Mount Rushmore & Devils Tower (Days 9-12)
Hi! My name is Charles, and I visited every contiguous U.S. state in the same trip. Learn more about me and my travels in "Road Trip w/ Charlie!"
Today, we're exploring the Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower National Monument, and more!
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After shaking off my near-death experience from the South Dakota Badlands, I headed towards one of the nation’s most infamous monuments, Mount Rushmore.
I would come to learn more about this monument’s storied past with the Sioux Native Americans after visiting, but, before then, I was intrigued by the widely known cultural landmark, and had hopes of seeing it for myself.
Later in this article, we will explore my adventures at the Devils Tower in Wyoming, the Pryor Mountains in Montana, McEuen Park in Idaho, and my failed attempt to visit Yellowstone National Park. All aboard!
Interested in learning more about how this road trip began? Feel free to explore more of our available articles from “Road Trip w/ Charlie” (listed in chronological order).
Day 9: Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore is one of the most widely known monuments throughout the United States, and I grew up with stories of its grandeur as a child, influencing my decision to include it as part of my road trip. Protagonists in literature would recount their adventures to Mount Rushmore, sitcom families would plan expensive trips, and the monument has been woven into the fabric of this nation’s cultural identity in countless other ways as well.
Despite its popularity, however, the way in which construction first began on Mount Rushmore is mentioned less often, and understandably so, as it can be a tough truth to face once learned. Included as part of a treaty between the Sioux Native Americans and the United States, the land that Mount Rushmore was built on was unlawfully seized from its local tribes less than a decade later from the signing of the original treaty.
I, however, only learned this information shortly after my visit to the monument. Blind to the methods used to build it, I marveled at Mount Rushmore’s size and its quiet forbearance, enduring the passage of time to deliver a sense of wonder to those in its presence. My view of the monument is more nuanced now, and I still try to appreciate the aspects the monument that make it so noteworthy, though this day was a bit soured after learning the aforementioned information.
Arriving at a parking lot nearby, I found the entrance to the monument and began a short walk to the monument’s large viewing area. Lining the path to the viewing area were different flags from each state in the United States. Spotting a few recognizable ones from the places I lived in, I silently self-reflected on my journey and all of the events that had to align to bring me to the moment I was at that day.
After about five to ten minutes, I reached the viewing area, and I took some initial pictures. I was lucky to have a phone with a camera capable of zooming 100+ times, as I was a bit disappointed with how far away the platform still was from the monument. The pictures I took came out okay, but I have to imagine that many older smartphones would not have been as capable of capturing any discernable features in their images.
Looking around, I spotted a short hiking trail that would lead to a spot closer to the monument. I decided that this must have been where they were intending most people to take their pictures from.
The trail led through a great deal of forestry and rock, providing a pleasant and beautiful backdrop along the way to the designated end point. At the end of the trail, I was greeted with an open area much closer to Mount Rushmore where I could see more details and fully appreciate its enormous size.
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After looking at the monument for an extended period of time, I made my way back along the trail to the pavilion, and explored the nearby museum areas, detailing the monument’s construction process. I do not recall noting how the land was obtained within this exhibit, but I do remember feeling as though part of the story was being left out with regards to the labor efforts.
Having satisfied my curiosity at finally seeing the infamous Mount Rushmore, I retreated back to my car and began my trip to Wyoming to visit another National Monument, the Devils Tower!
Day 10: Devils Tower National Monument
The Devils Tower in Wyoming is a National Monument that is known for its peculiar shape and regular rock falls. At approximately 1,267 feet high (200 feet shorter the height of the Empire State Building), rock climbers come from all around the country to test their crack-climbing abilities, which is a form of rock climbing where the climber puts their hands within a crack in a rock face or positions themselves between two columns and attempts to scale upwards, pushing against both columns at the same time.
Sounds scary.
With no intention of climbing the Devils Tower, I arrived at this destination off of the advice from my friend Jay, who told me it was worth the visit. Upon my arrival, I was very gracious for this advice, as it turned out to be one of the more memorable hikes I made on my road trip, with some pretty cool sights along its surprisingly lengthy path.
