Welcome to the Park of the Week Newsletter for November 16, 2023. At 71,000 acres, this week’s park is one the largest state parks in the US.
Custer State Park
Location
Southwestern South Dakota, United States
Claim to fame
Nestled in the Black Hills, Custer State Park is South Dakota’s first and largest state park. It rivals nearby national park sites Mount Rushmore, Badlands, and Wind Cave for scenery and wildlife.
The park’s annual Buffalo Roundup attracts tens of thousands of visitors each fall. Cowgirls and cowboys herd the park’s approximately 1,300 buffalo for testing, branding, and sorting, a process that keeps the herd healthy.
Reason to visit
With abundant wildlife, four crystal clear lakes, and weathered granite spires known as the Needles, this park has variety. Drive the 18-mile Wildlife Loop to see buffalo, elk, bighorn sheep, or the park’s infamous feral burros.
The park’s other scenic drives–the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road–offer views of some of the most stunning scenery in the region. And out of your vehicle, you can hike, climb, swim, and recreate in countless ways amid the park’s prairies, lakes, and Needles.
Wild Fact
As odd as any hoodoo in the American southwest, Custer State Park’s Needles are grey pillars that shoot upward to pierce the sky. Their granite formed over 1.5 billion years ago from molten magma, the same event that created the granite at nearby Mount Rushmore.
The Needles were in fact the first proposed site for the Mount Rushmore carvings, but the quality of the granite was too poor and the spikes were too narrow to support such large sculptures.
Today the Needles are a favorite among climbers and tourists.
Want to learn more about Custer State Park? Visit the park’s website here.
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