Happy Monday! We recently traveled through South Dakota, so, of course, we visited Badlands National Park and Wind Cave National Park. And we couldn’t leave without visiting Mount Rushmore. I’ve updated my National Parks bucket list and my movie location list.
Here are a couple of interesting NEW tidbits I learned while in South Dakota:
The soft rock in Badlands National Park is eroding at about one inch per year. So all of the formations could disappear in about 500,000 years.
Wind Cave holds about 95% of all known boxwork on Earth. Boxwork is a rare, honeycomb-like network of thin mineral blades that stick out from cave walls and ceilings. Local explorers and geologists used the term “boxwork” simply because the intersecting blades of calcite resembled a maze of old post office boxes.
The name Mount Rushmore initially started as a joke. Mount Rushmore is named after Charles E. Rushmore, a New York City lawyer who visited the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1885 on mining business. While inspecting tin mining claims, Rushmore asked a local guide or companion what the unnamed granite peak was called. A member of the group joked that they would name it after him, and the name stuck. Before it was named after Charles E. Rushmore, the mountain was known to the Lakota people as Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or the “Six Grandfathers,” holding deep spiritual significance.
We’re slowly checking off the national parks from our list. We’re at 41 out of 63. It’s always fun to travel somewhere NEW and learn NEW things! I hope you have a great day and get to do or learn something NEW today too!
You learned some neat thing and saw fascinating places. Keep up the great travels!
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I am so glad you saw Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. The day we went to see the faces a huge cloud covered them. I cried and cried! But a sweet older gentlemen said just wait a while and the clouds will move out. And sure enough they did.
Happy Fall! 🍂🧡🍂
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Ah, you are smart and patient! I’m afraid I would’ve thrown my hands up and said, ‘oh well, maybe next time’ haha! :o) So glad you got to see them and Happy Fall right back at ya.
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These are places I have always wanted to see: especially the Badlands. Thank you for these great photos, and for pointing out the Native name of the place.
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If/When you go, you’ll also likely be interested in visiting The Indian Museum of North America. It is adjacent to the Crazy Horse Memorial and features over 14,000 artifacts representing more than 300 native tribes. I was impressed!
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I am sure I would be impressed as well.
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We’ve visited Mt. Rushmore a few times, and I never did learn how it was named, so thank you for helping me to learn something NEW this morning, Lenore! Did you also visit the Crazy Horse Memorial? Just the size of that one is mind blowing. (They say that all four of Mt. Rushmore’s faces could fit into the head of the Crazy Horse memorial)
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Yes, we also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial. It is HUGE and it’s “crazy” that they’ve been working on it since 1948. Fascinating place. I enjoyed the museum there and we were lucky to go when they were having a native dance program.
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