Hey Guys!
This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Wyoming & Nebraska!
Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here , Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here & Day 7 here. Click here to see links to all of my blog posts
Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.
We woke up to clear blue skies!
It was so cool being able to wake up with these views!
We started our morning with coffee out on the deck.
The hotel offered free coffee but you had to pay for breakfast.
After having our coffee, we checked out of the hotel and headed out for the day.
Our first stop would be, Custer State Park.
Since we hadn’t been able to hike the Cathedral Spires Trail the day before, we decided to go back and hike it.
We also wanted to drive the Iron Mountain Road.
It’s one of the three scenic drives in Custer State Park.
Iron Mountain Road is 17 miles long and connects Custer State Park and Mt Rushmore. The road has 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 2 splits and 3 tunnels that you will drive through that frame Mt Rushmore in the distance!
Our route took us through the town of Keystone.
We spotted two deer on our drive!
About 25 mins after leaving our hotel, we arrived to the first tunnel on Iron Mountain Road called, Scovel Johnson Tunnel. 
The tunnel was named after Scovel Johnson who played a huge role in the construction of the famous Needles highway.
The tunnel is 10’9″ wide and 11’0″ high.
If you zoom in on this picture, you can see Mt Rushmore in the distance!
Less than 5 mins past this tunnel, you will come to the Norbeck Overlook.
Once we arrived here, we parked and walked the short distance to the overlook.
This overlook had views of Mt Rushmore from a distance.
If you climb up onto the rocks, you will get really beautiful views!
I took these pictures with my Canon camera
The overlook was named after Peter Norbeck. He was the first governor of South Dakota and the founder of Custer State Park.
Iron Mountain Road was constructed in the 1930’s under the direction of Peter Norbeck.
Click here for a map of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway
After this stop, we continued our drive.
The drive is so beautiful but very curvy! The speed limit is 20-25 mph.
Tip: The road does close periodically during the winter
A few minutes after leaving the overlook, we arrived to the CC Gideon Tunnel that was named after Cecil (CC) Gideon who played a big role in the development of Iron Mountain Road.
This tunnel measures 13’0″ wide and 11’0″ high.
Carved through solid rock, it features a unique design where its ceiling opens midway through.
Iron Mountain Road is famous for the “Pigtail Bridges” that allow travelers to drop or gain altitude quickly.
The road is 18 miles long and forms the eastern edge of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway which is a total of 70 miles and was named one of the 10 Most Outstanding Byways in America!
Two minutes from the CC Gideon Tunnel was the Doane Robinson Tunnel.
The tunnel was named after Doane Robinson who is known as the “Father of Mount Rushmore.”
He’s the one who contacted sculptor Gutzon Borglum about carving Mt Rushmore.
The tunnel is 12’0″ wide and 11’4″ high.
See a map of the tunnels here
This tunnel perfectly frames Mt Rushmore!
Exiting the tunnel
We passed under another bridge
Shortly after exiting the Doane Robinson Tunnel, you will see Mt Rushmore.
The memorial is located 10 mins from the tunnel.
From here, we headed to the Cathedral Spires Trail.
We passed by the profile view of Washington on the way
The Cathedral Spires trail was located 45 mins from the tunnel and 35 mins from Mt Rushmore.
Heading back into Custer State Park
Driving the Needles Hwy
This was our favorite scenic drive through Custer State Park!
Arriving to the Needles Eye & Tunnel.
After exiting the tunnel, we continued our drive to the Cathedral Spires trail.
The trailhead is located 5 mins from the tunnel.
After arriving to the trailhead, we got parked and headed down the trail.
The trail is 1.6 miles round trip.
This is a very popular trail and I highly recommend it!
The views were incredible!
For most of the way, you are walking through the woods.
There were ferns growing everywhere!
The trail is mostly flat but you will come to a section where you will have to scramble over rocks!
We took so many pictures on this hike!
Tip: Wear good hiking shoes and bring water and a raincoat in case it starts raining!
There were wildflowers blooming all along the trail!
And lots of rocks and exposed roots on the trail so watch your step!
We had an absolute perfect day to hike this trail!
We stopped and took several pictures….it was hard not to!
We had a lady offer to take our picture…..we usually never turn down a couple’s picture!
The further we walked down the trail, the more dramatic the views became!
Tip: There’s a chance you will see mountain goats on this trail
The trail is very easy to navigate and has some signage along the way.
We saw so many cool rock formations!
