I had read that when the U.S. government was trying to force the Lakota Indians onto a reservation, the tribal leaders said they were willing to leave any of their other lands as long as they could stay in the Black Hills area of what is now South Dakota. It’s easy to see why they revered this region. The rolling hills are dotted with massive rock outcroppings that give the place a surreal feel.
While the Lakota still have a strong presence in the area, the Black Hills has a bit of a Disneyland feel to it, with numerous roadside attractions, tourists traps and activities all calling out for the tourist dollar. We tried to avoid most of that and focus on the natural beauty of the landscape and the local wildlife.
We stayed at a private campground just outside of Custer, within a stone’s throw of Custer State Park. The park is frequently cited as one of the best state parks in the country and one that could easily be a national park as well.
With unsettled weather on our first day, we drove the Needles Highway, a 14-mile road that winds through pine and spruce forest, with stunning views of the park’s granite formations. The roadway was carefully planned by former South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who marked the entire course on foot and by horseback. The road was completed in 1922 and includes several narrow tunnels, dug out well before people drove 8-foot wide pickup trucks.
In the tightest of the tunnels, we folded our side mirrors in to avoid clipping the walls. We passed with inches to spare.
The Needles Highway climbs to the Sylvan Lake area, which may be the prettiest part of the park — and also the most popular and most overcrowded. We hiked a trail that circumnavigated the lake, watching people ply the waters with canoes, kayaks and paddle boards.
The following morning, I came back to the lake early to hike Black Elk Peak, the tallest mountain in South Dakota. There are several ways up to the mountains, ranging from a shorter, steep hike, to a longer, more mellow trail to the summit. I opted to hike up the former and down the latter. The summit is marked with a stone observation tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s.
After lunch, we drove the park’s Wildlife Drive, although we didn’t see very much wildlife. A group of six pronghorns paid no mind to us as we passed. A solitary buffalo seemed equally uninterested in the throng of cars on the road.
We had planned to do the Lovers Leap hike, but it started to rain so we opted to drive another scenic route out of the park, the Iron Mountain Road. This route’s claim to fame are the tunnels along the way that perfectly frame Mount Rushmore.
We had been to Mount Rushmore about 12 years earlier, but since we were in the area, we decided to stop by one again. It really is a beautiful monument, although the moment was somewhat marred by all the MAGA hats and Trump t-shirts we saw.
In addition to Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills includes another two National Park sides, Jewel Cave and Wind Cave.
Jewel Cave can only be viewed on a ranger-led tour, and we had neglected to make reservations. However, we learned that rangers have a few same day slots held back until 8 a.m. each day. So the following morning, we drove out to the site and were second in line for tickets. We were able to get onto the 9 a.m. tour.
Jewel Cave, the second longest cave in the U.S. after Mammoth Cave, is named for the calcite crystal formation that grow on its walls. The crystals are more prevalent around the original entrance of the cave then entrance we took from the visitors center. We rode an elevator down hundreds of feet to start our tour. While you get a brief glimpse of the namesake crystals when you enter the first room of the cave, most of the tour deals with other types of cave formations, including cave bacon!
We had wanted to see another cave in the area at Wind Cave National Park, but unfortunately, their elevator was under repair so they weren’t offering any tours. We did visit the park and hiked the 5-mile Lookout Point Trail and Centennial Trail Loop. The trails traverse prairie grasslands that once dominated this area, and three times, we had to divert from the trail to avoid solitary buffaloes.
Just south of Wind Cave, in Hot Springs, we visited the Mammoth Site, a excavation that has found more than 60 mammoth remains. The site was discovered in 1974 when a construction worker operating a bulldozer unearthed large bones and a mammoth tooth in what was once a sinkhole. The behemoths of the time waded into what appeared to be shallow waters to forage for plant life, and then got stuck in the sink hole when the bottom suddenly sloped downward beneath them. The site is ensconced in a building, but many of the bones have left as they were found, providing a view of how paleontology is conducted.
On our last day in the region, we visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, a massive rock carving project that is the Native American answer to Mount Rushmore. Work on the carving, which will eventually show the famed Indian warrior on a horse, began in 1948 and isn’t close to be being done. So far, the memorial consists of Crazy Horse’s head and arm.
The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on Mount Rushmore under Gutzon Borglum. After Ziolkowski’s death in 1982, his children took over the project.
The site has an interesting museum with lots of Native American artifacts and exhibits about the Ziolkowski family and their work on the sculpture. There’s no timeline or estimate for when the work will be completed.
Later that afternoon, we went back to Custer State Park to hike the Lovers Leap trail. The trail loops around to a large outcropping, where legend has it, a young Indian couple leapt to their deaths.
We had spent a full week in the Black Hills area and there was probably a lot more to do there than we managed to squeeze in. But other destinations await us.
Days: 164
Miles Traveled: 22,369
Next stop: Badlands National Park
