Black Hills - chapter three - Needles Highway and beyond

After we left Sylvan Lake there was another tunnel, this one the narrowest at only 9 feet wide. The road twisted and turned as it wound among the amazing fingers of rock that stuck up from among the pine forest. Six miles south east of Sylvan lake we noticed a person perched atop one of the impossibly smooth and thin fingers of rock. Suddenly we came to a wide spot in the road filled with cars and people. It was the "parking" area at the base of the "Needles Eye" formation. The parking lot was full so we crept to the 90 degree left turn that led into the third tunnel. It was long and open at the top for part of it's distance. We waited for several vehicles to clear and then sounded our horn, turned on our lights and started through. When we got to the other end there was a guard rail straight in front of us as the road took another 90 degree turn to the left. We pulled into a just vacated wide spot on the shoulder against the guard rail and parked the truck. We ran back through the tunnel behind a vehicle going the right direction. If you go to my Picasa picture gallery there are a lot more photos of this amazing part of our drive.

Our next stop was at the top of Mt. Coolidge Lookout at an elevation of 6023 feet. This is an active fire lookout station and the gravel road that wound around the mountain to the top was hair raising. Looking out over miles of forest the ravages of at least two forest fires were visible. We later learned that the same year that Yellowstone burned, 1988, the whole north half of Custer State Forest also burned. Those fires were so hot that the soil was burned to a depth of several inches and it took ten years for regrowth to begin. The black skeletons of the burned trees still stand as evidence. There was another fire, not nearly as extensive in 1991, and one just three weeks before we were there. The air had been hazy the whole time we were in the Black Hills from the smoke of fires that were still burning to the south. We saw Forest Service and State Forest fire trucks parked and at the ready in many places we had been and would be yet.

Forest management has changed considerably since the the big burns of 1988. In those days there was no effort to control fires. Now the Forest Service tries to reduce the fuel for fires so that even if a fire gets started they will not be as hot or large as in the past. We saw evidence of this change in what looked like large Tee-Pees of logs stacked among the trees. The forest floors were being cleared of dead logs and brush which was stacked in piles to be burned during the winter when there was enough snow to make the project safe. Unfortunately there had not been enough snow for the last three years to do the burns.

The southern part of Custer State Park has large areas of open range land dispersed among the forest. We saw Pronghorns occasionally, extensive Prairie Dog towns right up close, and the large Bison herd in the distance. The herd is managed by the Park Service which includes a roundup every fall on October first. The animals are inspected and inoculated and about 300 are sold in November for various purposes from meat to breeding stock. You can see movies of the round up and more here.




At one time the Park Service kept a herd of Burrows to use as pack animals for tourist excursions. When those programs were discontinued the Burrows were turned loose. Today they roam the south end of the park begging from the tourists. When we met the herd one lady in an SUV who had just passed them stopped to tell us that "they will eat anything you offer and even put their heads in the car with your kids to be petted."


Going back north toward Mt. Rushmore put us on another scenic drive named Iron Mountain Road. Again we drove through hair pin turns and twists and turns. The Norbeck Scenic highway consisting of the Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain road were built by Peter Norbeck former governor of South Dakota. He wanted people to be able to see the beautiful rock formations without damaging the natural beauty. The Iron Mountain Highway includes three more tunnels - each of which frames Mt Rushmore as you drive through and two "pig tail" bridges which are complete twists of the road going under itself in order to loose altitude without having to build switch backs. It is a hair raising drive and ride and there were no wide places to stop and take pictures as the traffic was fairly heavy. Here is a link to a picture of one of the pigtail or "Piggly Wiggly" bridges as they are called.


Mt. Rushmore was our final destination that day. We arrived very late. We were just a little ahead of the crowds that would come for the evening light display. I had a huge dish of raspberry/vanilla twist soft serve for dinner. It was very good and more than even I could eat which is unusual for me, so Husband got some too. The memorial is very well done. The buildings below the great sculpture are very nicely understated. The gift shop on one side and the food facilities on the other are very large and tastefully designed. As the crowds of tourists from all over the world began to gather for the light show we decided to leave. We were exhausted from the long day and we would not be back to the "Silver Dog House" before it was very dark, even though the campground was less than 20 miles away. We drove through the very crowded and touristy town of Keystone and under the last bridge - this one wide and high enough for the 4 lane divided road that ran under it.