A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity!

What an incredible opportunity we had to hike up to the top of Mt. Rushmore and actually climb on the faces and see spectacular views! My brother-in-law went to high school with someone who works for the National Park Service, and when he found out that they were going to vacation in the Black Hills (and visit me and my family!) he said he could arrange for us to see the faces up close and personal! Here is me and my dd sitting on the edge of George Washington's head with Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln in the background. Yes, we are on the edge, but I tried not to think about that! This hike was definitely not for those afraid of heights!

I took this as we were hiking back down the mountain. The profile of Washington here was so great, I just had to capture it.

This is something the average tourist never gets to see. This is directly behind the faces and is called the Hall of Records. Gutzum Borglum (the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore) originally intended for this to hold other sculptures and records that detailed all about what Mt. Rushmore was, who carved it, why they did it, etc. for a time when this no longer exists. Well, Congress was paying for all this, and said they couldn't fund the Hall of Records as it was 1941 and WW 2 was going on, so it was never finished. There is a granite marker that was put in the Hall of Records a few years back that holds detailed records about Mt. Rushmore, so it fulfills hopefully some of what Borglum wanted put in there.

This is another angle of Jefferson and Lincoln. You may notice that we have no pictures of Teddy Roosevelt. His face is set in further between Jefferson and Lincoln, and from our vantage points, we were never able to see him. The park rangers don't allow people to walk on any of the other heads besides Washington because it's too narrow and dangerous. There is a nice ledge on Lincoln, but getting to it is dangerous.

Here I am with the Park Ranger right on the top of George Washington's head!

This is one of the incredible views from Mt. Rushmore. This is off to the right side of Washington. You can see the road below that goes through Keystone.

This is my dd sitting on the side of George Washington's head. You can see the top of Thomas Jefferson's face and Abraham Lincoln's face.

This is what Mt. Rushmore looks like to the average tourist that comes to see it. I took this right before we left for our hike at 8am Wed. July25.