Needles Highway - Custer State Park

While on our August 2017 trip to the Dakotas, we drove the 14-mile Needles Highway in Custer State Park, South Dakota. Driving from south to north, we started where South Dakota route 87 heads north at the eastern end of its joint route with US highway 16A about ½ mile northeast of Legion Lake. The northern end of the highway is at its junction with US-16 and US-385 10.5 miles north of Custer.

With a route personally marked by Peter Norbeck, the ninth governor of South Dakota, the Needles Highway was completed in 1922. The road is named for the many granite spires that rise above the landscape and resemble giant needles. It was designed as and has always been a highway for sightseers and not necessarily for through traffic. The route has three one-lane tunnels and several hair-pin curves, so there are restrictions on over-sized vehicles. The route is closed in the winter.

Iron Creek Tunnel

Distant vistas courtesy of forest fires

Granite outcrop

Roadside rock outcrops and boulders

Distant peak

Boulder atop a rock outcrop

A tree seemingly growing out of rock

More evidence of wildfires

Granite outcrop

Some of the "needles" for which the road is named

Near vertical "layers"

Afternoon clouds forming

A granite dome

More outcrops

Open forest is a result of past wildfires

One of the few paved pullouts along the route

A broader view of the Black Hills

More spires

Mount Rushmore may have once looked like this

Closely packed spires

Cathedral Spires

Needles Eye Tunnel

Expansive view of the Black Hills from near the tunnel

One more view of Needles Eye Tunnel

Hood Tunnel

Instead of collecting an entry fee, Custer State Park sells an entrance license that is required for all park visitors. Only people traveling non-stop on U.S. Highway 16A are exempt from this requirement. Entrance licenses are valid at all South Dakota state parks. A Temporary Vehicle License valid for seven consecutive days including the day it was issued is $20 per vehicle or $10 per motorcycle. An Annual Park Entrance License is $30.

The park website is http://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/directory/custer/.