Up at 8am and to our surprise the AC was on! Enjoyed our tea & coffee outside listening to the peacefulness of Custer State Park. Chipmunks 🐿 racing by, the leaves waving on the trees and the quietness of the morning.
Ready for our last days adventure by 11 am. As we drove through town we noticed a lot of the businesses were closed on Sunday’s. Today we went to visit Judy (my friend & coworker from HPBC/ Trustbridge days) & we took her to the most talked about restaurant in Custer. Purple Pie Place and boy is it purple! What charm inside! The front is an ice cream parlor and down the hall in the back is a quaint area for lunch or dinner. Adorably decorated. Besides pies they are know for their chicken pot pies… so that’s what we got. Delicious 😋 So when I asked what is the best pie on the menu, our waiter said the bumbleberry pie — not from a bumbleberry bush but mixture of all the berries they use…. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries & blackberries! 🤤 It was amazing! 🥧 We went back to her house and had such a nice visit.
Bobkat’s Purple Pie Place is a fixture in Custer, S.D. From chicken pot pie to strawberry rhubarb jalepeno, Trevor Yehlie and his family have been baking pies since 2009. The house dates back to 1881. Believed to be one of the first homes built here in Custer…..the same year as the courthouse! The mascot is a purple pig! 🐖
Next adventure ~ Needles Highway ~ Incomparable to any other scenic drive we’ve ever done!
The Needles Highway is 14 miles long, completed in 1922, the Highway is named after the high granite “needles” it winds among!
It’s a toll road but since we have a South Dakota Park annual license, we were able to pass through. The highway passes through two tunnels blasted through sheer granite walls — Iron Creek Tunnel and Needles Eye Tunnel. OMG….. never in our life have we experienced anything like that! Tunnels, Spirals, rock formations! We stopped at every pull off & walked the paths! Iron tunnel 8’9” wide x 10’10” tall…. Wow the Aspen Tree leaves shimmering in the wind, the smell of pines and the air is so crisp. We are now approaching the Needles Eye Tunnel…1 vehicle only 8’0” wide x 9’9” tall….Was no problem for our dually truck with our side mirrors out. Tim had read up on going through this tunnel with a big truck and as long as our mirrors didn’t touch the walls, we’d be ok. As we held our breathe…the rush, the aww, the beauty, the excitement of driving through the needles eye & then WTF…. A storm trooper on the other side! 😂 This local, random guy will occasionally dress up for the fun of it he said to give travelers an additional excitement to their adventure!
Just after Needles Eye Tunnel, theres one more tunnel, Hood Tunnel. Which lead us to Sylvan Lake/ Resort. What an amazing family area! The lake, hiking, rock climbing, picnicking, playgrounds, swimming and more. We inflated our kayak and went around the whole lake. Stunning to see these big rocks jetting out of the water. People were climbing all over them and jumping off.. Such a peaceful afternoon on the water. Then packed up the kayak and off to check out the lodge. We walked through the lobby, dining room and found the bar! 😱🤣 Ordered a drink and enjoyed it sitting outside on the beautiful patio.
Sylvan Lake is a lake located in Custer State Park. It was created in 1891 when Theodore Reder built a dam (the Sylvan Lake Water Dam) across Gulch Creek. A hotel was operated on the shore of the lake in the early 20th century. The lake was featured in Disney’s 2007 film “National Treasure:Book of Secrets.” The film made the lake appear to be located directly behind Mount. Rushmore when in reality it is actually five miles southwest of Mount Rushmore.
The Sylvan Lake Lodge was built in 1937, the “crown jewel” at the peak of Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. Rich in history and natural beauty, the lodge is situated in a spot suggested by architect Frank Lloyd Wright—within a hillside forest of pine and spruce trees, in harmony with the beauty of the rugged landscape. This stone and timber lodge sits atop the sloping hills and the breathtaking beauty of Sylvan Lake.
Now the ride back! The Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway complements the park’s three scenic drives and includes some of the most dramatic natural and historic features in the Black Hills. It consists of a loop made up of four numbered highways: SD 87 (Needles Hwy) SD 89, SD 244, and US Route 16A (Iron Mountain Road). Sites include the Needles, Mount Rushmore, and a bird’s-eye view of the rocky peaks and forested hills of the Black Hills National Forest. The byway is named for Peter Norbeck, a South Dakota conservationist, Governor and U.S. Senator. Norbeck planned and surveyed most of the roads located within the park and his vision inspired Custer State Park, Norbeck Wildlife Preserve & Mt Rushmore National Memorial.
The ride back to the campground was so beautiful & we saw a lot …more then we’ve ever seen before of wild turkeys! About 30-40 of them! Deer & even Texas Longhorns with calves. Surprised we only did 50 miles today but when you only go 10-20mph on these winding, roads it just seemed more. Time to relax before we start packing up for tomorrow’s a travel day! More adventures await us! I 😜 I can’t wait.
In closing, Custer State Park really took our breathe away. There is so much beauty in this one area that we want to revisit again. It is now in our top 5 favorites! 💕
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