But for sheer scenery you don’t want to miss Needles Highway.

Needles is part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway named for former SD Governor Peter Norbeck who mapped out the entire length of Needles Highway on foot or on horseback. The highway was completed in 1922.

Doane Robinson, credited with the idea of carving likenesses of famous people in stone in the Black Hills, originally thought that the Needles area would be a good spot for the four presidents of Mount Rushmore. But the idea was rejected for several reasons, one being the poor quality of granite for such a project.

Needles Highway is named for the spiked, needle-like formations of granite rocks flanked by aspen, spruce, birch, and ponderosa pines. And the combination takes your breath away — that, and the twists and turns!

With only a 14-mile stretch along SD-87, looking at Needles Highway on a map might lead you to allot half an hour or so for touring. But with hairpin turns, narrow stretches of road (sometimes blocked with construction and repair vehicles), and breathtaking scenery, you’ll want to drive at a snail’s pace just to take it all in. (Maybe an hour will do you well.)

There is a caution, however: quick turns and unparalleled scenery make it a joy for the adventurous but a possible headache for anyone in a large RV or motor home. The Needle’s Eye Tunnel (you want to see this one!) measures 8′ 9″ wide by 9’8″ high, so it’s a fat-man’s squeeze for vans and the like.

Parking is at a premium on crowded days in the area around the Needles Eye Tunnel (near the formation known as Needle’s Eye pictured in the top photo above). But travelers want time to explore, take pictures, and breathe in the beauty. Look for bump-outs and pull-over spots in various places along the highway, all worthy of photos.

If you’re visiting South Dakota’s Custer State Park (one of the largest state parks in the U. S.), take time to take the curves.

Needles Highway does not disappoint!

Stay safe out there,

Rusha & Bert

Travel Notes

• To make sure that Needles Highway is open when you’re traveling, visit South Dakota DOT for the latest travel information.
• Needles Highway generally closes after the first snow in mid-October but re-opens in April.
• There is an entrance fee for Custer State Park: $20 per vehicle, $10 per motorcycle or an annual park entrance fee of $30. See Badlands and Black Hills SD for more info on fees and directions.
• Get the latest on closures and construction on Custer State Park’s Facebook page.

“Sometimes the only way to ever find yourself is to get completely lost.”

You’ve seen the pictures in brochures, but until you experience it, you may not understand the rush that comes from at afternoon herd movement in SouthDakota’s Custer State Park.

Even though we’d seen pictures of massive buffalo roaming freely in and through highways and fields in the park, we never dreamed we’d be stranded for an hour and a half — partly terrorized, partly thrilled to be among giants at sundown!

We didn’t enter into this rush hour completely unaware. At the Visitor Center, a ranger had pointed to a plastic buffalo atop the topographic map showing the last-known position of the herd. (Positions are verified and updated throughout each day, we learned.)

And that herd stood between us and the state lodge where we had reservations.

No problem, we thought. We’d love to see a few buffalo. And see them we did.

At first, it was only a few grazing along the side of the road as if they knew their boundaries, and we knew ours. We quickly found out that this was buffalo territory; we were just lucky to be allowed passage through it!

Just as the rangers told us, this was a herd of mothers and babies only — about a thousand of them.

The ranger also shared this: Males are kicked out of a herd once the little ones are born. So, the only way we would see males are as singles or two males together off to themselves.

On this day, I was the driver when we happened upon the herd. (Please pardon my pictures. I was clutching desperately to the steering wheel with one hand, holding an iPhone with the other and trembling as enormous, black/brown, swiftly moving animals lumbered past our car.)

I’ll admit we did wonder what would happen if our car came between a mother and her little one, and immediately we regretted renting a small Sentra that could have been tipped over in a heartbeat!

There’s not much to compare with this experience. Rushing buffalo can come upon you quickly — and, as they move past in a blur, you can hear thumping, pounding movements and the rush of their bodies passing by. If your windows are open, you may be close enough to smell the beasts passing by. One even brushed my rear-view mirror sending my phone to the floorboard and uprighting me as I rushed to roll up the window!

After an hour of inching along through the herd, (exhilarated by this hoped-for experience yet scared at the same time) we developed a plan. Take a right turn off the main drag and escape the herd.

But the plan was flawed: The highway on the right was flanked by a ravine. So now, we had buffalo in a hurry to get to a bedding-down place for the night but anxious to avoid the ravine. That meant only one place for the herd to go: around, in front, and behind us as we poked along nervously and cautiously in the middle of the road!

A bit later a driver in a red truck — local and experienced, no doubt — motioned for us to follow his lead. He taught us this trick: keep moving, slowly, slowly. Don’t stop. Don’t speed up and scare the herd. Don’t honk. Just most slowly and steadily.

