn't get a chance to go to BJs though I did made it to that Chainese/Vit place. We also ate at some of the other local resturants on main street and the food wasn't too bad. Thank you.

Tofibaba, yes good radio stations are hard to find but after traveling in places like southern Taxes, Kentucy & parts of AK I have realized that NPR is the best bet. You can always find it .. If we get too bored we just sit quietly and enjoy the peaceful ride.

It snowed all day Sunday and so we couldn't hike up the trails like we wanted to but we did get to see some more lakes and visited the Nature musem which had some cool Native American Artifacts. Another thing in the west which is hard to find in the east is the Indian Reservations. It is kinda sad if you visit some of them cos they are overall very poor. Some have almost 40-50% unemployment. Most of the grocery stores are employee thoses natives at probably min. vages.