John will be heading to South Carolina for his next job this weekend so we are taking advantage of this nice weekday to do some sightseeing In Custer State Park.
There are two scenic drives we definitely want to do on the bike, specifically, Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway.
We will be doing the drive in reverse, so sad. We did not realize there is a specific direction we are supposed to do the drive until it was too late. Maybe next time.
We have entered the scenic drive from the town of Keystone and will be heading towards Hermosa. We should have done the reverse to see Mt. Rushmore as we pass through the tunnels. We will be sure to do the Needles from the correct direction.
The tunnels are not very big, so this is a drive where we should not have to deal with RV’s or large trucks. For reference our RV is about 8 feet wide, not counting the awnings and driving mirrors, and is about 13 feet high.
Two vehicles won’t fit through the tunnels at the same time. We are going to have to be careful.
The Pigtail Bridges are decorative and blend in with the surrounding forest.
We are going under the road we will momentarily be traversing. It looks really cool in person.
The speeds on the signs are VERY accurate as to how fast you can safely take the curves.
And now we are, on the road above, pigtail completed.
If we were going the proper direction we would be able to see Mt. Rushmore framed in the tunnel as we go through, but we are not, so it’s not as cool as it could have been.
After passing through a couple of tunnels we reach the overlook named for the man who designed the tunnel system we just passed through.
We can see Mt. Rushmore but it is still pretty far away.
At the overlook, we had been talking about how scary would it be to encounter a buffalo herd while on the bike. Aaannd….here we are.
John stays back and we observe, safely, the large herd cross the road.
No sooner do we clear the mountains we happen upon a bachelor male.
The visitors in front of us do not understand what “harassing” wildlife means. As long as the buffalo takes it out on them and not us if he gets angry enough.
The rest of the ride is uneventful and we eventually exit the park. The ride back to camp is through countryside that is quintessential South Dakota, hills and grass plains.
Now this is a tunnel even the RV can fit through.