It worked. The herd crossed the highway in front and in back of us, spilling into a valley on the way to their resting place.

We began breathing again. And repositioning ourselves more comfortably in our seats. “Did you get any good pictures?” we asked each other. And then we smiled. We’d been in watch-and-try-not-to-panic mode rather than trying to compete with the National Geographic guys!

If you’re looking for wildlife in Custer State Park (usually open October 1 to April 30), visit the rangers to determine the location of the herd. Then follow the appropriately named Wildlife Loop Road with your cameras ready.

Needless to say, there’s nothing like witnessing herd movement in South Dakota!

Rusha & Bert

More and more we sensed that we were creating a truly great thing, and after a while all of us old hands became truly dedicated to it and determined to stick to it.

With nearly three million visitors from all over the world coming to Mount Rushmore each year, we knew we wanted to be there — standing in awe of the art and craftsmanship involved in creating one of the most visited sites in America.

From South Dakota Highway 244 leading to Mount Rushmore, we caught side glimpses of George Washington. Washington’s was the first figure started and the most prominent visage of the four presidents memorialized in an arrangement conceived by South Dakota historian Doane Robinson and executed by sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

The majestic walk through the entrance of Mount Rushmore and the Avenue of Flags added to our anticipation — and pride — as the four 60-foot-tall granite heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln rose grandly before us.

In 1925, federal and state legislation authorized the carving of a memorial in South Dakota’s Black Hills, and sculptor Gutzon Borglum (working on the Confederate memorial in Stone Mountain, Georgia, at the time) was hired to oversee the project that officially began October 4, 1927. Although Borglum passed away prior to the completion of the project, his son Lincoln oversaw the carving until the end and attended the dedication on October 31, 1941.

Traditionally, during the months of May through September, visitors can observe the Evening Lighting Ceremony that ends with the singing of the National Anthem as the sculpture is lit. (If you’re going, be sure to check the schedule since many national parks and park activities have been closed or suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic.) But it’s also a great place for picture-taking with the presidents in the background!

If you can time it right, visit the Sculptor’s Studio when rangers give a most interesting account of who did the work and how. (The ranger we saw had a sense of humor good enough for late-night talk shows. Yes, that good.) Rangers can tell you about how Jefferson’s head had to be relocated because of flaws in the granite, how the original Jefferson figure had to be blasted away, and how very little of the clothing is included in the figures — and for good reason! (Sometimes it’s the tidbits we remember the most!)

Dining is available at Carvers’ Cafe and Memorial Grill, but even if you’re not ready for a meal, don’t bypass Memorial Team Ice Cream, named for the baseball team formed in honor of the carvers of Mount Rushmore. Order a “monumental scoop” of TJ’s Vanilla Ice Cream supposedly based upon the first written recipe for homemade ice cream by none other than President Thomas Jefferson and replicated for your pleasure.

According to Peter Greenberg Worldwide, “Finally, you can literally taste history!”

You may think that Mount Rushmore is just one more tourist delight.

But thanks to the developers of the monument and the planning by the National Park Service, Mount Rushmore is both awe-inspiring and classic.

Tips to know before you go:

• Park hours vary by season, so check before you go: National Park Service Mount Rushmore.
• Ample parking is available, but there is a fee.
• Walkways are generally accessible to all.
• Getting around to the Sculptor’s Studio, even behind the stadium area, is fairly easy, but there are some tight viewing spots (see below) that may not be accommodating to all.
• The Mount Rushmore Self-Guided Tour: A Living Memorial offers information in several languages about the creation of the monument.
• Check the daily schedule for ranger talks — because you just don’t want to miss one.
• Even before you leave home, visit the National Park Service Mount Rushmore website for an updated schedule of date and times when the monument is open for viewing.
• Download resources and read articles related to travel at Mount Rushmore at the Travel South Dakota website.

This can be a monument and an inspiration for the continuance of the democratic-republican form of government, not only in our own beloved country, but, we hope, throughout the world.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

Travel safely,

Rusha & Bert

Photo credits:

Thomas Jefferson: Wikicommons

Map of South Dakota Black Hills: National Park Service

But after the short trip from Wall Drug Store down I-90, we began to see what the buzz was about.

After an especially wet spring — “Most unusual,” people kept telling us — the grasslands were greener than ever, and wild mustard added ribbons of yellow to the verdant landscape. We felt lucky, very lucky, to be in Badlands National Park on what turned out to be an especially good day.

Badlands National Park, approximately 75 miles from Rapid City, can be accessed by taking Exit 131 off I-90 to enter the park at the Northeast Entrance. We recommend stopping at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center and afterwards following the Badlands Loop Road, a two-lane, paved surface through the North Unit of the park.

