A day of bison, granite tunnels and iconic faces as I travelled through Custer State Park and made a brief stop at Mount Rushmore.
Custer State Park was the next major stop on my 2011 National Monuments and Parks tour. I stayed in a hotel just outside the park in Keystone, and the place felt strangely familiar. I’m fairly sure I stayed there once before, back in the late 1980s, on a road trip with my friend Alistar Parry. It’s always odd when a place you haven’t seen for decades suddenly feels like home.
Custer State Park.
Custer State Park originally began as sixteen separate sections of land, but due to the rugged terrain, these were eventually combined into one large block. The park expanded rapidly during the 1920s, gaining more land and developing into the vast area it is today.
In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps played a major role in shaping the park. They built miles of roads, created campgrounds and recreation areas, and constructed three dams that would later support water‑based activities. In 1964, another 22,900 acres were added, bringing the park to more than 71,000 acres of rolling hills and wildlife habitat.
The park is home to an impressive range of animals, including bison, elk, coyotes, mule deer, white‑tailed deer, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, river otters, pronghorn, cougars and even feral burros.
My Visit to Custer State Park.
We left our hotel in Keystone and took the short drive into the park, travelling through it on our way to Mount Rushmore. Our small minibus gave us a great vantage point, especially when the bison decided to wander across the road and bring traffic to a standstill. Watching these huge animals stroll past as if they owned the place was a highlight of the day.
Our guides shared stories of tourists who insisted on getting far too close to the bison and ended up gored or trampled. It’s astonishing how many people forget that wildlife is, in fact, wild. My own photos were taken with a decent zoom lens or from safely inside the minibus.
Seeing hundreds of bison in their natural habitat was unforgettable. Female bison grazed with their young while the larger males patrolled the area, keeping watch over their families. We were also lucky enough to see white‑tailed deer crossing the road ahead of us.
Needle’s Eye Rock Formation.
The Needle’s Eye rock formation is part of the Needles Highway within Custer State Park. A narrow tunnel has been carved straight through the granite, allowing small vehicles to pass through. When we arrived, we got out to take photos and then walked through the tunnel on foot as our minibus followed behind.
As we left the park, we caught our first glimpse of Mount Rushmore in the distance. Trees had been cleared in certain areas to create viewing points, and as we drove through another tunnel, we were treated to a perfectly framed view of the monument ahead of us.
Mount Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of Keystone, South Dakota. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, designed the monument and oversaw its construction from 1927 until his death in 1941, after which his son Lincoln Borglum completed the project.
The monument features 60‑foot‑high sculptures of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Construction began in 1927, and the faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. The original plan was to carve each president from head to waist, but funding ran out, and work officially ended on October 31, 1941.
My visit to Mount Rushmore.
We only had about ninety minutes there before moving on to the Crazy Horse Memorial. I enjoyed seeing Mount Rusmore, it is undeniably impressive, but it’s also the sort of place you can take in fairly quickly. I’m glad I went, but I wouldn’t rush back.
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