Custer Gulch RV Park, Custer SD
The drive to Custer was easy with beautiful views of the Black Hills. Nice hills with pine trees, clear blues skies, wonderful. We landed in our campground, just few miles west of the town of Custer. Our site was tucked in the back, few utility sheds behind but great open woodsy space with rocky hills behind. Anthony’s campground was just across the road, and amazingly, our radios worked so we could communicate easily.
Since we got there early afternoon, we started exploring right away. We wanted to drive the Wildlife loop in the south of the park, so we started with quick visit to the Mount Coolidge Lookout and Fire Tower. Great views from the top, you could even see Mount Rushmore through the binoculars.
Going south we entered the Wildlife Loop, rolling hills and prairies with few bison. It was greener than the previous prairies we saw, with more trees and streams. After a while we run into “animal” jam, the so-called “wild” burros (donkeys), that were left by the gold miners. Now they just look for their next treat from the tourists. They are cute and very persistent and not as wild as one would think. People stop to feed and pet them, creating even more traffic.
We returned to town for dinner but first a long visit to Adventures Rentals . They rent ATVs and,of course, Tom wanted to explore that. So Tom and Alex, the owner, had a long chat about the Polaris RZR and slingshot, which is basically a low convertible. We heard different options of models and time slots, we then went off to dinner so we can discuss and decide. Alex recommended The Custer Wolf and we were not disappointed. Great beet salad with smoked trout and shared bread pudding, we had to have it since someone wrote on the board that “it was really good”. Plus some nice local beer.
Decision was made to do half day basic tour starting in the morning. It was not easy to get going, we had to be there before 7:30am, but we got there in time. After a safety briefing, we were off! Alex suggested we download National Forest’s map into Avenza, which I did, so it was easy for us to follow. ATV also had a basic navigation system, but Avenza was much better. We drove to Bear Mountain Fire tower, it was beautiful but very foggy in the valleys. We met other ATV riders there, one give us extra ear plugs.
Tom was having fun - couple of trails were tight with turns and some downhills. The area, though it is National Forest, had grazing ranches, see saw lots of cattle, even on the trails.
After all said and done, we were covered with dust, half-deaf but happy to have the experience. Definitely would do it again (with proper gear!).
Black Hills has two great monuments : Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial . There are two scenic byways to get to Mount Rushmore, we went on Iron Mountain Road.. There are couple of tunnels along the way, one frames Mount Rushmore in the distance. You do have to start on the south end you see that view and others as you drive north.
Mount Rushmore is impressive. There’s no entrance fee, they charge for parking instead. It’s well organized. We listened to Range talk about the “Secret Room”, it gave great background information about the project and the artist. The view of the sculptures as you walk up Avenue of Flags is majestic.
The Presidential Trail goes closer to the Monument, it was a good way to see more details. Then we went to Artists’ Studio, where another Range talk discussed how the Monument crew worked and lived.
Crazy Horse Memorial is close to Custer. We stopped there and explored the museum, it was very interesting and focused on the Plains Indians history and artifacts. It is a lot to take in. The monument is so huge, it will take years to finish it, the foundation does not accept federal funds, only private donations. For me, it’s close to my heart, the artist was of Polish origins, another crazy Pole.
Another scenic road is the Needles Highway, which are tall granite spires and to say it’s scenic it’s an understatement. There are few tunnels you go through, overlooks with great views and few trailheads, though parking was not possible. We went to Sylvan Lake, beautiful man-made lake with gift shop, food and rentals for paddle boards and kayaks. There’s a small swim beach and easy trail around the lake. Since Tom is still not able to hike anything aggressive, Anthony and I did the Sunday Gulch Creek trail. So beautiful, with a flowing creek and nice pine forest. We went in anti-clockwise direction, which meant that we had to ascent on more expose trail in full sun. It was challenging, hot and steep. I loved it though, it was nice to get the legs moving again. I do forget that we are at relatively high elevation, it’s about 6000 ft.
I wish we had more time in Black Hills and in Custer State Park specifically. There’s lots to do, more hiking, biking trail which passes Crazy Horse Memorial, more ATV adventures, small western towns like Hill City or Keystone, steam train ride or a bison roundup in the fall.
We are leaving for Guernsey SP, Wyoming tomorrow.
