Mt Rushmore and then to KS

Just before arriving at the park we passed through a small town. I don't remember the name, but it was sure full of tourist stuff. Luckily for us, it was all closed for the season. But we could envision the place teeming with tourists, scooping up knick knacks and such.

Arriving at Mt. Rushmore, we paid the fee ($11.00 for parking, no entrance fee) and drove into the parking structure with the mongo truck (just barely fit). The place was nearly empty. We walked up the main thoroughfare and there they were (the stone heads) looking out from the side of a mountain. Very impressive. We explored the visitors center and read about the history and making of the monument. Then we had some fun. Since it had snowed the day before, there was about 4-6" of snow on the ground. The hiking trail that brings you up close and personal to the 'stone heads' was closed. We hopped the yellow tape and set off down (up really) the trail. Now we really had it all to ourselves. It was amazing. Especially the shaggy mountain goat that popped up in our picture. It was a short, slippery hike of about a mile. It circled back to the parking lot.

Next stop was the 'Badlands'. The Badlands is large geographically, so we had to narrow our point of focus. We determined a route and then set out. It was a couple hours of travel and then you saw the land change drastically. It looked like small sets of craggy mountains of varying colors. We stopped and did a couple of short hikes out into the crags. It was amazing. Check out the pics.

Finally it was time to hit the road and get further east so we could make it to Chanute by tomorrow night. We made it to Mitchel, SD and found a hotel that looked safe but was a bit over priced. Oh well, we had to get some sleep.