Admiral and Presidents

I took another drive to Mt. Rushmore, in hopes of finding a Mt. goat or two nearby to take photos of, three weeks ago. On the way there I took a favored back route, detouring briefly onto an off-road trail to look around...

A red admiral posed nicely on the bark of a ponderosa pine...this was all I took photos of in that spot...

On to Mt. Rushmore, I lucked out...this female Mt. goat and her kid were nibbling their way along the side of the drive to the parking area...mum's got a radio collar on...

I've never shared this perspective of The Prezes...George, Teddy, Thom, and Abe...The Avenue of the Flags leads to the Grand Terrace, below the monument....some interesting facts:  

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began drilling into the 5,725-foot mountain in 1927, at the age of 60.

Creation of the Shrine of Democracy took 14 years and cost a mere $1 million.

Each head on Mt. Rushmore is as tall as a six-story building.

More that 800 million pounds of stone were removed from Mount Rushmore while carving the presidents.

Each president's face is as tall as the entire Great Sphinx of Egypt, measuring 60 feet from the chin to the top of the head.

The president's noses are 20 feet long, each mouth 18 feet wide and the eyes are 11 feet across.

The Presidential Trail loops below the monument...you get a pretty close look at George's 20 ft. nose...

Part of panoramic view from the parking platform in front of Mt. Rushmore...as you can see, the cursed pine beetle is wreaking havoc on the Black Hills...

Driving another back country route, I saw a few deer, including this spiked fellow in someone's front yard...

A stop at Sheridan Lake on the way home...I found a motley duo...molting?

And among some coots, a female bufflehead with her splash of white rouge...