Getting the WOWs in Custer State Park

“Needle’s Eye” Tunnel

2019-08-27 Tuesday

It’s funny that some days driving all day can leave you just tired, and some other days of driving all day can leave you in awe (as well as tired!) Today was one of the latter. We drove all day, we are in fact quite tired, but WOW, what an awesome day!

Today was one of the days which explains why we are towing our Jeep now. We’ve been to the Black Hills three or four times already, but the one place I’ve wanted to go has been out of reach— the loop road through Custer State Park, which includes the Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain Road, both of which have tunnels through the mountains which are too small to accommodate an RV. Today, courtesy of our Jeep, we finally made it through that road.

When we woke up, it was almost COLD out! We put on jeans and sweatshirts, for the first time in months, and it felt delightful. We had breakfast, took a leisurely walk around our campground, and then we packed up our car with a picnic lunch, drinks and water, snacks, my good camera, my iPad, our car jumper, Joe’s walking stick, flashlights (you never know), phone chargers, and Cassie’s water bowl. Then, with Cassie in the back, we set out for a day’s adventures. 

We started the day at the Visitors Center in Hill City (a 25 minute drive down the mountain from our campsite). There, I asked the nice lady specifically about the drive we wanted to take. She explained where to go from the Visitor Center, and what parts of the loop were especially interesting. She also told me where the laundromat is, because that is something we’ll also be needing. And she directed me to the post office— I’ve been carrying around postcards for days, unable to find a place to mail them.

The Needles Highway

It turned out that we had a fantastic internet connection in the parking lot there. So I was able to upload my blog and the photos to go with it— both quite quickly.  Next, after dropping my postcards at the library, headed to Custer State Park. The first stop on the loop, about 6 miles along, was at Sylvan Lake. This was convenient because it had picnic tables and it was 12:30 pm. So we ate our lunch while Cassie lay in the grass nearby. After that, I ran into the gift shop, and of course managed to find a few little souvenirs. 

After we left the lake, we continued climbing and encountered the Needles and the tight tunnels through the road. The experience was extraordinary! This is one of those blogs where I am going to have to let the photos tell the story. (Speaking of which, I took most of my photos on my iPad, and that worked very well.)

The drive continued— we drove through beautiful pine forests along incredibly curvy roads (I can’t guess how many S turns and hairpin turns we made on that road. As a result, the average speed we drove was about 25 miles/hour, I’d guess, and maybe less. We stopped a lot to look at the views, too. At one pullout, we struck up a conversation with another couple about our age, who were from Virginia. We shmoozed and exchanged tips and places to visit, as well as general info (they were on their honeymoon) before setting out again.

In the Wildlife Loop Road, we encountered a herd of buffalo wallowing and digging in a muddy morass by the side of the road. Since it was on BOTH sides, they were IN the road as well. Needless to say, I took photos . Further along, we saw prairie dogs (they were too small and too far away for the iPad to get them, and my good camera was buried), and then a pair of pronghorn deer. Soon after that, we were stopped by a group of semi-tame burros, who spend their time begging for food from travelers. We didn’t feed them, but again, I took photos. And then a few miles further, we encountered yet another herd of buffalo, some right next to us. There seemed to be a large number of calves with their moms, which was sweet. 

The last section of the trip was the Iron Mountain Loop Road, which is famous for the 3 tight tunnels near Mount Rushmore. They were cut into the rock so that when you go through them, the faces of the presidents are framed at the end of the tunnel. I was looking forward to this, but alas, it was actually about 5pm, and the sun was low, and Mount Rushmore was in shade. This meant that the faces were nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding rock until we were very close later on. The tunnels were fun, however, as was the “pigtail” section of the road—a place where the road was supported by wooden structures which led from one tunnel to the next one, and as a result, turned the car about 270 degrees at each junction. It’s hard to describe, but was fun to go down. The road runs right past Mount Rushmore National Monument after that, but we were exhausted, so we headed home instead. 

100,000 miles

We got back to our RV at about 6:30 pm, I think, and we are utterly wiped out. I said to Joe, “But all we did was DRIVE!” And ironically, the loop is only 76 miles. So we didn’t even cover that much territory. But it sure was fantastic. Joe really loves that kind of driving, and there were times that we were the only ones on the road and saw no one else. The forest came down to the edge of the road, and it was beautiful and enveloping. Truly a gorgeous drive. And, as an added fun thing, our Jeep’s odometer went over 100,000 miles! We were just at a turnout when that happened, so we were able to stop and take a photo of the dashboard to commemorate the milestone.  And now, photos: