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Honestly, Tumblebug, it's not nearly as big of a monument as it copies in pictures. When I was there about 12 years ago, I wasn't able to get the last tour. The walk, as I understand it, with the tour guide, is about 2 hours long. If you don't take the tour, you can get as close to maybe 1500 feet of the mountain face.
The really big monument is Crazy Horse, which is about 15 miles away. When I was there, it was still in partial stages of completion, but my understanding is that is near complete.
This might be a good topic to bring over to the South Dakota board, actually.
I've seen it, back in 1990 or 1991 on a "western" road trip from Minneapolis via S. Dakota, Denver, and back up through St. Louis. Mt. Rushmore is a must-see if you are on that trek, but I'm curious where you are coming from. If, say, you were from Florida and you wanted to take a trip JUST to see Rushmore, I'd say don't waste your time. I'd compare it to say, the Statue of Liberty or the Sears Tower in terms of attractiveness, and there is a park nearby and the Black Hills with lots more amenities. If you want to take a S. Dakota trip sometime and visit the Black Hills, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, etc. I would highly recommend it if it's cost-efficient. It's a pretty cool and original part of this country that feels "wild".
Honestly, Tumblebug, it's not nearly as big of a monument as it copies in pictures. When I was there about 12 years ago, I wasn't able to get the last tour. The walk, as I understand it, with the tour guide, is about 2 hours long. If you don't take the tour, you can get as close to maybe 1500 feet of the mountain face.
The really big monument is Crazy Horse, which is about 15 miles away. When I was there, it was still in partial stages of completion, but my understanding is that is near complete.
This might be a good topic to bring over to the South Dakota board, actually.
It's nowhere near complete! It's way too expensive to complete and nobody has the resources. All that has been completed is the face of Crazy Horse and the top of the horse's head.
Saw it several years ago on a motorcycle trip across the country. It was [more or less] on my route, so it was worth stopping. After seeing it, I would not recommend going extremely out of your way to see it.
We were there for ....... 20 minutes before moving on. Not much else you can do.
I have seen it. I seem to remember a lot of walking. It was ok but not really "worth a trip from anywhere" The little town next door was kind of cute as well with lots of tourist things and shops.
The wife and I saw it in 1994 on trip from Ohio to Wyoming to Salt Lake on a vacation to see family in Utah and Wyoming.
It is worth going out of your way to see Mt Rushmore if you are in that part of the country but I wouldn't have driven from Ohio just to see that. But we did want to see it since that might be our only time out west.
We enjoyed our stop there and glad we did get to see Mt Rushmore. You can also see parts of the Oregon trail, Devils Tower, Black Hills, and Independance Rock if you want to do some driving.
We saw it all except Independance Rock. By that time we just wanted to get to Salt Lake and my wifes sisters house and rest up.
I still kinda regret we didn't plan different and see that too. I don't expect to ever be out that way again by car.
If you do go, plan your trip to see all you have time for. There are museums and old west towns and many things to stop and see and it is beautifull country. We stopped at an 1880's town and Buffalo ranch which was also very interesting.
It was the best vacation we ever had by car and although we went miles off our direct route to see these things it was worth it. A fun trip seeing things we will never see again.
We had family to go to and spend time with. But I think a trip across the country might well be worth it if you visit all that is available in that part of the country to see. But I don't think it would be worth going for just one single attraction.
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