Yellowstone OR Mt. Rushmore?
 

We wanted to spend a week in late May visiting Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. Is Mt. Rushmore worth the trip across Wyoming or would our time be better spent in western Wyoming? We will be taking my youthful 80 year old Mom so won't be able to do much hiking this trip. Any suggestions. Thanks!

You can see Mt. Rushmore in an hour or two but you will spend 6 1/2 to 7 hours just getting there and then another 6 1/2 to 7 hours to get back. IMHO, you're time would be better spent in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons area.

Yellowstone takes DAYS to see. A little walking is helpful to really appreciate the some of the geysers, mud pots, falls, etc but no hiking is necessary.

Utahtea

My only concern about Yellowstone and Grand Tetons at that time of year is that it will be cool and possibly rainy. Mt. Rushmore, with lower elevation, will be warmer and more pleasant I would guess. Otherwise, I'd recommend Yellowstone and the gorgeous Tetons.

Yes you can see Mt. Rushmore in a couple of hours, but if you're in the area and you like diversity, you can also see the Badlands (Dances with Wolves country), Wall Drug, the Crazy Horse museum, and Custer State Park where you'll see plenty of buffalo. We returned to Mt. Rushmore in the evening for the lighting up ceremony and a rousing national anthem.

From there we headed west to visit Little Big Horn (very interesting talks given here) and then spent 3 days on a ranch just outside the Yellowstone. We saw a grizzly bear from horseback in magnificent mountain woodlands. One evening, we took in a rodeo at nearby Cody. It's interesting to note that the park was closed briefly at this time because of heavy snow fall; this was in June!

The snow cleared quickly though, and we spent a very interesting 3 days in the park based at Grant Village before moseying on down through the Tetons (better, than Yellowstone from my photographic point of view) for a couple of days in Jackson. This was really the end of our trip so we raced back to Denver via Steamboat Springs to fly home to UK. So you see, we drove more than 7 hours to see it all. The four of us are 48 - 55 year olds.

It all boils down to what you like, and we like - and we got - diversity. If you do too, then go.

My, at the time, 68 year old Mom and my young daughter did both Grand Tetons and Yellowstone in the same trip one year. It was in June I believe. There was still snow in Yellowstone at the higher elevations. Overall, it was pleasant, but we spent too much time in the car driving. I'd visit the Grand Tetons for maybe a couple of days (in Jackson Hole) and then drive and stay in or near Yellowstone. The Grand Tetons take your breath away on a sunny day with cotton clouds sauntering above. I've never been to Rushmore, but the Tetons are definitely worth the trip. Lots of driving tours you can do, same with Yellowstone, the hiking can be kept to a minimum.

People who think that way deserve Rushmore -- which is a perfectly good mountain deformed and disfigured with a jackhammer and dynamite.

I do not get a surge of patriotic juices; I get a sense of revulsion.

Blasting in 4 faces of presidents does not make it holy or anything other than a demolition job.

Nope. I don't apologize for feeling that way. In fact, I think someone needs to call it like it is.

Brookwood, I have not yet been to Mt. Rushmore -- though I plan to visit in 2005. However, I have a question for you: does Michelangelo's David (a "disfigured" and "deformed" piece of marble) give you a "sense of revulsion"?

We went from Yellowstone to Mt. Rushmore and were pleasantly surprised at the scenery along the way. We enjoyed Mt. Rushmore more than we had anticipated also--and the surrounding area, but we had a couple of days to explore. Saying this--there is no way I would try to see Yellowstone and travel to Mr. Rushmore if we had to retrace our path back to Yellowstone.

I personally love the carving of Mt. Rushmore. However, having just viewed it as an artwork, I appreciate being made aware of another point of view. Certainly it must have been a huge insult to the Sioux. I don't think it can be compared to carving a piece of marble.

What an odd thing to get all indignant over.
Carrying your logic further I am guessing that you also:
--think that Manhattan represents the end result of destruction of perfectly beautiful lowland marshes.
--detest Hoover Dam and would prefer that all Arizonans be cut off from their water supply.
--think the Golden Gate Bridge desecrates a perfectly beautiful bay inlet.
--Not to mention those detestable Egyptian pyramids, the Panama Canal, baseball fields, highways, and cities in general.

Thank you for all the thoughts on Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone. We have decided to see it all on a one way trip. We look forward to the Presidents and Wyoming. We were able to secure a great car rental with a drop off in SLC.