Quiet nights at Mount Rushmore

In the spaces below the Black Hills, the shadows grow long early in the evening. 

Deer grew common past Crazy Horse through Keystone and along the flat, high-ground portion of Rapid City. The afternoon sun lit up Thunderhead Mountain, where the sculpture of the Lakota war leader is gradually emerging from the rock. 

On the way into Rapid City, one can take the easy route through Hill City or the winding road that rises up to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. On my first visit to the Black Hills in three-plus years, the harder road was the easy choice. 

Mount Rushmore sits on too many bucket lists for the national memorial to ever be deserted. On this overcast April evening, the plazas and amphitheater below the silent sculptures seem practically empty when just a few dozen people visit. After this visit, I never expect to enter Mount Rushmore that empty again. 

A quick trip on South Dakota Route 244, part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, swings through a stunning group of mountains topped by rock pillars. Patches of snow were still common. On one mountain, snow filled a notch between two massive rocks and created the illusion of daylight between them. 

One signature approach to Mount Rushmore was completely empty, so empty that I missed it the first time. By fluke, sculptor Gutzon Borglum has placed George Washington’s head to where it can be seen in profile from the side of Mount Rushmore. In the original design, Thomas Jefferson would have obscured Washington, but only the first president gets a solo profile. Borglum found the rock quality poor and blasted off the initial Jefferson face, starting anew on Washington’s other side. You can see the marks where the rock was blasted away. As a result, those who stop get quality solo time with Washington. This evening, most people sped past. 

The actual memorial looked closed from the highway. Much of the giant parking area at Mount Rushmore was fenced off due to low visitor numbers. A major snowstorm hit the Black Hills a week earlier so winter weather was still a factor in mid-spring. Plus, it was 6 p.m. on a weeknight. 

The four presidents’ heads are each 60 feet tall. But the mountain makes them look small. I like that, as the mountain still holds sway, not the sculpture. 

Mount Rushmore can never exist free of controversy. The Black Hills were taken from the Sioux Nation, and four American presidents stare down from their sacred mountain. They were a key location in a spiritual journey taken by Black Elk, the Lakota holy man. 

In the 1880s, a mining company attorney Charles Rushmore, upon hearing it had no name, decided it should be named for him. For better or worse, the name stuck. 

Of course, the mountain already had a Lakota name. The Lakota called it the Six Grandfathers, a nod to the soaring rocks that top it. At least that name has some character. 

The boulevard of flags had reopened since my 2019 visit, along with numerous other facilities. But the evening quiet of the memorial was most appealing. Fewer people made the place friendlier. Strangers asked strangers to take group pictures. 

You can experience Mount Rushmore with crowds, light shows and even fireworks displays. But I’ll take the sculpture under overcast skies and with few people anytime.