Custer State Park Knocked My Socks Off

Custer State Park in South Dakota is seriously underestimated. Complete with accessible wildlife, fun roads, great hikes and scenery to ogle over, this is another one of the rare places I hope to travel back to one day. In fact, my favorite hike of the entire roadtrip was in this small-ish State Park!

During our two-day visit to the area we decided to stay in the non-touristy side of Rapid City which meant we had to drive 50 minutes to get to the park, a tradeoff we were willing to make to stay at a Marriott property and out of the crowds. During our first afternoon in the park our driving route was to take Iron Mountain Road to the East Park Entrance and then drive the full Wildlife Loop before heading back up to the Needles Highway to Sylvan Lake. The next morning we checked out Mount Rushmore, hiked to Cathedral Spires and Little Devil’s Towerhead, and visited Crazy Horse.

Here is a link to the official Custer Park State Park map.

Iron Mountain Road isn’t technically part of the park so you don’t need to buy a ticket to enjoy the winding road with tunnel views of Mount Rushmore and the two pigtail bridges – a highlight for us as we were driving the Corvette. 

At the East Entrance we purchased the standard week-long ticket for $20 from the park ranger and proceeded to drive the big Wildlife Loop. It did not disappoint. We were able to drive right alongside a group of wild burrows and through a large herd of bison, my first time encountering either large animal. We also stopped at a likely picnic spot for dinner and a few other likely looking outlook stops.

Then we were onto the Needles Highway amongst a rumbling heard of motorcycles and other small passenger vehicles that could fit through the Needle Eye Tunnel. The Corvette wanted to go faster down this winding road but no doubt it is a popular route for all visitors, complete with fantastic views you must pull over to take in. We were jammin’ to Nickleback circa 2005 and having a grand time.

The Needles Highway then took us to Sylvan Lake. We needed to stretch our legs so we stopped at the small convenience store for hydrating drinks and took the leisurely walk around the entire lake. It’s a beautiful lake and lovely short hike. You walk along the lake shore with a boardwalk and stepping stones before coming around to the backside of the dam via a rock tunnel and staircase.

Then it’s through a short stretch of woods before walking alongside vertical rock cliffs where we came across some climbers scaling the rock alongside a waterfall. When we emerged on the other side of the lake we detoured to one of the hiking maps where we picked out our morning hike and had a nice conversation with another visitor who was camping nearby. Turns out he had friends hiking to Black Elk Peak, the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains. 

Early the next morning our first stop was at Mount Rushmore because, spoiler alert, it’s completely free. Mount Rushmore is a National Monument therefore it technically doesn’t cost anything to see it, but you are forced to pay $10 for an annual parking pass at the entrance. However, we were there shortly after 6 am and we were free to just drive in, park, and walk up to the base of the mountain sculpture which was pretty much deserted! To me, this place was neat to see but was also just a checkbox along the way. 

Next, we headed back to the Needles Highway which was so much more fun in the early morning hours as there was no traffic and we could stop and take pictures in the middle of the road. Plus, we got one of the few parking spots at the Cathedral Spires Trailhead. Seriously, there’s only about 10 parking spots because its on a narrow switchback along the Needles Highway just a quarter of a mile east of the Needle Eye Tunnel. 

We parked and wasted no time plunging into the woods on onto my favorite hike. The vegetation had that fresh morning scent and the sky was clear allowing the blazing sunlight to peak around the tall narrow rocks that are iconic to the area. We walked through the woods and up over rocks before coming to the Cathedral Spires terminus and the scenery knocked my socks off. This valley with fire scarred trees is lined with a wall of stunning rock formations and the morning light that was pouring in made it an amazing setting. And we had the place to ourselves. We lingered in that clearing for quite some time before deciding to continue our hiking adventure.

Backtracking a little to a fork in the trail, we then headed farther uphill to Little Devil’s Tower Head where we encountered diverse hiking terrain and no people. We hiked up the dirt trail, through more pine trees and up a long length of sheer rock trail where we may have scraped a few knuckles. The 360 view at the top was totally worth it. We sat at the top of that rock for a long while taking in the fantastic horizon and another great view of the Cathedral Spires below. We didn’t want to leave and felt no need to as we were alone on top of the world.

The hike back out was equally as enjoyable and the parking lot was full by the time we got back to the Corvette. We ate a quick lunch in that parking lot before leaving to our final destination in Custer which was Crazy Horse Monument.

Crazy Horse is another checkbox destination, in my opinion, and costs $12 per adult just to get through the gates and to the Visitor Center. A bus ride to the base of the monument costs extra. We did wander through the Visitor Center and learned about the genesis of the enormous project and the end goal. Maybe I’ll have to check back in on it’s progress when I’m in my 80’s! That’s it for South Dakota, next we headed to Colorado!