Location: Loops through the Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park in southwest South Dakota
Length: 68 miles (110 km)
Time To Allow: 1 day

Description/Highlights/Points of Interest

The Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway will lead you on a delightful adventure as it winds it way around spiraling "pigtail"-shaped bridges, through six rock tunnels, among towering granite pinnacles and over pristine, pine-clad mountains. Highlights along the way include Mt. Rushmore, Harney Peak, Sylvan Lake, and the Needle's Eye and Cathedral Spires rock formations.

Travel Season/Dates

Your tour begins east of the town of Custer and travels north then east until it reaches Mount Rushmore. If you are beginning the tour from Mount Rushmore, simply start at the bottom of the list and move up.

General Custer Expedition Campsite — This campsite served as a base camp for the 1874 Custer Expedition that first explored and mapped the Black Hills area. It was this same expedition that first discovered gold in this area.

Needles Highway — Traveling north on Highway 89 brings you to a section of roadway known as the Needles Highway. This unique highway curves and winds its way through 14 miles (22.5 km) of solid granite tunnels and through bizarre, but beautiful rock formations and granite spires called "needles."

Norbeck Wildlife Preserve — Continuing north on Highway 87 will take you past the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. Visitors to this 35,000-acre preserve will find 36 miles (58 km) of hiking trails among pristine and rugged mountain forests and lakes.

Mount Rushmore — After passing the wildlife preserve, you will want to travel east on U.S. Highway 16-A until you reach Mount Rushmore. Here, the Presidential faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, scaled to men who would stand 465 feet tall, gaze out over the Black Hills. Almost 3 million visitors each year make the pilgrimage to view the memorial.

The following organizations offer trips in South Dakota:

Western Places & Faces
World Wide Country Tours, Inc.
Relive the forging of the West along the historic Missouri River to famed Mt. Rushmore. Follow Lewis and Clark's legendary expedition … marvel at the Crazy Horse sculpture … explore the breathtaking Badlands … take a "buffalo safari" through Custer State Park … and look behind the scenes at the Western way of life. Follow a portion of Lewis and Clark's famous trail. Get close to elk and bison on a jeep "buffalo" safari. Walk in the footsteps of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Stay at historic Custer State Game Lodge, the "summer White House" to Presidents Coolidge and Eisenhower.

Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks
Tauck World Discovery
Spectacular features of the magnificent Tetons include blue and white glaciers, forests, lakes, snowfields and granite pinnacles. Yellowstone National Park, the United States' first national park, is a contrast of alpine lakes, forests, canyons and hot spring geysers. From Salt Lake City to Mount Rushmore, embark on a true adventure through America's classic west.

Cowboy Country
Tauck Bridges
Don your cowboy hats, pull up your boots and get set for a real-life adventure in the classic American West. From Salt Lake City to magnificent Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, from a rodeo in Wyoming to monuments in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the "stuff of legends" awaits your participation.