Was It Worth It?
Mount Rushmore National Memorial

​Posted February 11, 2026, by Janet Wolfe

What It Is

Sixty-foot high carvings of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.  Chosen by sculptor Gutzon Borglum for their dedication to America’s birth, growth, development, and preservation during the most important events in U.S. history (through 1927, when work on Mount Rushmore began), these “presidents” have become one of America’s most popular and most iconic tourist attractions.

Where It Is

Keystone, South Dakota

When We Went

August 2021

What We Did

We did what everyone else goes there to do: stared in breathless wonder at the 60-foot high faces.  In addition, we sat in the amphitheater and enjoyed the scenery while the kids worked on their Junior Ranger badges; walked the Presidential Trail; watched the nightly, 45-minute lighting ceremony; and bought souvenirs.

Visitors can also hike the Blackberry Trail, explore the museum, and examine exhibits inside the Sculptor's Studio and/or the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center.   We spent a little time in the Studio, but not much.

How Much We Spent

Very little, if you don’t count souvenirs.  Entrance into the park is free (no America the Beautiful Pass needed), and reservations are not required.  You will, however, need to pay $10 to park at the memorial’s facilities, which are managed by Xanterra Travel Collection®.

How Much Time We Spent There

About four hours. We arrived around 6:30 p.m., after spending about three hours at the Crazy Horse Memorial, and left around 10:30 p.m.

What We Liked

I was concerned that we would be a little disappointed with our visit.  After all, we’ve all seen images of Mount Rushmore in books and in movies: how much different could it really be in person?  

The answer: very different.  

We loved walking along the Avenue of the Flags.  Wide and lined with 56 flags and plenty of bench seating, this lovely gateway to the memorial was both a grand and picturesque way to approach the famous carvings.

We also liked being able to get closer to the carvings via the Presidential Trail.  To get closer to the Crazy Horse Memorial, you have to pay an additional fee and catch a bus ride to the base, which we didn’t do.  At Mount Rushmore, you simply follow a paved trail.

The fact that Mount Rushmore is such a big, no pun intended, attraction and costs so little is a plus, too.

What We Didn't Like

The Presidential Trail is nothing to sneeze at.  A “scenic loop,” it begins on one end of the Grand View Terrace, takes you under the big faces, and ends on the opposite end of the Grand View Terrace.  Facing the carvings, we turned left and started the trail on the paved portion.  Made to be wheelchair accessible, this 0.2-mile section of the 0.6-mile trail is nice and flat.  It’s also exciting.  After all, with every step you take, those faces in the distance get just a little bigger and closer until you eventually find yourself standing below them.

From there, however, the trail descends 262 steps to the Sculptor’s Studio and then ascends another 160 steps back to the Grand View Terrace.  Because you’re on stairs and facing away from the carvings, this part of the “scenic” loop isn’t very scenic (unless you like looking at trees).  If you’re not a big fan of stairs, or if you need to push a stroller or wheelchair and can’t do stairs, this part is less enjoyable.  I suggest walking the paved portion and then backtracking.  

We also short-changed ourselves a bit with the nightly lighting ceremony, a 45-minute program that includes a pre-lighting history lesson in the amphitheater.  I was still a little leary of sitting en masse with strangers (it was 2021), so we chose to sit on a bench at the back of the terrace instead of inside the amphitheater.  As a result, we couldn’t see anything that was going on on the stage or screen during the first part of the show (we could hear it, though).  We could only see (albeit very clearly) the presidents’ faces when the illumination began. 


Was it worth it? 

Absolutely.  We were adequately impressed by the grandness of the Avenue of the Flags and by the immenseness of the presidents, particularly from the Presidential Trail.  You don’t appreciate just how big the carvings are or just how much work went into the details until you’re looking up Thomas Jefferson’s ginormous nostrils.  We were a little bored by the lighting ceremony, but that’s largely on us: we chose to sit in the plaza instead of in the amphitheater.  Overall, however, it’s well worth a few-hour visit.


For more information, visit https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm.

Did You Know?  Before Doane Robinson, the State Historian of South Dakota, approached Gutzon Borglum about the possibility of doing a mountain carving in the Black Hills, Borglum was working on a carving of a different group of men—Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis—for Helen Plane, President of United Daughters of the Confederacy, on Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Things didn’t go as well in Georgia as they did in South Dakota.  Trouble arose between Borglum and the businessmen running the project, and Borglum was “abruptly” dismissed.  The one piece of the carving that he had completed at that time, the head of Robert E. Lee, was later destroyed, and the entire carving was reimagined and executed by another artist.​