Custer State Park part II - Touring in the Black Hills

August 16-25

We took the first day in Custer State Park to do some driving and get oriented to the park. Much of this park can easily be experienced from a vehicle as the road system was designed so as to highlight the scenic features.  There are three major routes, Iron Mountain Road, Needles Highway, and the Wildlife loop, and during our stay we enjoyed all of them. Here, the name of each route is linked to additional information specific to the route. Each is worth a full day to experience, as there are so many pull-outs and short trails to explore it's doing the area an injustice to rush through it all.

We spent quite awhile on the Wildlife Loop Drive, the first of three major routes, stopping at the historic State Game Lodge and the main Visitor Center, which focuses mainly on the buffalo.

The State Game Lodge is a beautiful structure, with an atmosphere of solid but rustic elegance. It first opened in 1921, then burned to the ground 72 days later. It was rebuilt and opened again in 1922.

It must be comfortable as it became the "summer White House" for President Calvin Coolidge when he visited 1927. He intended to stay for 2 weeks, but it turned into 13. . .  I guess he liked it here! The lodge is still serving visitors with a restaurant and lodging rooms of several types.

We mosied along the road admiring the scenery and the animals, and also stopped at the Wildlife Station Visitor Center, one of those beautiful stone structures built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) in the 1930's.

The CCC crews were instrumental in building most of the stone structures in the park. It's amazing how many years it has been, and still their handiwork stands, strong, sturdy, and beautiful for all of us to enjoy. In addition to the stone buildings the CCC projects also included work on some of the roads, tunnels, and the many bridges that were needed to complete the routes through the park.

Our second long drive was the Needles Highway, which is well is well named. The road artfully wends its way through tall spires of granite, through two amazing tunnels which were specifically
designed to highlight the view as one passes through.

There is a small parking area at the Eye of the Needle's Eye formation for the convenience of visitors who want to photograph it. Of necessity the road is very narrow, and the tunnels are even narrower, towing anything through one of them is not recommended.

The views along all the drives are spectacular and the geology amazing. The roadsides literally sparkle with the coarse grained granite outcrops and the finer grained mica schist, as well as veins of pink feldspar. I've tried every camera setting available and nothing can quite capture just how reflective all this stone is, but picture some coarse glitter sprinkles over a boulder, on a really sunny day, and you'll be close.

The granite in some cases has mica flakes as big as 3 inches square, so they act as large mirrors, then the pink feldspar, while not quite crystals, has flat surfaces that shimmer in the sun. It's amazing!

Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway were planned by former South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who marked the entire course of the Needles Highway on foot and on horseback.

He specifically designed the tunnels so as to frame certain views, and he was the driving force for much of the work done in the park. The Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway is a 66 mile double loop that honors him, and includes all or portions of each of the three individual scenic drives within the park.

Exploring the roads he designed is a treat. The tunnels, the "pigtails", and the artistry in the development of the bridges enrich the scenic experience. (The pigtails are loops that cross over themselves, as a way to move the road down, or up, a severe slope while keeping the grade fairly gradual)

Tunnel at the Needles Eye

Most of the tunnels are one lane only, so though some have a bypass, drivers must be careful and observant, taking turns and using pull-outs as needed.

When you toss in random wildlife crossing the road, and weather, there's a good reason for the 25 mph recommendation in most areas. In some places going even slower makes sense. We had a spot of rain during this stretch, and then there's always the odd deer that decides to make a mad dash across the road, not to mention the occasional tourist who decides to stop in the middle of the road to snap a photo.

Norbeck himself recommended 15 MPH as a good speed at which one could travel the road and enjoy the views. I think he knew what he was talking about. Buffalo, if they are in your way, make a serious dent in the radiator!

We really did see a lot of wildlife - a buffalo herd and a few solitaries, a few antelope and deer, the ever present and always chubby prairie dogs, and wild donkeys.

Well, they aren't really very "wild", to watch them in the parking lot. We had turkeys and deer right in the edge of our camp and meandering through the campground on several occasions. After a while the dogs got used to them as visitors and didn't bark (much).