More pictures of us near the end of the trail
I spotted these wild flowers that looked like roses.
You will know when the trail ends because there’s a sign posted on a tree that says end of the trail.
We saw this sign talking about the Custer State Park Trail Challenge where a different series of trails are featured every year and you had to collect the rubbings of the medallions located on each trail. You will then turn in those rubbings at the Visitor Center for an official hiking pin.
Located near the sign was the medallion for this trail.
Pictures of the views near the end of the trail
After spending several minutes taking in the views, we headed back to our car.
We spotted some rock climbers at the top of one of the spires!
No thanks! They must have a death wish, right?! 😉
Views on the way back
We saw more flowers blooming!
Arriving to the rocks that you will need to scramble ….be careful, they were slick!
Almost back to our car
After exiting the trail, we noticed a sign for the Mount Rushmore Inspiration.
This was the original site of where Mt Rushmore was supposed to be but due to the quartz, feldspar and mica that was mixed in with the granite rocks here, it ended up not being a good location for sculpting.
After leaving the trail, we decided it was time for lunch so we headed to the nearby Sylvan Lake Lodge.
The lodge was located 10 mins from the trail
Driving through the park
Heading back through Needles Eye Tunnel
Arriving to the lodge
After getting parked, we headed inside.
All of the lodges inside the park offer dining options.
The lodge is so beautiful on the inside!
The hotel was built in the late 1930’s after the first hotel, that was built in the 1890’s, burned down in 1935.
We were seated by a window with amazing views!
After looking over the menu, I decided on the grilled chicken BLT with a side of fruit and the hubby ordered the club sandwich with fries.
The food was delicious! We were surprised that the food would be so good inside a state park!
Read reviews here
After our lunch, we walked around the lodge for a few minutes.
They had a model of the first Sylvan Lake Lodge that was built in the 1890’s.
The first lodge that was built sat on the shore of Sylvan Lake.
When they rebuilt the lodge, they moved it to this location which is located on a rocky hillside overlooking Sylvan Lake.
If you climb up on the rocks behind the lodge, you will have amazing views!
We sat on the rocks for a while just taking in the views.
A bit later, we headed to our next stop of the day, Crazy Horse Memorial.
We passed this rock on Needles Hwy that looked like a giant foot!
The memorial was located 20 mins from the Sylvan Lake Lodge.
Arriving to the Crazy Horse memorial
Once we arrived, we had to pay an entrance fee of $30 at the gate and after you pay, you’re given a pamphlet about the memorial
Tip: The entrance fee is based on the number of people in your car and the time of year
After getting parked, we headed inside.
The place was much busier than we expected it would be!
My first shot of the memorial
After getting inside, we couldn’t believe how big this place was!
We thought it would be smaller than Mt Rushmore but that was not the case…it was huge!
Your admission includes access to three museums, an orientation film, viewing of the sculpture from the veranda and the wall of windows, and scheduled cultural programming.
The museums located inside the building showcased tons of art and artifacts with most of it being donated.
The artwork was beautiful!
There was a huge window that allowed you to view the Crazy Horse Memorial.
The one thing I regret is not having brought in my zoom lens camera to get better pictures of the memorial as it sat pretty far away from the main building!
For $5, you could take a shuttle bus to get closer views but it was raining so we decided against it.
Tip: They do offer special tours where you will shuttled right up to the face of the memorial but I’ve read it costs $300 pp!
The memorial carving has been in progress since 1948 and when finished will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land.
The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski.
When finished, it will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The face of Crazy Horse, completed in 1998, is 87 feet 6 inches high.
The outstretched arm will be 263 feet and the finger will be 29.5 feet long!
Unlike Mt Rushmore, this memorial accepted no government funding…it’s being financed by private donations!
After walking around the museums, we headed to the cultural center to watch one of the shows.
It was a local musician from the Lakota tribes who was demonstrating the different types of flutes they use for music.
We then walked outside to the outdoors observation deck and took a few more pictures of the memorial.
Tip: There is a gift shop and a restaurant located at the memorial
Near the observation deck, they had a smaller version of what the memorial will look like when it’s finished.
We then walked into the Sculptor home and museum that showcased items that once belonged to the sculptor and his wife.
The museum is located in the actual log cabin that the sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski had built on this site while he was working on the memorial after having lived in a tent for several months prior to that.