It comes as no surprise to those who have sought advice from the National Park rangers that rangers are the go-to people for information. They know where you are most likely to see wildlife, which roads are closed due to rock slides or flooding, and what not to miss even if you have to wait for a parking spot. We wanted to talk to the rangers first. And, as we expected, the Badlands rangers mapped out our day, stamped our Passports, and offered tips for short-term and longer term trips.

Notably, Badlands National Park can boast of having one of the most complete fossil accumulations in North America. This guy, of course, is a recent acquisition!

But other creatures, not made of concrete, may be lurking in the grass or beneath the undulating rocks.

Our greatest takeaway, however, from this national park is not the animals, but the panorama of the natural landscape: sharply eroded buttes of sandstone, limestone and volcanic ash against a contrasting mixed-grass prairie. For us, Badlands is one of the nation’s most interesting parks.

According to the Badlands National Park website, two processes have been at work for over 75 million years: 1) Deposition — the process of building up rock in a stacking process and 2) Erosion — rocks gradually wearing away, having begun 500,000 years ago by the Cheyenne and White Rivers. It’s these striations and layers of the formations, along with ripples caused by river erosion, that make this signature land known as Badlands an almost iconic sight.

After we parked at a picnic area, we took a close-up of the cracks and crazes of what appeared to be very tentative rock formations. When we returned home, we read that the rock really is eroding — about an inch every 10,000 years. (Still time to see the Badlands in your lifetime, though!)

Our whole trip through the Badlands consisted of driving, stopping (at almost every marked area), taking pictures, and standing in awe. We hardly spoke.

The sense of quiet, the raw beauty and majesty around each turn, and the sound of the wind let us know that there are greater powers at work in the world. We were just two tiny admirers standing on the precipice, aware of our smallness.

Badlands National Park is, for the most part, accessible for all travelers. If you have mobility issues, know that there is much you can see of the Badlands from your car. In addition, added walkways to some of the major formations assist travelers in their quest to view the hard-to-reach places.

We totally agreed with those who had congratulated us (as if we knew what we were doing!) on selecting an especially lovely spring for a visit to South Dakota’s national park. But we suspect that almost any day would be a good day to stand tall with the wind at your back staring out at nature’s beauty at the Badlands.

By discovering nature, you discover yourself.

Maxime Lagase

See the USA,

Rusha & Bert

We flew from our hometown of Knoxville, TN to Rapid City, SD, a city that takes pride in displaying statues of every president of the U. S. standing proudly on street corners.

Historic Hotel Alex Johnson Rapid City, built in 1927 and known for Native American art, became our home for three days. In addition to its resort club feel, excellent beds, and posh amenities, the Alex Johnson boasts one of the finest gift shops in the area where you can find handmade items for the folks back home.

For breakfast, we indulged (well, gorged might be a more accurate term) on a bountiful repast at Tally’s Silver Spoon: three-egg omelet with all the fixin’s and a plate of fluffy but packed-with-blueberries pancakes.

After breakfast, we headed to a site we’d heard repeatedly as “the place you gotta see” — Wall Drug Store — but we were waylaid by a glimpse of kids on horses when we stopped to fill up our rental car with gas.

I knew when I saw those kids on horses that we had to pull over. (A little travel serendipity never hurts, and, after all, I’d never seen a small-town rodeo for kids ever.) This, I thought, could be fun. And it was.

As they paraded around for judges, young kids and teens dressed in Western attire followed protocol for good showmanship. And we could tell this wasn’t their first rodeo! (But it was mine!)

Some even stopped to talk to us about the event, what it takes to keep and train their horses, and what they like about the hard work of showmanship.

We stood on the sidelines watching the calf roping event and talked to two ladies who waited for the next round of competition that somehow was going to involve their goats. Although we didn’t have time to watch, we appreciated the friendliness of the adults who could tell we weren’t from “these here parts,” and then we snapped a few more pictures.

It occurred to us that parents who give up their Saturdays (willingly, of course) to provide and assist with rodeos for kids in South Dakota are similar to our folks who pitch softballs to elementary kids or coach basketball, soccer, and Little League baseball in our neck of the woods. It was good to see.

Then on to Wall Drug Store where up to 20,000 visitors per day pick up South Dakota souvenirs, admire the grand art collection in the dining room, or pose with a hand-carved likeness of Wild Bill Hickok. If you’re there in the summer, take advantage of Wall’s offer of free ice water to each and every one of you!

To get there, drive west from Rapid City along Interstate 90 and exit at Mile Marker 109 or 110. Right now, according to the information on their website, they’re closed temporarily due to coronavirus concerns. Please check before driving to see Wall Drug — but keep it on your must-see list. It’s Americana at its best.

We hope you’ll join us as we post more of scenic South Dakota. The Badlands, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse monument just might be in your future!

Rusha Sams