Mt. Rushmore Flag

On July 31, the two backpacking crews met at Mt. Rushmore. One crew had just completed it's trek while the second was just beginning. It was interesting to see the 'enthusiasm' of one group and the 'experience' of the other when they got together.

After making dinner at the campsite, we arrived at the monument with just enough time to prepare for the evening ceremony. That was disappointing since most of us would have liked to explore a little.

The Ranger discussed the program with the two crew leaders and they walked the gang through the process a couple times. Then, we waited for the ampitheater to fill - and it sure did fill! You can see there was a stage full of Veterans and over 2,000 others in attendance. We met a troop from Los Angeles and a Cub Scout that can hardly wait to join a troop.

To start the program, our SPL led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. We then listened to the ranger speak and watched a video. At the end, it was our time to lower the flag.

It went well and each scout did their bit. The SPL gave commands, one scout lowered the flag, each scout held it tight, and a couple folded it.

We hung around about 15 minutes after the ceremony to let all the traffic clear out and then headed to camp to rest up before our long drives the next day - home or to the wilderness.

---

We stayed at Kemp's Kamp in Keystone, SD which is a very convenient spot for accessing Mt. Rushmore.

If you're interested in lowering the Mt. Rushmore flag, visit Mt. Rushmore homepage and complete an application in January - it fills fast.

Scout On