Bob and Pam Nodine: Custer State Park and the Needles Highway

If you go to Rapid City, SD be sure and visit Custer State Park. When we were there five years ago but did not have time to take in the park and that is one of the reasons we wanted to return. Even with this trip we missed driving Iron Mountain Road. An unforeseen event prevented us from getting an early start on our last day and we only had time to drive the Needles Highway. We hope to return again and make that drive plus see the bighorn sheep and mountain goats.

East entrance to the park

Stockade Lake spillway

Observatory at the top of Mt Cooledge

View from Mt Cooledge

The animals are most active in the early morning or late evening and we did not get to the wildlife loop road until about 11 am. That limited our viewing opportunities but we did see burros and pronghorns. The burros are not native to the Black Hills and were brought here to haul visitors to the top of Black Elk Peak. The rides were discontinued years ago and the burros were released into the park. The burro population in the park today is descended from that early herd and are quite tame.

Mother burro with her baby

Quite tame, the burro that is, not sure about the woman!

Pronghorns are often mistaken for antelope but are larger, faster, and have curved horns. The pronghorn is the fastest animal in North America and can run 60 MPH for great distances.

Pronghorns

Having a little disagreement

The Needles Highway is actually a 14 mile section of South Dakota Highway 87 in Custer State Park. This 14 mile terminus of the highway was completed in 1922 and required blasting of tunnels thru granite rock. The tunnels are one way and require motorist to wait their turn. The Needles Eye Tunnel is 8'4" wide and 11'3" high and the Iron Creek Tunnel is 9'0" wide and 11'4" high. The byway gets its name from the needle like rock formations along the route.