Custer State Park, South Dakota

Our last day in the Black Hills included spending time in Custer State Park. The park covers a huge area where about 2,500 head of buffalo roam free. 

The park itself is pretty rustic, which adds to it’s natural beauty. At one point we saw part of the buffalo herd lounging around in a meadow. Unfortunately there were so many trees between us and them that I could not get a picture.

A couple lakes are in the park where you can fish or picnic.

Large rock formations surround Sylvan Lake.

Nearby was the State Game Lodge.

This Game Lodge is a beautiful old building. You can rent a room here or do as we did and have a great lunch or dinner in the large dining room. Tour buses pull up and let tourist off to eat as it is a popular stop. We had wonderful buffalo short ribs.

After lunch we took off to explore Custer State Park.

This involves driving rather narrow, curvy, two-lane roads through the park. On numerous occasions, rounding a curve brings a pleasant surprise.

 

Closer inspection of the mountain in the distance shows…

…the faces of Mt. Rushmore!

The park consists of a combination of deep forests and rolling meadows.

The road leads through several tunnels, obviously created long ago.

They are small and would never accommodate large vehicles.

Once again, we see Mt. Rushmore as we exit the tunnel.

From here we could also see the Visitor Center and museum at Mt. Rushmore.

At one point there was a large view point area where we stopped.

This view point area was in a beautiful, treed area with lots of boulders everywhere. There was also this natural bridge. 

On beyond this rock formation, was a path leading to the edge of a cliff looking over a huge valley and again at Mt. Rushmore.

Back on the wind-y roads again, we saw a sign referring to “Pigtail Bridges.” We had no idea what that meant till we got to one.

First, we crossed a tight curving bridge that crossed over the same highway we were just driving on …

Then we made a circle and came back underneath the curving bridge we were just on. The bridge curled like a pigtail. OK, now we get it!

Next was a double tunnel…

No two-way traffic here!

There was one place that we were unable to get to on this trip, and that was the famous Needles area.

The Eye of the Needle

I did find these pictures of it, though. We’ll make sure we actually see these ourselves next time.

We went into Rapid City for just a short time before leaving the Black Hills. They have incredible bronze statues of many of the presidents and a few prominent Indians on the street corners in the middle of downtown.

They call it the Presidential Walk and would be best seen on foot. I had to photograph them as we were driving, so only got a few of them. Also I could only identify a couple on the fly. Maybe you can figure out who the others are.

Ulysses S. Grant

John F. Kennedy

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