As I drove along the winding path to the hiking site, the presence of the Tower was immediately apparent. Having just come from Mount Rushmore the previous day, the size was maybe not as impressive as it would have been if I had visited on a standalone trip, but I remained in awe at the natural beauty of the monument all the same.
Locating a hiking trail nearby, I embarked towards the Devils Tower. The path I chose formed a large oval around the monument, allowing you to see the Tower from all angles. The trail began as a rocky path, which then led into a red, sandy hill. I had never seen red sand before, and it was a very cool sight to behold!
The red sand led into a traditional forest-filled hike with streams of ankle-deep water scattered throughout. The hike was longer than I had expected, and I silently kicked myself for not bringing my backpack with water.
All in all, it was a very pleasant hike, and was one of my favorites on the trip, aside from some hikes on the West Coast and the Badlands hikes from the previous update.
Finally reaching the end of the trail, having sufficiently soaked in the mid-April sunshine, I made my way back to my car and drove towards my destination in Montana, the Pryor Mountains.
Day 11: Montana
If you asked someone what the top travel destinations are in Montana, you might get a variety of answers. Up there on many people’s lists, however, would likely be Glacier National Park.
So, why did I choose not to visit this National Park in Montana? When I was first planning out this road trip, I made a list of all of the places that I wanted to visit the most, and then I filled in the blanks mainly along the path that these initial places around the country formed.
As a result, I got to see some really cool places that I otherwise would never have had the thought to visit or opportunity to see! That being said, the Pryor Mountains were probably my biggest miss when using this method for the road trip.
Can’t win ‘em all.
That’s not to say that I derived no enjoyment whatsoever from visiting the Pryor Mountains though. I really liked driving on the winding, bumpy roads and looking out the window to see the quarries and the mountains themselves. It almost felt like a self-guided rollercoaster at times!
My original intention was to go from the Devils Tower in Wyoming to something in Montana, and then head over to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming again.
See the original plan below:
It may be hard to imagine any stop as being “out of the way” on an impromptu road trip that spans the entire United States, but from my initial Googling, the Pryor Mountains appeared to be a more convenient stop than a National Park bordering Canada.
It probably would have been a much easier sell to go to Glacier National Park instead if I wasn’t also planning to go to Yellowstone National Park.
In hindsight, I should have done better Googling.
If I had, I might have discovered that the main road to enter Yellowstone was undergoing a closure at the time of my trip, and much of the park would be inaccessible. I might have also discovered that the Pryor Mountains were not laid out the same as the other hiking trails that I had been on thus far, and the cell service out there was a bit too hit-or-miss to make navigating to one of the nearby trails more reliable.
As a result, this stage of the road trip was a bit more disappointing than others. I still have yet to go to Yellowstone, as of the time of this writing, and I would still like to go someday.
The day wasn’t all bad though! I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get closer to the mountains before I realized I was lost and was unable to find the entrance or trails I read about on their website, but I still had a good time and enjoyed seeing the open landscapes and serene calm of little to no traffic on the road.
After driving near the Pryor Mountains and witnessing what might have been, I decided to stop in Helena, MT for a bite to eat and explore what the nearby city had to offer.
It was pretty rainy when I arrived, so I quickly took shelter in a restaurant to eat. The rain started to let up a little bit after my meal, so I walked down a couple of the streets and was delighted to find a local bookstore called the Montana Book Company.
Inside was a plethora of books, most displayed with helpful reviews by the personnel working there, recommending different books based on the type of reader you are and what you’re looking for from a story. These reviews were invaluable in helping me pick out a new book for the journey.
I wouldn’t consider myself to be the most avid reader, but I routinely found myself with some spare time in my evenings on the trip, and I exercised every opportunity I could to keep myself offline and unplugged (aside from uploading pictures/videos), conserving phone battery for photos and experiencing life without a feedback loop for the first time in a while.
A new book seemed like the perfect way to unwind after my busy mornings, and the book I chose from the Montana Book Company would become one of my favorites in my collection: Everybody Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock.
After refueling with a nice meal and a cool book, I hit the road for the next stop on my list, McEuen Park in Idaho!
