On day 98 of “The Ultimate USA Road Trip” we drive from Hot Springs through the Black Hills to Custer. Before we leave we buy an entrance ticket for Custer National Park online ($8). Today we drive a short but beautiful route in the Black Hills. We drive through the Wind Cave Park, Custer State Park, on the “Iron Mountain Road” (SD-16A) and the “Needles Highway” which are both part of the “Peter Norbeck Scenic Highway”.

The route is a series of beautiful winding roads through stunning natural beauty, along the way we pass several viewpoints where you can stop to enjoy the view and take photos. Along the route we also pass lakes and rivers that we sometimes cross on beautiful bridges, such as the “Beaver Creek Bridge” in the “Wind Cave Park”, a deck arch bridge built of concrete and steel. It is 69 meters long and is located 35 meters above the canyon floor. The purpose of building the bridge in 1929 was to provide travelers with more convenient access to the newly developed Custer State Park north of Wind Cave National Park.

One of the key achievements of the bridge's builders was to create the illusion of the concrete arches rising naturally from the rock walls on either side of the gorge. The nature of this bridge makes it historically important. It is the only bridge of this specific arch type in the state of South Dakota. It is also only one of three "major bridges" in the Rocky Mountain Region of the National Park System. The construction of this bridge was made possible through the efforts of Peter Norbeck, the U.S. Senator from South Dakota.

From the “Wind Cave Park” drive into “Custer State Park”, the park is open all year round, 24 hours a day, some roads may be closed in the winter, such as “The Needles Highway”. It is best to buy a day pass online for $8. At the park entrances it costs $20 per vehicle for 1-7 days. An annual park access license costs $36 and you can purchase a second annual park access license for $18.

We leave early and also take enough food and drinks for the journey. The first stop is at the Wind Cave National Park Visitors Center to learn more about this beautiful park. Wind Cave National Park is a national park in the United States, eighteen kilometers north of the town of Hot Springs in the western state of South Dakota. Located in the Black Hills, the park was founded in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt and was the seventh national park in the United States and the first cave designated as a national park in the world.
The park includes a large nature reserve with a cave system of 219 kilometers long. The cave system is the third longest in the United States. The nature reserve consists mainly of prairie and provides living space for large herds of bison, as well as ferrets, wapitis, antelopes and various types of rodents.
Wind Cave is known for its unique limestone cave formations, including “boxwork,” a rare type of carved pattern not found to this extent anywhere else in the world. The Wind Cave cave is also known for the strong air current, which gives it its name. When the pressure outside is higher than inside, the air is sucked in. When the pressure inside the cave is higher, the wind blows outside. The wind can reach a speed of eighty kilometers per hour.

Wind Cave is also known for its frostwork. The cave is considered a three-dimensional maze. The cave surpassed Switzerland's Hoelloch Cave on February 11, 2006, becoming the fourth longest cave in the world with 192 kilometers of explored cave passages. Above ground, the park contains the largest remaining naturally mixed grass prairie in the United States.

We drive over the beautiful Beaver Creek Bridge into Custer State Park, along the route there are many parking lots with places where you can take beautiful photos. We will stop at Stop at the “Mount Coolidge Lookout” the highest point in Custer State Park, where the “Fire Tower” is located, this was one of the last projects completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s. The tower is built of local stone and rests atop a peak of 1835 meters. The tower is still used as a fire lookout and as an alarm center. As the highest point, it offers breathtaking 360-degree views from the top of the fire tower. On a clear day you can see the Badlands almost 60 miles away to the east.

We drive around Stockade Lake, the largest of the five lakes of Custer State Park. Stockade is the only lake in Custer State Park that accommodates all types of boats. This beautiful lake also features a swimming beach, walking trail, playground, group area and fishing opportunities. Stockade Lake is also near some Black Hills historical sites, such as the Gordon Stockade (the next stop) and the site of the first gold discovery in the Black Hills.

At the lake we start our drive on the US-16-A Iron Mountain Road, an incredibly beautiful drive and unforgettable experience. It is one of the most unusual and fascinating roads in America. This road in the Black Hills offers the beauty of the mountains and valleys as a backdrop. This road was specifically designed for enjoying the beauty of the Black Hills. It is 17 miles (27 kilometers), with 314 turns, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 2 forks and of course the 4 presidents on Mt. Rushmore. The route is designed so that you can see Mount Rushmore from several points. It takes at least 45 minutes to navigate this road. It is designed to go slow enjoy the ride, smell the pine trees and unfortunately the buffalo, you won't find another road like this in America.

With the beauty of the mountains and valleys as a backdrop, this road was specially designed with an enormous amount of curves, including hairpin bends, to limit travelers' speed to 55 km per hour so they could enjoy the beauty of the Black Hills. What makes this road so unique and memorable is not only the amount of curves and the surrounding beauty, but also the architectural features found along this road. These features include wooden structures called pigtail bridges and single-lane tunnels built to display the American patriotic symbol, Mount Rushmore. These tunnels frame the Mount Rushmore National Memorial like a picture frame and are a spectacular place, depending on which direction you travel, you may have to look in your rear view mirror to experience this wonder.

During this 17-mile journey, you will experience not only the architectural wonders of this road, but also the wonders of Mother Nature. Don't be surprised if you are stopped in the middle of a herd of buffalo as they cross the road, grazing and tending to their young. Take some time to look around, you'll likely see antelope, deer and turkey, or you might even spot bighorn sheep or a mountain lion. Every journey along this road will be a different experience. To experience everything the road has to offer, you'll have to travel it in both directions; you will see and experience different things in every way.

We stop regularly to take photos and enjoy the beautiful view. The first stop is at Gordon Stockade, a replica of a wooden fort built by the Gordon Party to protect against Lakota attacks during the gold rush of 1874. The current Gordon Stockade was built on the original site. Meaningful signs tell the story of this short-lived illegal occupation in 1874-1875.

We stop at the three tunnels carved into the rock, each framing Mount Rushmore in a unique way. The first is the Scovel Jones Tunnel, the second is the CC Gideon Tunnel and the last is the Doane Robinson Tunnel there are no actual parking spaces to stop at but there are wide pull outs where you can get to the south side of the tunnel stopping to take pictures. Watch out for other traffic. You can't stop at the Pigtails.

Highlights of the Iron Mountain Road include Mt. Rushmore National Memorial with the Majestic figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, surrounded by the beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota, tell the story of the birth, growth, development and preservation of this country. From the history of the first inhabitants to the diversity of America today, Mount Rushmore brings visitors face to face with America's rich heritage.
After Mount Rushmore we drive on the Needles Highway, part of South Dakota Highway 87 (SD 87). The Needles Highway runs through Wind Cave National Park and is 14 miles (23 km) long and has beautiful views and some narrow tunnels carved into the rock. There are a number of beautiful points to stop along the route.

The end point of this great day is in the town of Custer, the center of the Black Hills. It is an option to plan a few extra days and drive beautiful routes from Custer or undertake other activities.