Family Travel,  South Dakota

What to See Around Keystone After Visiting Mount Rushmore

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After our morning visiting Mount Rushmore we decided to spend the afternoon exploring around Keystone, South Dakota, and then taking a scenic drive down Needles Highway.

Our first stop in Keystone was at Dahls Chainsaw Art. We could see it from the road and thought it looked like a fun place to stop. Jarrett Dahl is the owner and artist of these amazing creations. He uses a chainsaw to carve all kinds of neat things from eagles and motorcycles to bears and chairs.

One of his eagle bikes is even featured at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not in Baltimore, Maryland. While we were there we were fortunate enough to be able to watch him work on a new project. The kids loved walking around and observing the incredible talent and skill that goes into making each piece of artwork.

Of course they also loved the pieces that you were encouraged to climb on and sit on. I think I spent most of my time being their personal photographer.

There are several shops on the main road so we spent some time hunting for souvenirs. We are always on the hunt for postcards, and Silas collects t-shirts, and Micah collects snow globes, so we are always looking for those too.

We had to wrap up our shopping in Keystone to make sure we had enough time before sunset for our next stop – Needles Highway! SD Hwy 87 North is located 30 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota and is also known as Needles Highway.

Needles Highway is a 14-mile drive that is located inside Custer State Park which has 71,000 acres. Even though the drive is only 14 miles, it should take you about an hour due to the low-speed limits and winding roads. Needles highway was a vision of a former South Dakota Governor, Peter Norbeck, and many critics thought it was going to be impossible to build.

However, Peter Norbeck carefully planned the road by mapping it out via foot and horseback. The road was completed in 1922 and includes sharp turns, narrow tunnels, granite spires, and million-dollar views.

The road is surrounded by Ponderosa pine trees and the Black Hills spruce forest. There are plenty of rugged granite mountains and needle-like granite formations, which is how the road got its name.

One of the most exciting parts of Needles Highway is the Needle’s Eye tunnel which is quite narrow at only 8’9″ wide by 9’8″ high. We drove through there in a 15 passenger van, and it definitely felt tight. I was glad I wasn’t the one driving. The road is closed in the winter months, so if you’re planning to visit make sure you take that into account.

Throughout the 14 mile drive there are several locations where you are able to pull off the road to park and get out and enjoy the view. We had a hard time figuring out how much time we could spend at each stop since the sun was starting to set. We wanted to make sure we got to enjoy the whole route before dark.

On the drive back to the hotel we were so surprised to see some bison off the side of the road. We pulled over and sat in the van with the doors open and watched them for a while. The longer we sat there the closer they came towards us. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

For another look at our visit to Keystone and Needles Highway check out our YouTube video below. You can also read about Day 1 of our trip and our visit to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater and Casa Bonita, and Day 2 of our trip to Colorado Springs and our stops at the Garden of the Gods, the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum, the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and Magic Town. You can also go back and read about Day 3 at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, the Money Museum, the Colorado State Capitol, and the Molly Brown House Museum. Day 4 started with a stop at the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center and a drive down Happy Jack Road to Curt Gowdy State Park before stopping at the Wyoming State Museum. Our visit to South Dakota on Day 5 started with a morning visit to Mount Rushmore. This trip is the first trip of our “50 States Before Graduation Challenge” series.

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