These photos are from my drive along Needles Highway, a scenic, sometimes treacherous road winding through granite “needle” rock formations in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The road has a number of one-lane tunnels cut through the rock, wherein you have to be careful and make sure nobody is coming from the other direction before driving through them.
Needles Highway was the first leg of a grand loop scenic drive I took through Custer State Park that also included the Wildlife Loop and Iron Mountain Road before ending at Mount Rushmore. If you’re planning a trip to Rushmore, I highly recommend taking this loop if you have the time as the landscape is often spectacular.
Click on any photo below to open a gallery.
Needles Eye Rock
Looks like some sort of beast sitting at the top.
The final tunnel of the route when traveling north to south (single lane like the others).
Needles Eye Tunnel. All of the tunnels on this route are single lane, so you have to be careful when driving through.
Michael Rappa 