South Dakota, 21 July, 2008, a Birthday Highpoint

Scene: The Perkins family in the car, driving north on I-25 from Thornton. Turner says, “Which highpoint are we doing?” I reply, “South Dakota and North Dakota.” Then he says, “And why are mom and Alex coming?” Me again, “Because it’s our one opportunity to see Mt. Rushmore.” A pause. “But I thought Mt. Rushmore was in Washington.” Well, we’re always looking for opportunities to educate our children. After our clarification, Turner declares, “Until this day I thought Mt. Rushmore was in Washington.”

The next morning the two of us got going early, and hit the trail at 7:30 AM. We were the first or second in the Sylvan Lake parking lot on this day. It was hot and dry, and we were glad for the early start. The lake itself was still, and gave a mirrored reflection of the giant boulders that surround it. Next to the lake inlet was a sign that warned against diving. There was no water there, so we thought that was funny. The trail was hot and dusty, but much easier than the signs at the trailhead, which said this was extremely strenuous.

90 uneventful minutes later we neared the summit, climbing the cool stairs which went through the tunnel and spiraled up the middle of the summit rocks. That was more than cool, and the view justified the ascent by itself. We could see the back of Mt. Rushmore (it’s better from the front, we found out later in the day), and various other places in the Black Hills.

On the way down the crowds were starting their laborious climb. Dozens and dozens of people, all asking and saying the same things: “Did you make the summit?” And, “Are we there yet?” We both had the feeling that quite a few weren’t going to make it all the way if they were saying those things within a half mile of the trailhead parking lot.

This, along with Mt. Rushmore in the afternoon, made it a banner birthday for me. What a majestic nation we live in.