My first visit to Mount Rushmore National Memorial was in 1957, and although I was about seven years old, I was indeed impressed. Everything about the surrounding Black Hills and the Memorial itself has stayed with me all of these years. I returned to the Memorial in 1967 and again several more times over the next 12 years. It has always been a keystone to our visits to the Black Hills region. And though we hike and camp in other areas surrounding the Memorial, it always seems to be the hub, the focal point.

Our most recent visit was in September of 2001. Little did we know what the next few days would bring. We were still camping and hiking within the Black Hills on September 11th, and that vacation and those mountain scenes and what happened on that and subsequent days will always be linked in our memories.

After hiking the Sunday Gulch Loop near Sylvan Lake, in Custer State Park, and after visiting Jewel Cave, we drove through the main part of Custer State Park. We saw buffalo, mountain goats, and the begging mules along the Iron Mountain Road. Then we drove the Iron Mountain Road to Mount Rushmore. Along the way we enjoyed the Pigtail bridges and tunnels with the views through the trees of the Memorial.

At Mount Rushmore we were able to find a parking place in the free lot, which meant that we had to hike up to the new facilities. The buildings have been updated and improved since my previous visits.

We watched a film on the making of the monument and spoke with one of the rangers. It was late in the day and we had intended on eating dinner at the Memorial restaurant, but it closed early because of the season.

The sky was cloudy and rainy, and it was late in the day, so we weren't able to get very good photos. We drove back to Custer, where we had our trailer, in the dark via the northern route and down past the Crazy Horse Monument.