SD 87 and the Needles Highway

[Max Rockatansky]

I've been going through some old highway albums from 2016 on the Surewhynotnow road blog and SD 87 came up.  Surprisingly I've never seen a topic pertaining to SD 87 or the Needles Highway segment in Custer State Park:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/07/2016-summer-mountain-trip-part-5-south.html

[Jim]

A definite favorite.

My first time on the Needles Highway was in 1985, both before I could drive any of it and before digital photography allowed unlimited pictures.  It looks like we saved most of our photography that day for Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park.  We might have driven it again on a 1989 trip that passed through the area, but I don't know where the photos are and memories of the details of that trip are unclear.

In 1999, on a cross-country trip with some friends, I have a page of our pictures.

Picture quality improved a bit with a better digital camera for my 2003 visit.

Hard to believe it's now been 15 years since my last time there.

[Max Rockatansky]

A definite favorite.

My first time on the Needles Highway was in 1985, both before I could drive any of it and before digital photography allowed unlimited pictures.  It looks like we saved most of our photography that day for Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park.  We might have driven it again on a 1989 trip that passed through the area, but I don't know where the photos are and memories of the details of that trip are unclear.

In 1999, on a cross-country trip with some friends, I have a page of our pictures.

Picture quality improved a bit with a better digital camera for my 2003 visit.

Hard to believe it's now been 15 years since my last time there.

I'd love to revisit the area, I had an absolute blast.  On that particular day I did the Wind Cave, the Needles Highway, Mount Rushmore, and even Badlands National Park.  Just about the perfect mix of things I like to do such as hikes and scenic mountain driving.  That whole trip in 2016 was on the whole pretty awesome, it involved almost all the entire American Rockies and 8 National Parks.

[SD Mapman]

I'd love to revisit the area, I had an absolute blast.

Please come back, we want your sales tax money!

In all seriousness, the Needles are pretty neat. The last time I did it was in 2016 (I don't pay GF&P unless I have to) when I was showing one of my Kansas friends around the Southern Hills. If you want to get the "interesting mountain drive" vibe without paying entrance fees designed to rip off out-of-staters, Iron Mountain Road (US 16A south of Keystone) has the pigtails and tunnels without the state park.

In my personal opinion, US 14A through Spearfish Canyon is the best drive in the Hills, but then again I'm a bit biased. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I'd love to revisit the area, I had an absolute blast.

Please come back, we want your sales tax money!

In all seriousness, the Needles are pretty neat. The last time I did it was in 2016 (I don't pay GF&P unless I have to) when I was showing one of my Kansas friends around the Southern Hills. If you want to get the "interesting mountain drive" vibe without paying entrance fees designed to rip off out-of-staters, Iron Mountain Road (US 16A south of Keystone) has the pigtails and tunnels without the state park.

In my personal opinion, US 14A through Spearfish Canyon is the best drive in the Hills, but then again I'm a bit biased. 

Ironically I'll be touching on US 14A three blog posts down the line. I did the whole thing from Sturgis all the way west to Spearfish.  I even ran a significant portion in Deadwood and Spearfish Canyon, lots of good sights associated with the mines. 

[SD Mapman]

I'd love to revisit the area, I had an absolute blast.

Please come back, we want your sales tax money!

In all seriousness, the Needles are pretty neat. The last time I did it was in 2016 (I don't pay GF&P unless I have to) when I was showing one of my Kansas friends around the Southern Hills. If you want to get the "interesting mountain drive" vibe without paying entrance fees designed to rip off out-of-staters, Iron Mountain Road (US 16A south of Keystone) has the pigtails and tunnels without the state park.

In my personal opinion, US 14A through Spearfish Canyon is the best drive in the Hills, but then again I'm a bit biased. 

Ironically I'll be touching on US 14A three blog posts down the line. I did the whole thing from Sturgis all the way west to Spearfish.  I even ran a significant portion in Deadwood and Spearfish Canyon, lots of good sights associated with the mines.

Yeah you never know what you'll find behind the pine trees. I've ran the stretch from Savoy to Spearfish (there's a half-marathon along that).

[paulthemapguy]

A definite favorite.

I echo this sentiment.  One of my favorite drives.  I have been down this road twice--once on a family trip as a teenager, and again right after graduating college in 2012.  My friend's grandparents lent us their big boat of a Buick to take on the trip, and I remember the twisting, winding roads with steep grades in the Black Hills as the place where the brakes on the car started to really squeal.  That was reassuring...heh.  I remember loving the experience of driving the highway through the one-lane tunnels and switchbacks.

[MikieTimT]

One of my favorites as well.  Tunnels with loops overhead and bison by the roadside.  What's not to like!

[Max Rockatansky]

Question, when was SD 87 applied to what is now SD 244?  I know the switch to SD 244 apparently happened by 1977 but when was SD 87 first aligned past Mount Rushmore.  On a 1949 State Highway Map of South Dakota it seems that the route that eventually became an extension of SD 87 was maintained locally.  It also looked as though US 85A ran on what is now SD 89 and the most northern part of current SD 87:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/08/2016-summer-mountain-trip-part-6-mount.html