Fire… FIRE… FIRE!!!

Fire, Fire came the screams of the campers! Ranger Rob & Jane jumped into action. Loading the truck with water cans and shovels we rushed to a clearing were an old burn had reignited and threatened our beautiful campground! We fought valiantly, but the fire was too big for us to extinguish on our own. We called for backup! The Forest Service fire fighters and the Hill City Fire Department came to help! Finally with the fire out, we returned to base camp amidst the cheers of the frightened campers.

Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires!

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

We started our day at the Executive Order Grill for the “All you can eat” .99 cent pancakes!

Then it was on to the Borglum Museum in Keystone, SD for some background on what we were about to experience. They also have the Borglum Story at Mt. Rushmore. We’d recommend seeing both of them.

Finally, Mt Rushmore! This is another place where pictures can’t capture the true magnitude of the sculptures! 450,000 tons of rock were removed from Mt. Rushmore to create the faces. 90% was removed with dynamite, the remaining rock was removed by drilling and jack hammering. The finishing was done with small jack hammers and facing bits.

Here is the Borglum studio. This sculpture is what Borglum wanted Mt. Rushmore to look like when it was completed. The scale was 1ft to 12ft on the sculpture, he would transfer the measurements to the crews on the mountain. Borglum’s funding started to run dry because of World War II. His death in 1941 left his son Lincoln to conclude the project with the few remaining funds.

One thing we didn’t know about Borglum was that he had been commissioned to create a sculpture on Stone Mtn. in Georgia before Mt. Rushmore. The project became embroiled in controversy and he was fired before he could even begin work on the mountain itself. Borglum was so angry he destroyed all his models and fled before the Sheriff came!

Rushmore Cave

We visited Rushmore Caves today, it was discovered back 1876 gold rush. They are still discovering new passages today. The Black Hills are home to the 2nd largest cave system in the US. The Black Hills are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the US. Geologists believe this cave, with its world-class big room, began forming 60 million years ago.

A Real Ghost Town!

We got a tip from a local that there was a real ghost town in the hills near by! So we set out on a hike down some fire roads and trails and final came across it. We didn’t find any ghost. It was an old gold mine that never worked out. There were still some vertical mine shafts that were halfway collapsed.

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

We visited the South Dakota Air and Space Museum today at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

This is the underground control center for a Minuteman Missile Silo

This is an interesting story about Bismarck the dog, click on the text to enlarge it.

Recognize this fellow? We’re getting there. :)