There are signs everywhere warning people not to approach the buffalo. We saw in Theodore Roosevelt NP how "tame" they seem, so it's understandable that people get overconfident. The ranger in the Wildlife Station told us a woman visiting this park was gored this spring when she got too close to a buffalo and then reached out to touch it. Personally, I'm happy to look at them from a distance, or through the screen door!

While walking with the dogs over a little-used-much deer trail a great horned owl swooped over my head, then landed on a branch where he looked down at us without blinking.  As rare as it is to see an owl in the afternoon, he was among the few birds we saw. There were a few blue jays, and a young hawk being encouraged to flight by his parents, but not as many varieties as I would have expected. The dogs bouncing around in camp probably had something to do with that.

There are a few must-see, man-made attractions here, and Mt. Rushmore National Memorial is certainly one of them.

Mt. Rushmore has been on Steve's bucket list for years, and now we've done it! We set out on Iron Mountain Road fairly early as we wanted to beat the heat. Consequently the day was rather cloudy and dim for the first hour or so, and then the clouds thinned and we had beautiful blue sky with a few decorative clouds to set off the amazing granite structures in the distance.

Many of the distant formations are actually the backside of the Needles structures we saw when we drove the Needles Highway.

The monument is visible from a good distance on the highway and it was a challenge to catch glimpses of it as we wended our way through the forest. Of course, very impressive when viewed from a closer vantage point. The visitor center presents the history of the sculpture in a variety of ways - videos, signs, displays, and an audio tour.

There are displays of artifacts and documents used during work on the monument, photos of work in progress, and a short ranger presentation delivered right next to the model used to determine the measurements for the final sculpture. A trail around the complex and under the sculpture affords a variety of perspectives and lots of photo opportunities. It's pretty much a full day activity. This project was truly an amazing undertaking, and a national treasure.There's some fascinating information on how the carvings were done, with dynamite, and jack hammers, here.

We'd heard the evening program, in which the sculpture is illuminated, was worth seeing, so we made a return trip. The program was scheduled to begin at 8 PM, so we planned to have dinner in the cafe there, and this was the only down-side to the visit. The food was pricey and totally "below par", so to speak. The only bonus out of the deal was the can of beer we picked up to accompany the meal.

A local brewery, in Hill City, worked with the staff at the monument to select four brews to name for the four founders depicted on the mountain.

We selected Honest Abe Red Ale, which was pretty good, and informative! On each can the label includes several historic facts about the person the brew is named for. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln is the only president who was also a licensed bartender? In his younger years Abe and a partner owned a store/drinking establishment in Salem, Illinois.

The evening program was very enjoyable. A short movie along with a presentation by a ranger made up most of the program, then all military service members were invited on stage.

It was a huge group, and each was introduced along with their branch of service. At the end of the program several service members, including Steve, assisted the ranger in taking down the flag and folding it.

The lights on the mountain, as well as other areas of the visitor center make the night display very dramatic, and we were glad we took the opportunity to go back for the second visit.

The following day we decided to explore some of the areas beyond the park boundaries, and since we had enjoyed the Honest Abe Red Ale we decided to look up one of the brewery's tasting rooms. They have one in Custer, but er ended up in Hill City, at the brewery/winery joint tasting room and restaurant. We checked with the staff and they were perfectly fine with the dogs joining us on the patio, so we had a light lunch and shared a sampler.

Hunting around on their shelves later we found a four pack of the four brews named for the founders, so Steve has the set for his label collection shelf! (I'm not sure who's going to drink that lemon grass/mint beer the park people selected to represent Theodore Roosevelt!)

Hill City is also home to the South Dakota State Train Museum - known as the 1880 Train. There are several antique rail cars in varying states of restoration displayed on the grounds. We didn't tour the museum, we'll leave that for the next trip through here.

This post covers so many days that the photos are divided up into multiple albums. If you want to see more pictures here are the links.

Custer State Park - History (buildings, roads, etc.)
Custer State Park - Flora and Fauna
Custer State Park - Scenic Geology

When viewing the photos, click on the little "i" at the top right to see the descriptions.

All good things must come to an end, so the touring comes to a close and we're on to other adventures. We'll head back to Rapid City to catch up on chores, and then work our way east.