Dawn’s Early Light

Written by WAReynolds

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children.” ~ President Teddy Roosevelt

Yes, this is, yet again, another posting about Mount Rushmore. I can’t help it! It’s right in my backyard!

You recently saw Mount Rushmore at a nighttime event in the post An Evening Affair here on American Gam. Now let’s see it from a different perspective…

The visiting hours at Mount Rushmore begin at five in the morning. I suspected the dawn’s early light would create some interesting shadows within the contours of the presidential sculptures and so set out on an early morning foray. I arrived at exactly 5:00 a.m. and, as you might expect, I had the whole place to myself. As with comedy, timing is everything.

There’s a hiking trail that runs just below the presidential chins, through the pines and around the boulders. The left half of the trail is ADA compliant, that is, wheelchair accessible. The right half of the trail is much more strenuous with around four hundred and twenty-five steps that help you traverse the verdant landscape. It felt good to get the blood pumping and fresh air into the lungs; it was a nice way to start the day.

I suppose you want to see some pictures? Okay. Fine. Here ya’ go…

…and then the dawn awakened…

…and smiled upon the great faces…

So…remember those stairs I mentioned…yeah, not exactly a walk in the park on this 90° day, although technically, it was actually a walk in a park.

At the bottom of those steps is the artist, Gutzon Borglum’s, residence.

From those big glass windows at the end of the building he had an excellent perspective of his sculpture…

Fact: Four hundred and fifty thousand tons of rock had to be removed by either dynamite or air-compressed jackhammers to create this sculpture.

Words from great men…

This day, Bastille Day, was my mother’s 85th birthday so me and the four stoned presidents FaceTimed her back in Massachusetts to celebrate her special day. hAppY birThdAy!!!🎉🎈