Today’s trip through parts of Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest was everything Randy loves. The twisting roads, vertical drops and cliff walls had my ears popping the entire day and my anxiety levels off the charts. But I loved the ride because the scenery was gorgeous and a must do when in South Dakota.
We started the day traveling on the 17 mile long Iron Mountain Road, a.k.a. 16A. This road starts in Custer State Park and ends at the entrance to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. I was disappointed that we did not see very much wildlife, but the spectacular scenery more than made up for it. This road has 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtail bridges, 3 tunnels and 2 places where the road splits. We got our first glimpse of Mt. Rushmore while climbing out of the valley, but the best view was through the tunnels. As you proceed through the tunnels, Mt. Rushmore is framed by the one-lane tunnels. Spectacular!
Needles Highway is a 14 mile stretch of road with narrow roads, very sharp turns, narrow tunnels, granite spires and awesome views. We were glad we had stopped at the visitor center in Custer State Park yesterday and asked about this road because it was closed yesterday. There was still road construction today, but we could get through. The construction just took us a little extra time to navigate because it was down to a single lane in some sections. The tunnels on this road are smaller than those on the Iron Mountain Road. The Needles Eye Tunnel is the smallest at only 8′ 4″ wide but the Hood and Iron Creek Tunnel are also low and narrow.
These 2 roads are just part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. Peter Norbert was a former Governor and Senator from South Dakota who was instrumental in promoting the construction of Mount Rushmore. He proposed most of the roads located within the park, even after being told by the engineers at the time that the road could not be built in the Needles.
