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What a day! After a morning rain shower in Rapid City, the clouds seemed to be moving away quickly enough for us to drive to Mt. Rushmore and see it under clear skies. That much worked out as we hoped. Although no one may recognize us traveling incognito, we are, indeed, the two characters depicted below:
The monument was beautiful. Changes since I was last here in 1978 allow closer access to the mountain.
What an incredible and audacious achievement!
After several pleasant, sunny hours at Mt. Rushmore, we headed for Crazy Horse mountain to check on progress there. However, before we reached that site, we were overtaken by one powerful thunderstorm, which blanketed the area in a blizzard of hailstones. It kept on and on and on! We pulled over and stopped several different times, waiting for the storm to pass, before reaching the town of Custer. Pulling into a small drive-in restaurant, we joined a group of bikers who had already found shelter for themselves and their bikes:
The town of Custer even had the snow plow out for this one. However, the bikers still weren’t too sure how soon they could safely drive home.
With Crazy Horse and the Needles Highway out of the question, we headed for the lower elevation of Wind Cave National Park. Though rainy outside, the weather underground was, as it always is, fairly dry. Wind Cave has no stalagmites or stalactites to admire. Instead, its claim to fame is in its miles of complex passageways and intricate Boxwork formations:
This photo shows a typical ceiling area of Boxwork, the “boxes” being several inches across.
Although the weather altered our plans for the day, we were pleased to have seen Mt. Rushmore under such ideal conditions and make it back to our hotel none the worse for our ice storm experience.