Everyone and their brother told us that Custer had to be on our itinerary. They weren’t wrong. Located among the black hills of western South Dakota, this state park is known for it’s wildlife and beautiful needle rock formations. Unfortunately for Matt and I, we arrived one day after the park’s yearly buffalo roundup so the normally roaming buffalo were being counted and tagged in stalls. We thought about skipping the Badlands in order to watch the roundup, but knowing that the event brought in large crowds of people, something we wanted to avoid during the pandemic, we decided against it.

After spending the night before at a KOA in Rapid City, we got up early and headed straight for the park to drive the Wildlife Loop Road. We saw a few pronghorns and two small buffalo who had apparently avoided being corralled the day before, but overall there wasn’t a whole lot wildlife to be seen. We decided early in the loop to take our own course on a gravel road through the park where we could pull over and hike to the top of a tall hill. Later we learned that the hill was named Racetrack Butte. We had hoped that we would get up high enough to spot some moose or elk through our binoculars. It was fun and invigorating to hike that steep hill, but we still didn’t spot any cool animals to write home about.

From there we headed to the Iron Mountain Road. Twisting and turning through the black hills, this road has pigtail turns and multiple tunnels that each frame Mt Rushmore in the distance. Late September meant beautiful fall foliage that was truly amazing to see. We chose not to spend time going all the way to Mt Rushmore though, instead we headed to Needles Highway. Our plan was to stop for a hike, but a light rain sent us to the gift shop near Sylvan Lake in hopes that the rain would stop soon. And it did!

We chose a moderate, 3 mile, out and back hike called Cathedral Spires Trail. The trail was nice, not too difficult, and had a sliver of a beautiful view. After all morning in the car, it was nice to be out in the nature that we had been peeking at through our car windows. On our way back we decided to take an unknown detour. There was a trail that split from the one we were on called Little Devil’s Tower and we were up for it. With no idea how difficult or even how long the trail would be, we set off up an immediate steep hill. After getting above the foliage line, we found that this new adventure included actual rock climbing in order to reach the top. This detour ended up being my absolute favorite part of our entire trip. It was so unexpected, unplanned, and it took us up to a beautiful 360 degree view of the black hills. Steadying ourselves with the high winds was a chore, but boy was it beautiful and so enjoyable to be up there with my best friend. We even spotted a family of mountain goats on our way back to our car.

After hiking among the needles, we headed to Sylvan Lake taking the stunning Needles Highway once again. This drive is a fun one with a narrow tunnel and beautiful landscapes. At the lake we walked the paved and level path all the way around the water. It was a refreshing and slow walk to end our time in the park.

That night we stayed at a KOA in the town of Custer where we had pasta and s’mores by the fire for dinner.