Go Around the Bend: Custer, Dead Presidents, Indian Heros, and More!

Storm clouds gather near Custer, SD.

We arrived at Custer's Gulch RV Park Tuesday, 5/28. Custer’s Gulch is amazing for a private campground, it feels much more like a state park with a generous amount of space between sites and lots of grassy areas for the pups. It’s nice to feel like we’re camping and still have full hookups. I’m getting spoiled. Lol. (Thanks, Tim, for the recommendation!)

The pups love the green grass and roaming the hills behind our campsite.

There are so many awesome things to see and do here that I’m not sure we can cram it into one post. I’m going to try though! Our campground is on the outskirts of the town of Custer and just a few minutes from one entrance to Custer State Park.

Custer is a fun, touristy town to shop and we made several visits to the rock shops and, of course, the Purple Pie Place. At Antler, Hide and Claw we purchased a huge elk antler for the kids. Raney had fun toting around her new chew toy until Rog cut it into manageable sized chunks.

Bumbleberry Pie at the Purple Pie Place.
Several of the locals drove their vintage tractors into town for pie!

Painted Bison were all around the town.

This shop took the prize for most interesting. Lol.

We searched through the truckful of sheds for an elk antler for the kids.

Everybody had fun with the new chewy.
(It's now in several more travel-friendly pieces. Lol)

Custer State Park encompasses 71,000 acres in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. We drove the wildlife loop in the park on Wednesday, stopping at scenic overlooks to watch the herds of bison. There are several top-notch educational centers along the drive that you don’t want to miss. One whole center was devoted to bison and we learned a lot! Did you know bison once roamed as far east as Washington DC, as far west as Oregon, south into Mexico and north into Canada? We had heard about the famous begging burros in Custer State Park that are decended from pack animals used by miners in the 1870's. We were thrilled to see them up close, very close. Lol.

Bison, Pronghorn Antelope, and Prairie Dogs along the Wildlife Loop.

This guy had the best hairdo!

Some of the educational centers were as gorgeous as they were informative!

Hey Lady, how about sharing that snack?

When I say this area has some of the best scenery in the entire country – it is high praise indeed. We extended the wildlife loop by driving part of the Needles Highway to Sylvan Lake. The highway is a fantastic engineering feat. The route was meticulously mapped to maximize the views by former South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who marked the entire course on foot and by horseback. In 1919, when Norbeck asked his engineer, Scovall Johnson, if the road could be build, he replied, “If you can supply me with enough dynamite!” Two years and 150,000 pounds of dynamite later, the road became a reality.

Needles Highway winds through the area’s namesake slender granite spires that rise like stone needles. To me, the rugged gray granite formations look the bones of the earth poking through. Any way you look at it, the scenery is just stunning.

Rugged granite spires.

The road winds through some of the most incredible scenery.

Tell me that doesn't look like the spine of a mountain.

Sylvan Lake is small but very picturesque.

Along the Needles Highway are several very short, narrow one-way tunnels. This is not a road for the RV! We watched a tour bus climbing the highway and we were sure that he’d have to turn around before the tunnel. Nope. He folded in his mirrors and crept through with barely inches to spare. Please note the “Caution: Student Driver” sign in the window. Hilarious.

Needles Eye Tunnel.

Pretty good for a "Student Driver", eh? 😄

On Thursday, 5/30, we loaded up the bikes and drove to the Hill City trailhead on the Mickelson Trail. The entire rail-to-trail is 109 miles long, stretching from Edgemont to Deadwood. We rode our bikes 34 miles on the trail, choosing a section that wound through three stone railroad tunnels. It’s a super fun and scenic trail.

More awesome granite formations along the trail.

The aspens were dressed in spring green.

The tunnels were super fun too!

The next day was a coach day for us. Gotta let that tushy rest. Lol. While Rog and I attended to domestic chores and errands, Bob and Carole drove to Wind Caves National Park. The caverns were closed (the elevator was being refurbished), but they were able to see the visitor’s center, do a scenic drive through the park, hike some of trails, and see some adorable baby bison.

Lunch time at Wind Caves. Lol.

On Saturday, 6/1, we drove to Mount Rushmore on the Iron Mountain Road. This road is another brainchild of Peter Norbeck, with the tunnels purposely constructed to frame views of Mount Rushmore. It is such an iconic drive. We enjoyed our visit to Mt. Rushmore and have a suggestion: do not miss the handcrafted ice cream, especially the vanilla made using the recipe hand-written by Thomas Jefferson during his presidency. Excellent! Bob and Carole went back later in the week for the evening ceremony and lighting of the Monument.

Iron Mountain Road - it's soooo worth the drive!

The pigtails are a unique part of this engineering marvel.

The tunnels were designed to frame the monument.

Mt. Rushmore.

Bob and Carole went back for the evening ceremony.
There is one spot along the road where you can see Washington in profile.

We were back in the saddle on Sunday, 6/2, biking a different section of the Mickelson Trail from the town of Custer to the Crazy Horse Memorial. The Memorial depicts the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski. It is operated by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization. It is hard to wrap your head around the scale of this project. The sculpture's final dimensions will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The outstretched arm will be 263 feet long, just the finger is 29 feet 6 inches! The face of Crazy Horse, completed in 1998, is 87 feet 6 inches high, by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet high.

This section of the Mickelson Trail is stunning...

...and the clouds were utterly fantastic!

Crazy Horse Memorial.

A closer view of the details.

The monument has been in progress since 1948. We were very interested to see how much progress had been made since we visited in 2016. The face had been completed then, so the real progress was made on the outstretched arm and hand.

August 2016 (top) and June 2024 (bottom).

In addition to the monument, the site houses the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center. The museums feature an impressive collection of art and artifacts from tribal Nations across North America. Ziolkowski’s original studio and home are also part of the exhibits, along with displays on the history of the memorial and carving of the mountain. I thought it was especially poignant that Ziolkowski had originally planned for a smaller sculpture, but Henry Standing Bear insisted that it should take the whole mountain. In that moment, when Ziolkowski agreed to the larger scale, he knew it would never be completed in his lifetime. He left detailed plans to ensure the work could continue after he was gone.

A 1/34 scale model of the mountain carving.

The museums hold an incredible array of Native American art and artifacts.

Tools used to carve the mountain.

We saved the kayaking for Monday, 6/3. It our last day in Custer and it was also supposed to be the warmest day of our stay. We’d originally planned to kayak one of the lakes in Custer State Park, but got a recommendation for Bismark Lake, on National Forest land just outside the state park. It was perfect! Lots of trees and rocks and a whole lot of turtles. Yes, the turtle paparazzi had a field day!