The museum featured some of the antiques that belonged to Ziolkowski like a Marie Antoinette mirror, Louis the 16th chairs, and the glass topped table that Korczak made from a four legged piano.
After this museum, we headed back inside to the cultural center to watch a performance showcasing the different types of tribal dances.
It was really enjoyable!
Nearby was a large box that contained rock from the crazy horse memorial…you could take a piece home for free!
Tip: Once a year at the memorial, they hold what’s called the Volksmarch. It’s an organized hike to the top of the Crazy Horse Memorial. The hike is 6.2 miles round trip and take approx 4 hrs to complete!
Tip: Sadly, after 19 yrs, the memorial ended the laser light show that they held each night
After watching the dance performance, we headed to our next stop.
We ended up spending almost 2 hrs at the Crazy Horse Memorial…a lot longer than we thought we would!
Read reviews here
As we were leaving, dark clouds started to roll in!
They get some crazy storms out here!
We headed to the town of Custer and hoped it wouldn’t be raining!
Custer is located 10 mins from the memorial.
After arriving to Custer, we headed straight to the Purple Pie Place to try out their delicious pies that I had read all about!
They call it the Purple Pie Place for a reason….the entire building has been painted purple!
Don’t miss having your picture taken on the purple pig that sits right outside the door! 😉
The Purple Pie Place also serves food and ice cream.
The restaurant opened in 1981 and has been serving pies ever since.
They offer a range of flavors, including blackberry, blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, raspberry rhubarb jalapeno and many more!
The inside is really cute!
I decided on the popular bumbleberry while my hubby opted for the strawberry rhubarb.
The pies were delicious to me but my hubby wasn’t crazy about the chunks of rhubarb in his.
Read reviews here
After our pie, we headed to the historic downtown area of Custer so we could get out and walk around.
One of the first things you will notice about this town is, they have lots of decoratively painted buffalo statues all through the downtown area.
Tip: If you want to see them all, the Custer Area Chamber of Commerce has a map of all the buffalo wandering through the town including their names and the names of the artists who painted them.
Tip: The owner who oversaw this project, has 6 painted buffalo in her yard. Click here for the address
We parked near an old historic cabin called the Flick Cabin that sits in Way Park.
The Flick cabin was the first building erected in the Black Hills. It was built in 1875 by Dr. Daniel Flick.
We walked inside the cabin to check it out.
We then begin our walk through the town.
We spotted the Baker’s Cafe & Bakery. I had read a lot of good things about this place but we never had the chance to try it out.
Click here for best restaurants in Custer, here for a list of all restaurants, here for best hotels & here for things to do
As we were walking, we made sure to take a picture of all the painted bison we passed along the way!
We passed by what used to be, the First National Bank. It was built in 1881 and is now occupied by the popular Horatio’s Ice Cream.
More pictures of the painted bison!
As we were walking, we spotted a mural on the side of the building that said, Greetings From Custer so, of course, we had to take our picture in front of the mural!
We then passed the Custer County Museum.
We spotted a painted buffalo that I couldn’t miss taking a picture with! 🇺🇸 
After spending about an hour walking through town and taking pictures of all the painted bison, we headed to find the largest carved buffalo that we had seen a sign for on our way into Custer.
The buffalo was located about a 5 min drive from the downtown Custer area.
Once we arrived, we got out to take pictures.
The buffalo stands 37 ft tall and was built out of wood scraps by the Dahl brothers in early 2023.
Tip: Click here to read about 8 other sculptors around the state
After leaving here, we headed back to Keystone to have dinner.
We decided to go back to the Powder House Lodge and try their dinner menu.
After being seated, we took a few minutes to look over the menu.
It was much more extensive than their lunch menu!
We started out with the crabbed stuffed mushrooms and they were delicious!
For our main course, we both decided on the 8 0z filet Mignon wrapped in bacon with a side of mashed potatoes.
The food was so good and so was the service!
Read reviews here
After dinner, we headed back to our hotel.
On the way, we passed a beautiful rainbow!
The sun was starting to set too and the sky was so gorgeous!
After arriving back to our hotel, we headed to our tent.
Prior to leaving for our trip, I had purchased tickets to the rodeo & fireworks show in Belle Fourche but it was was 1.5 hrs from our hotel so we decided not to go!
After hitting the sack, I laid in bed for what seemed like hours watching the sky…it was so cool!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Day 9 where we head to Nebraska!
Click here to see links to all of my blog posts & click here to follow my YouTube channel