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Greg Harp | profile | all galleries >> South Dakota >> Needles Highway tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

The Many Moods of Mount Rushmore National Memorial | Mount Rushmore at Night | Crazy Horse Memorial | Historic Deadwood, South Dakota | Custer State Park | Needles Highway | Reptile Gardens | Badlands National Park | Various South Dakota Pictures | Mitchell Corn Palace | Bear Country USA | South Dakota Air and Space Museum | Sturgis Motorcycle Rally | The 1880 Train

Needles Highway




Part of South Dakota State Highway 87 the Needles Highway winds 14 miles through some of the most fantastic scenery in the Black Hills of South Dakota.


Driving through rock tunnels and winding past rock spires, the Needles Highway was labeled impossible when it was constructed in 1919. That didn't deter Governor Norbeck, who supplied more than 150,000 pounds of dynamite and the determination needed to construct the roadway.


Needles Highway winds its way through high granite "needles". It also has two tunnels blasted through sheer granite walls. These tunnels are less than 13 feet high and 11 feet wide. Owing to the narrow roadway, sharp turns, and low tunnels, the road has very little traffic. The vehicles that do travel this road are almost exclusively sightseers.






Narrow Tunnel Narrow Tunnel 2 Needles Highway Needles Highway
Needles Needles Needles Needles
Needles Needles Needles Needles Highway
Needles Highway Needles Highway Needles Highway Needles Highway Scenic View
Needles Highway Scenic View Needles Highway Scenic View Needles Highway Scenic View Needles Highway
Narrow Tunnel Needles Highway Narrow Tunnel Narrow Tunnel
Narrow Tunnel Needles Highway Needles Needles
Needles Needles Highway (and Tunnel) Needles Highway Needles' Eye
Needles Highway Needles Needles' Eye Needles' Eye
Needles Highway Needles Highway Needles Highway Needles Highway

comment
Gregory Bates 04-Mar-2009 00:35
I have been to Mt. Rushmore several times and discovered Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road each time I have visited. These are some of the most amazing roads in America. Once we saw a tour bus squeeze through the tunnell on Needles Highway and was truly amazed. Hiking to the top of that tunnell is truly outrageous. It is like a maze to get there. Iron Mountain Road is also cool as tunnells give views and pigtail bridges are neat.
Ron 20-Nov-2008 00:55
Thanks for the pictures! I was there and you brought so many great memories back to my wife and I. You did a great job!!!
Richard Larson 11-Apr-2008 02:32
It is simply amazing.......I had been to see Mt. Rushmore 2 other times, this last summer I returned to view it again, only more than I had ever done before...My daughter told me about "the Needles" - "lake Sylvan" - "Custer State Park" and other attractions in that area......Boy had I been missing some of the best views one could ever emagine.....I now tell everyone about this area....It is such a shame that I missed this area the other times I had been out there.....I will return again this summer (2008) even thought I was just there last year......This area has very little traffic and it makes me think that most people are missing one the greatest attractions, and not just in South Dakota, but anywhere. What a shame that so many drive to view Mt. Rushmore and then drive on without ever exploring this area......

Richard Larson
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