The other road to take in Custer State Park is Iron Mountain Road. What a fun drive. Two of the three tunnel give a great view of Mount Rushmore, the other leads you across a bridge, a sharp 270 and back under the bridge. Definitely worth it, your admission into the park is valid for 7 days. Earlier we drove the Wildlife Loop. We saw plenty of critters but just a few days earlier was the big bison roundup. So, all the bison were still herded in the same area. Next... on to Wyoming.
Custer State Park was something we skipped on out last trip. This year it was on the hit list. For the most part CSP is three roads; Needles Highway, the Wildlife Loop and Iron Mountain Road. On our first afternoon it was Needles Highway. This road contains a lot of switchbacks, narrow roadways and three tunnels (one was called the Needles Eye), all under nine feet wide. Bonus, at the top is Sylvan Lake (think about the movie National Treasure 2)
Two years ago we stopped by Mount Rushmore National Memorial, this year we originally had no plans on returning the the Memorial itself. As evening got closer I think we both decided to make the trip up to see it lit up after dark. So, after some pizza in downtown Keystone, we drove out. We may have only spent a half hour here, but it was so cool with the lights shining on it.