Custer State Park

Saturday July 18, 2020

Named after Lieutenant George Armstrong Custer, the humongous Custer State Park at 71,000 acres is the largest state park in all of South Dakota. Nestled between the Black Hills, this astonishing nature reserve is known for its wildlife like white-tailed deer, mules, antelopes, mountain lions, burros, elks and more.

I drove the wildlife loop road but did not see any of the 1300 or so bison reported to live here. I did see some on a farm in the area. As well as some…what I think are Texas Long Horns???

I did see a few wild burros. It was a total zoo. So many people had stopped and got out of their cars to feed and pet the animals. There were little kids walking all around them and petting them. I saw a couple of kids run up to them and start petting them while also walking directly behind them. I was just waiting for one of those kids to get kicked. There are numerous signs that say the animals can be dangerous and to say away from them and not to feed them! I don’t understand why people don’t respect them.

On my way to the park I drove the scenic Iron Mountain Road. There are warning signs that there are three, one lane narrow and low clearance tunnels that you have to drive through. I checked the heights and widths of them before proceeding to make sure the van would fit.

I fit through all of them without any problems. It was a pretty fun driving experience to go through them.

On some sections of Iron Mountain Road the lanes separated and it was so beautiful.

There were many signs like this along the rd and it was very slow going. I would definitely recommend traveling this road. I would also giving Needles Rd a try. There are another 3 one lane tunnels to go through. These tunnels are smaller and it would be like threading a needle for me to get the van through them so I did not travel this one. But I would have if I was in my car.

This is a must go to state park.