Tuesday: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

After packing up Tuesday morning we headed down Route 16 to see Mount Rushmore. It was well done and we took a short hike to view it from different areas. We then headed to the Crazy Horse Monument, which is still being carved. Tim read somewhere that it won’t be finished for several generations. Since you can see the head from the road, and that’s the only part that’s done, we decided to forego the $20 admission fee and continue on our journey. We did a lot of driving through the Black Hills, which were gorgeous. We saw many deer on the side of the road. We took a little detour to Pactola Lake Recreation Area and decided that since it was already 4:00 we’d stay at a campground there. The tenting sites looked down on the reservoir—it was a very pretty location. There was a store with some provisions so we bought some broasted chicken (just like fried chicken, only better! according to the nice woman Nancy who ran the store) and headed to our site. We’re happy to report that our second night of camping was vastly better than our first. We went to bed around 9:30 and woke up at 7:30 the next morning!
Our campground.