South Dakota’s most dramatic road fits your car through solid rock by about two inches

It’s the road they said couldn’t exist

South Dakota Highway 87 runs 14 miles through Custer State Park in the Black Hills, and every foot of it looks like someone dared a road to exist where it shouldn’t. Granite spires shoot up on both sides.

Tunnels cut through solid rock barely fit your car. Hairpin turns keep you well under 30 mph the whole way.

The Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway counts this stretch among the top 10 most outstanding byways in North America, and once you see why the engineers called it impossible, you start to understand what makes it worth the slow crawl.

A governor mapped every mile on horseback

Peter Norbeck didn’t plan this road from an office.

South Dakota’s former governor walked and rode horseback through the Black Hills to pick the exact route himself. Engineers told him a highway through the Needles formation couldn’t be done.

He ignored them. Construction wrapped up in 1922, and the path he chose hits every dramatic overlook the wilderness has to give.

Norbeck also created Custer State Park and helped push Mount Rushmore into reality. The man thought big and built bigger.

These granite spires are two billion years old

The road gets its name from the needle-like granite towers lining the highway, and they look like they could puncture the sky. These formations go back more than two billion years.

Softer limestone once covered them, but millions of years of erosion stripped it away and left the bare spires standing. Catch them at sunrise and they glow warm orange.

Come back at sunset and the same towers turn deep purple. The light changes everything.

Your car barely fits through the Needles Eye Tunnel

The Needles Eye Tunnel measures just 8 feet wide and 9 feet 9 inches tall.

You’ll see people parked along the pullout, watching full-size trucks inch through the gap with maybe a finger’s width to spare on each side.

A second tunnel, Iron Creek, opens up slightly at 8 feet 9 inches wide by 10 feet 10 inches high. Both got blasted straight through granite walls during the original 1922 construction.

If you’re towing a trailer or driving a big RV, turn around. You won’t make it.

The Needle’s Eye looks like a giant sewing needle

Right near the tunnel sits one of the most photographed spots on the whole drive.

The Needle’s Eye is a thin granite spire with a narrow slot carved through it by centuries of wind, rain, freezing, and thawing.

The opening looks exactly like the eye of a sewing needle, and you can pull over at a dedicated pullout to walk up close. Bring a camera.

Every angle gives you a different shape, and the scale of it only hits you when you’re standing at the base.

Hike 1.6 miles to the Cathedral Spires

The Cathedral Spires are a cluster of granite towers the National Park Service designated as a National Natural Landmark, and you can reach them on a 1.6-mile round-trip trail.

The trailhead sits at a parking area along one of the highway’s sharpest hairpin turns. You’ll walk through ponderosa pine and spruce forest before the trees thin out and the spires rise above you.

The last stretch gets steep and involves some boulder scrambling, so wear shoes with good grip.

Sylvan Lake sits at 6,145 feet behind a 130-year-old dam

At the northern end of Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake waits at about 6,145 feet. Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch Creek in 1891 and created the whole thing.

It joined Custer State Park when the park formed in 1921.

The lake covers about 17 acres, and massive granite boulders ring the shoreline with pine trees growing between them.

A gentle one-mile trail loops the entire lake, crossing small footbridges and ducking behind boulders along the way.

Climb, paddle, or swim your way around Sylvan Lake

You can swim right in the lake, or rent a kayak, canoe, or paddleboard and get out on the water.

If you want to go vertical, Sylvan Rocks Climbing School runs guided climbs on the granite formations surrounding the shore.

The lake also serves as the jumping-off point for Black Elk Peak, South Dakota’s highest point at 7,242 feet. The peak got its current name in 2016 to honor Nicholas Black Elk, a Lakota medicine man.

A stone fire lookout tower the Civilian Conservation Corps built in the 1930s still stands at the top.

1,300 bison roam free and they run at 35 mph

Custer State Park holds roughly 1,300 free-roaming bison, and you’ll likely see them from the road. Pronghorn, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and coyotes also live in the park.

Keep your eyes on the sky for eagles and hawks, and watch the ground for prairie dog towns. The park wants you at least 100 yards from bison and other large animals.

They look calm standing in a field, but they can hit 35 mph without warning.

Wild burros will stick their heads in your car window

A small herd of wild burros wanders the park roads, and they will walk right up to your vehicle looking for a handout. People call them the “begging burros” for good reason.

These animals descend from pack burros that once carried visitors up Black Elk Peak. You’ll usually find them along the southern section of Wildlife Loop Road.

They’re bold enough to shove their heads through your car window, so roll it down at your own risk.

Drive the 18-mile Wildlife Loop through open prairie

Wildlife Loop Road stretches 18 miles through the southern half of the park, cutting across open grasslands, pine-covered hills, rolling prairie, and red-walled canyons.

It connects to Needles Highway, so you can knock out both drives in a single day. Early morning and late afternoon give you the best shot at wildlife sightings.

If you time your visit for late September, the annual Buffalo Roundup draws around 20,000 people who come to watch riders on horseback herd the bison into corrals.

Snow shuts it down and spring opens it back up

Needles Highway closes with the season’s first snow and typically reopens around April 1, depending on conditions. Custer State Park charges about $20 per vehicle for a seven-day entrance license.

Drive the route south to north if you can, saving the tunnels and Sylvan Lake for the finish.

The full Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway combines Needles Highway with Iron Mountain Road and Wildlife Loop Road for a complete day behind the wheel.

The park spans 71,000 acres, about 30 miles south of Rapid City.

Explore Custer State Park in South Dakota

You can start your trip at Custer State Park, located in the Black Hills about 30 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota. The park covers 71,000 acres of forests, prairies, lakes, and granite formations.

Beyond Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop Road, Iron Mountain Road takes you through pigtail bridges and tunnels that frame Mount Rushmore in the distance.

Several campgrounds and historic lodges dating to the early 1900s give you places to stay, and dozens of trails range from easy lakeside walks to the full climb up Black Elk Peak.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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