One of the unique features of the Black Hills is what they call "Needles Highway" or SD87 from between Custer City & Hill City, up and into Custer State park. It is not a drive for one towing or driving an RV unless you are far above the average in driving skills for narrow roads and tight openings.  Even with excellent skills, this is not a road for the faint of heart! This narration is from the west to east, but either direction is find as long as you drive something that fits through narrow tunnels.

The road is made up of many very tight hairpin turns and has three very narrow tunnels. The first is quite short, only 10 or 20 feet long and is 10 feet 6 inches wide by 10 feet 7 inches tall. What makes it challenging is that it comes at the apex of an outside turn. As you near the top you arrive at Sylvn Lake, where SD89 also comes up from the south and gives an alternate route for those wishing to avoid the tightest of the tunnels. Sylvan Lake is a beautiful spot and has a lodge, campground, and even canoe & boat rentals. We stopped to take a little time to walk around the lake area and it is beautiful! If you enjoy picnics this would be a perfect place to pause for one as well as a nice break in driving. Sylvan Lake area is very popular with tourists so expect crowded conditions and arrive early if you wish to have a picnic table to spend more time. Even with eating in the car, it is picturesque to the point that you should pause even if the traffic is heavy there. Most of that traffic uses SD89 so you won't have jams in many locations of the road we are traveling.

A few miles father to the east there is a scond tunnel that requires a bit more as the width falls to only 8 feet, 4 inches and it is probably at least 50 feet in length but 12 feet high. All of this is interspersed with some beautiful views and facination rock formations. It doesn't take a lot of study to understand the reason for the rocks being called needles as there are many small verticle formations and spires. At the very top is one called the needle's eye which even has a hole completely through it. There are many areas to get off of the road to take pictures and the road is quite narrow but is two way, Of course with many tourists on the road it isn't uncommon for one to be afraid of the outside edge such that you simply must stop to let them squeese past. From tunnel 2 to tunnel 3 is about another mile and you will want to spend some time at the parking area just before you pass through this tunnel as there is no parking space on the east end of the tunnel for about 1/2 mile. This tunnel is 9 feet wide and 12 feet 3 inches high. We did stop at the overlook to look back into the tunnel but the views on the west end are breath taking and not to be missed. After several more miles of beautiful scenery and narrow winding roads you join US16a which bisects Custer State Park. This is one of those things that I would consider to be "must see" for any visit to the area.

The last tunnel is the most narrow at only 8 feet, 4 inches wide. We did see a dually truck approach from the parking at the west end and after checking mirrors closely, he chose to back into the parking area and return to Sylvan Lake. What really blew our minds was that as we were decending the east side, well below the last tunnel we met a tour bus heading in that direction. Wheter they turned around at an overlook or somehow made it through the tunnel, I will never know but I can say that we were both certain that we would not have traded places with the driver. Since that time we were told by one of the local people that there have been nore than one bus get stuck in the last tunnel and have to be winched out by a heavy wrecker.

Even though it means leaving the RV behind for most of us, I highly recommend that you take the time to travel this very exciting and spectacular road! There are some things which are just too good to miss, even when difficult.