Driving the Needles Highway Through Custer State Park

October 13, 2019

After finishing up our drive through the Wildlife Loop Trail at Custer State Park we decided to continue our morning driving the Needles Highway through Custer State Park as well. With 14 miles of sharp turns, low and narrow tunnels, and lots of interesting granite formations it is quite a thing to experience.

First we stopped near Legion Lake to go to the bathroom and load up on some snacks. My husband and I picked up a bag of pretzels only to discover that these pretzels were like no other. Chuck full of flavor they were delicious!

Soon after turning onto the Needles Highway we saw a small turn off and got out to explore this small tunnel and the brook running in front of it. That water was COLD! It was a hot day with temps near 90.

We got back in the car and continued our drive.

The first tunnel we came to was the Iron Creek Tunnel. Each Tunnel can only fit one car so you have to proceed with caution and make sure nothing is coming from the opposite direction.

Much of this winding road had steep drop offs and no guard rails.. looking down made me nervous so I chose to look out at the surrounding hills instead.

There was a spot we could pull off the road and park to see the Needles that gave this highway it's name. The views were amazing.

We continued on towards Sylvan Lake and soon came to another tunnel.

By the way those are all dead bugs on the windshield. We washed the windshield each time we fueled up the car but could not get over how many bugs (and the sizes of them!) we had accumulated on our car by the end of our trip

We got out at Sylvan lake for another bathroom break and to walk near the lake and check out a hike we hoped to be able to do later in the week when it was supposed to cool off.