Day 12: McEuen Park, Idaho
Like the Pryor Mountains stop on my trip, the McEuen Park in Idaho stop was based on the assumption that I would be visiting Yellowstone National Park after a brief intermission in Montana. I knew that I needed to travel to Seattle by a certain day to visit my friend Rahul, so I had planned to visit McEuen Park on the long stretch from Yellowstone to Seattle.
Ultimately, due to some road closures, I had to skip the Yellowstone stop on my road trip, putting two stops back-to-back that were not my top choices.
But, like all things in life, a positive attitude can help you make the best of unfortunate situations! Determined to make the best of this curveball, I continued on to McEuen Park.
McEuen Park is a city park in Coeur D’Alene, ID, surrounded by a lake, forest trails, walking paths, playgrounds, and more. Coeur D'Alene is one of the top tourist cities in Idaho, and for good reason: it’s beautiful!
Compared to the rocky and desert-y locations I had visited most recently on the trip, McEuen Park was a nice change of pace, and I enjoyed the cool air and fresh breeze offered by the lake-side town.
The journey into Idaho was perilous, I recall, with extremely steep and twisting roads threatening my life with every curve. I thought I was going to drive off the edge of the cliff more than one time as I traveled across the state. The roads were littered with potholes as well, and I do not think it is a trek that I would recommend to others (Helena, MT to Coeur D’Alene, ID).
Once I arrived though, it was smooth sailing, and this stop was one of the more relaxing ones on the trip. I began by exploring the park and its trails, walking the short hike around the park until I looped back around to the entrance.
When my feet began to get tired, and my stomach started to growl, I found a coffee shop not too far away and ordered a coffee and a almond-encrusted chocolate croissant (delicious!).
I was grateful that these days gave me a brief respite after The Badlands to rest and recover before my next stop on the road trip, where I would be reuniting with another friend in Seattle. But more on that later!
At this point in time, I still hadn’t fully come to terms with the fact that this wasn’t just an ordinary vacation, and I was in fact living in my car, effectively. I think they say it takes about 21 days to make or break a habit, and it wouldn’t be until after I left Seattle that I think I finally accepted my status as a temporary wanderer.
All in all, I could definitely say that I was happy. And that’s what it’s all about right? The freedom of exploration on your own terms, no limits on imagination and the days only as strenuous as you wish them to be.
A guy could get used to this…
Update, 11/4/2024: When I first published this article, I mistakenly left off the noteworthy events that took place during my night in Idaho. I think maybe I was trying to block out the memory, perhaps…
As I previously alluded to back in my first installment of the Road Trip w/ Charlie series, I had been staying at Walmart parking lots around the country and using Planet Fitness locations in the mornings to shower. This plan seemed to work quite well for the first couple of weeks of the road trip.
I would soon discover that the plan wasn’t as foolproof as I had initially thought, however.
Walmart is notable in the road tripping community for commonly allowing people just passing through to park in their lots overnight, enticing them to do any last-minute shopping at their locations. Apparently though, this policy is only applicable if the local laws allow for it.
I didn’t know that.
Fast forward to 11 PM, as I’m fast asleep in a Walmart parking lot in Idaho, I get a loud tap on my car window. At first, I had no idea what was going on, having just been woken up from a deep sleep. When the sound came again, I feared the worst.
Unzipping my sleeping bag, I removed the magnetic blackout curtain on my driver’s side window to reveal the unsmiling face of a local sheriff.
He questioned me pretty heavily, somehow in disbelief that anyone could ever just be passing through. From the outside, he scanned the belongings of my car with his flashlight, up and down, until he had finally convinced himself I was telling the truth.
I told him I thought that I could sleep there. He told me that “if it were up to [him],” he would have let me continue sleeping. Evidently, it was not up to him, and he instead directed me to a town thirty minutes away that had different rules about overnight parking, letting me off with a warning.
Lesson learned.
Suffice it to say, I no longer stayed in Walmart parking lots for the remainder of the trip, opting to stay in the Planet Fitness parking lots instead, and I encountered no further unwanted activities during the night.
And that about wraps it up for this edition! For more information on each step of my journey, and to discover all of the places that I saw, feel free to explore the rest of my articles in “Road Trip w/ Charlie.”
Until next time, travelers!
