5/21/09: Mount Rushmore

Today, we left Alliance, Nebraska to go to Hot Springs, South Dakota to position for Day 2 possibilities. As has become the usual, we stopped at a local Subway and grabbed lunch. We arrived at Hot Springs around 2 p.m. (MDT), and so it was a little early for the 3 p.m. check-in time. However, the nice clerk let us check in early. Since we were in quite a scenic area (the Badlands/Black Hills), we all decided that we would take an afternoon trip. Some went hiking, some went fishing, and some went to Mount Rushmore. Since I hadn’t seen Rushmore in almost two decades, I decided that I would go there.

I was the navigator for this particular trip. For directions, I used a map that I had found at the hotel in Hot Springs, and it wasn’t a very good one. As a result, I managed to find the most inefficient method of getting to Rushmore. We saw a sign: “Mount Rushmore – 31 Miles.” Fifteen minutes later, we saw another sign: “Mount Rushmore – 33 Miles.” What in the world?! How we got so off track, I’ll never know. Anyway, we found a curvy, po-dunk path called “Iron Mountain Road.” Since we’d taken a mobile mesonet, we were very concerned about low clearance (the instruments on top of the van reached ~12 feet). We encountered several one lane bridges carved out of rock, but we were able to get under with little trouble. On our way out of the last one, we finally caught a glimpse of Mount Rushmore.

We stopped a ways off from Rushmore to get a bit of the context surrounding it. After that, we drove to the main location. When we arrived, we noted that several V2 teams were already there including the NO-XP and UMass groups. We walked through the corridor with all the flags and then stopped to take pictures in front of Rushmore. There was a little walking path nearby, so we walked along that for about 40 minutes. To be honest, I was quite ready to leave after only 15 minutes or so. I suppose that’s because the Presidents don’t really change expression. In any case, it was pretty fun, and I can check that box off (I didn’t remember much of the trip as a child).