A Weekend at Custer State Park
If you ever find yourself driving through South Dakota, spending some time in the Black Hills National Forest is a must!
Custer State Park is just one of many inside the forest, and I recently spent a lovely weekend enjoying some quality time checking out all that it has to offer.
Related Article: I Went to the Badlands and I Can Confirm They Are Totally Badass!
One of the main reasons to explore the park is all of the wild buffalos that roam free. Unfortunately, we chose to visit the park during the one week of the year where all the buffalo are roundup so the herd can be checked for a healthy population and the babies vaccinated.
The round up itself draws a crowd upwards of 20,000 people every year! Interested in checking it out?
Camping In the Park
We arrived to the park to discover it is significantly colder in the Black Hills than in other parts of South Dakota. We had planned on tent camping, but with temperatures only in the mid 30’s, we didn’t have the proper gear to keep warm.
Instead, we decided to spring for a heated cabin at Stockade South Campground
One thing I have to note about this was how absolutely ridiculous it was to actually book the cabin. Instead of being able to just book it online, we had to call an 800 number from a payphone on the back of the bathroom building inside the campground. We stood out in the cold while the person on the other end of the line verified with the campground host that the cabin was available (it was) and then take our credit card info. The whole thing took about 40 minutes. Which, really isn’t that long but in the world where you can make purchases and online bookings in under 2 minutes, it felt like an absurd process.
Oh well, it was all totally worth it!
Needles Highway
Needles Highway is a 14 mile loop through Custer State Park and into the Black Hills. Cruising this scenic byway is one of the top “must-see” things to do in the park, and with good reason. The drive is stunning, with amazing sites to see along the way including Legion Lake, Center Lake, the Cathedral Spires and Sylvan Lake.
The ‘needles’ are rock formations coming out of the hills and actually inspired Mount Rushmore!
If you’re planning to take this drive yourself, it’s best to know that during peak seasons, it can take you easily over an hour to complete the entire loop. There are also 2 very narrow rock tunnels that are not large enough for any over-sized vehicles - they are only about 8ft. wide!
Sylvan Lake
Sylvan Lake is absolutely stunning, and one of the more popular destinations within the park for a reason. I’ve heard that in peak summer months, the beach is completely packed and parking is nearly impossible. However for us, we were there the weekend AFTER the big buffalo corral, so we practically had the place to ourselves!
When you travel during the off season, you may have cruddy weather and some things are likely to be closed, but those are small prices to pay when you don’t have to compete with any other tourists!
There are a lot of hiking trails that branch off from the Lake, but we decided to just take the 1 mile loop of Sylvan Lake Shore Trail and scramble up and down all of the rocks. It was a very lovely way to spend the afternoon indeed.
Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore
Although technically not inside Custer State Park, I would be totally remised if I didn’t mention that 2 of the Nations most iconic monuments are just a stone’s throw away!
I’ve been to both monuments before when I was a kid during a Girl Scout trip, but it was absolutely amazing to see them again as an adult. I definitely have much more of an appreciation for the work that went into (and in the case of Crazy Horse, is STILL going into) these monuments.
Crazy Horse Memorial is technically not a national monument, therefor it has not received any government funding and the work is unfinished. There is a lot of information on the history of this memorial, but in a nutshell, Native American chief Standing Bear invited Korczak Ziolkowski to carve this memorial to honor his native people. Ziolkowski devoted the rest of his life to sculpting Crazy Horse, and his family has taken over his legacy to keep the project moving forward.
Because the memorial is unfinished, the visitor center/museum is vast and has plenty of other things for you to see. There is an expansive collection of Native artifacts, you can tour the sculptors original home on the site and, of course, a large gift shop where you can purchase locally made Native art.
We also visited Mount Rushmore on our way out of the Black Hills.
We really only stayed long enough to snap a few photos and take a glance at the gift shop before we hit the road again. But, there are lots of other things you can do around the monument if you have the time!
Unfortunately, the monument is currently under construction, but it was still very cool to see this icon IRL!
However, if you don’t have time to make it to the real Mount Rushmore, you can always get up close and personal with the replica at Wall Drug!
I had a fantastic time exploring Custer State Park, but I really hope you get to go check it out too!
Until next time!
Xoxo,
Karen
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