Presidential Trail

To the left of the Amphitheater, you will find the Presidential Trail. This is a short 1/2 mile loop trail that gets closer to the president's faces and then loops around back to the Grand View Terrace. It is good to know that there are hundreds of stairs on this trail, so if you can't do steps and stairs that well, I would consider going only part ways on this. This trail is accessible to wheelchairs up to the Mt. Rushmore Terrace. Along the Presidential Trail you will find four displays on who these 4 men were and why they were sculpted on the mountain. The stairs will eventually lead you to the Sculptures Studio where you can see where much of the planning and designing took place. You can also see a small design of what Gutzon Borglum truly wanted to do with the mountain including adding hands to Jefferson and Lincoln and a coat to George Washington. Also, did you know that behind the presidential faces is a small vault containing some historical documents. This area was originally intended to house historical records, busts of famous people, and other things. There is no access to this vault to regular visitors, even no matter how hard you ask. Even if you wanted to hike up to the vault you will find that there are cameras all over this place. From the studio, the trail winds back up to where you started. But before you reach the very top, there is a small turn off that leads to a different angle of the overlook to Mount Rushmore. There was only one other person over here so it made this area nice and quiet because everyone else was in the Grand View Terrace. Come over here if you want your own semi-private viewing area.