Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a must-stop near Rapid City, South Dakota. This is Day 2 of Paul and Drew’s road trip from Washington to Florida. You can read more about our road trip at: Driving from Washington to Florida in 5 Days. We are staying in Rapid City tonight and found out Mount Rushmore is open at night. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national treasure and we’re not going to miss a chance to see it.
Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the country outside of Washington, DC. It has the carved heads of 4 of the nation’s most important presidents. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are carved into the granite face. These presidents represent the nation’s birth, growth, development and preservation. This famous sculpture has been popularized in many movies and TV shows. You can read more about it at: Mount Rushmore National Memorial (nps.gov).
Getting To Mount Rushmore
When we planned our road trip, we knew we would not make it to Mount Rushmore during the day. Luckily, we found out it is open at night so we have to make a stop here. From our hotel in Rapid City off I-90, we turn onto Mt Rushmore Rd which takes us straight there. It is about a 30 minute drive through our side of Rapid City. On the way, we drive through the small town of Keystone, which is completely shut down. When we were scouting hotels close to Mount Rushmore, we found one here. However, not only is the hotel closed, but so are all the tourist attractions here including gas stations. We now know why we couldn’t book a hotel here.
When we get to Mount Rushmore, we see some entrance gates. However, there is no one here to collect fees. Normally it is $10 per vehicle, but we have our national parks annual pass anyways. So, we continue through the gates to a parking garage. The garage is basically empty. There is no one here to guide us so we find a parking spot close to an exit. We go through the exit up some stairs to the outside.
Walking Toward the Monument
Once out of the parking garage, we see a lot of construction cones and barriers around the front entrance. We see an arrow pointing left, so we walk around the park entrance. It takes us past some restrooms and we are in. We cannot see the monument yet, but see the information center is closed. It is now after 7:00PM, and everything is closed. So, we continue walking the paved walkway past another building containing a gift shop and café. Once past, we see the Avenue of Flags.
The Avenue of Flags has a flag for each state along the sides of the walkway. It is neat to see the flags, though there is currently construction here as well. There is a fence and cones blocking off half of the walkway. We can only imagine what this would look like with no construction going on. Just past the last flags is the Grand View Terrace.
Grand View Terrace at Mount Rushmore
The walkway ends at the Grand View Terrace. And from here, we can see Mount Rushmore clearly lit up at night. We can see the 4 presidents easily, and try to take some pictures. Though we try, it is difficult with the sculpture being lit up at night. It is also cold, but we’re the only ones here at the moment, and have the monument to ourselves. We just admire the view in person for a little while.
Everything is dark around the mountain except for the large lights shining on the presidents. There are green trees surrounding the mountain, so you can’t see much else. One other person shows up here while we are looking, but otherwise we’ve had Mount Rushmore to ourselves. Below us we can see an amphitheater and we find some stairs on the left leading down. So, we head down to check it out.
Amphitheater and Visitor Center
Once we take the stairs from the Grand View Terrace, we are right at top of the amphitheater. And behind us is the visitor center, which of course if closed. It is shame it is not open as it looks really nice and has a bookstore inside. And it is cold and it would have been nice to go inside for a bit. So, we just peek inside instead.
From here we get a closer view of Mount Rushmore and the presidents. The view is amazing, and we try to get some pictures with our camera phones. We zoom in closer though it’s still hard to get a good shot on our outdated phones. After we think we had a few, we head back. As we are walking back through the Avenue of Flags, we see one family. Only the second people we’ve seen. For about 15 minutes, we felt like we had Mount Rushmore to ourselves.
Summary
Pictures at night do not do Mount Rushmore justice. It really is an amazing site to see in person. And having it to ourselves for 15 minutes was great. Though one day, we’d like to return during the day when everything is open and no construction. There is even a short trail that takes you even closer to the base of Mount Rushmore. We hope to return with the rest of the family soon when we can spend more time here. But we enjoyed seeing Mount Rushmore National Memorial at night!
Other Stops This Day
Check out our other stops on our road trip at these 2 national parks: