#2 of 11 sights in Mount Rushmore
Sight · Mount Rushmore National Memorial
See the scale model Borglum used to plan Mount Rushmore's carving.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Rushmore Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Rushmore National Memorial. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Grand View Terrace and the Visitor Complex“You're approaching the memorial visitor complex and the walk to Grand View Terrace. For the classic photo of all four faces, keep some granite below the portraits in frame to show their scale.”
Plays as you drive up to Sculptor's Studio in the Parkwolf Mount Rushmore Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“We recently toured Badlands, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and more! We learned so much from this app as we toured each of these sites. The audio tours are worth the money.”
Guide
Sculptor's Studio is a small museum on Mount Rushmore's Presidential Trail. Gutzon Borglum worked here, refining his model and watching crews carve the granite. I'd keep it on your list if you want to understand how the faces went from a design to the mountain. Allow 15 to 30 minutes for the exhibits; the ranger talk is about 15 minutes when offered.
The original plaster model inside is one-twelfth the size of the carved faces. Borglum used it to work out measurements for the carving, so take a moment to look closely before heading back to the trail. It makes the scale of the job much easier to picture.
Borglum worked in the studio from 1939 to 1941, refining the model while keeping an eye on the carving outside. He died before the project was finished, and his son Lincoln took over. This was part of the working operation, not just a room built to explain it later.
Wildlife
88 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
44 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
20 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
14 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around 1 PMSighting map
32 sightingsMarmotMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
11 sightingsBrook TroutMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Rushmore. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModeratePresidential Trail0.6 mi · 36 min · 0.1 mi awayClose views of the carving, plus 422 stairs around the loop.
EasyPresidential Trail (Stair-Free Route)0.4 mi · 24 min · 0.1 mi awayA close view of the carved faces without the full stair loop.
EasyNature Trail0.4 mi · 18 min · 0.2 mi awayA wooded link to Borglum's Sculptor's Studio.
ModerateBlackberry Trail1.5 mi · 45 min · 0.3 mi awayA wooded creek walk, then a steady climb back.
ModerateHorse Thief Lake via Blackberry and Centennial Trail3.8 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.4 mi awayA creekside forest route leads from a granite memorial to Horsethief Lake.
ModerateWillow Creek Rushmore Trail #51.9 mi · 1.2 hr · 3.3 mi awayA short one-way forest route toward Mount Rushmore.
ChallengingMount Rushmore via Centennial Trail10.7 mi · 6 hr · 4.2 mi awayA long Centennial approach to the Mount Rushmore memorial.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayBorglum View TerraceStand where Borglum first planned the carving.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayHistoric View TerraceAn original Rushmore viewpoint, a little away from the main terrace.
Visitor center · 0.1 mi awayLincoln Borglum Visitor CenterTrace the carving from plaster models to workers’ photographs.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayMount Rushmore National Memorial AmphitheaterWatch the memorial light up from a seat below the faces.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayGrand View TerraceA clear, close look at all four faces from the terrace.
Food · 0.1 mi awayCarvers' CaféBuffalo chili and Jefferson-inspired vanilla with the sculpture in view.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayAvenue of FlagsPick out your flag on the walk to the main terrace.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayTalus TerraceRushmore's closest public view, beside 450,000 tons of carving debris.Parkwolf’s Mount Rushmore ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
