Day 19 – Tight Fit

One of the more scenic, but challenging roads to travel in Custer State Park is called the Needles Hwy. To travel this road we had to take the camper off the truck. With the camper on the truck we need a 13 feet clearance. The maximum vehicle height for the tunnels was 9 feet. 

At first you drive through some pine covered hills with grassy vales. There are rock outcroppings at the tops of hills peaking through the foliage. Several deer either hopped across the road in front of us or were grazing in the grassy clearings.


However, before long the road begins to climb and gets narrow. You wind up and around corners that reveal more and more distinctive rock outcroppings. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out where the name “Needles” comes from. The rock spires appear to pierce the sky. Here too, as in the Badlands, erosion has worn away the softer rock leaving some astounding natural sculptures.




This was the first of the low and narrow tunnels. With the camper on we would have been too tall and too wide. We did not want to get stuck in one!











However, even with the camper off, Pat had to tilt the mirrors in to fit through the “Needles Eye” tunnel. For that one, some people were video taping us driving through. We suspect that is because it probably looked like we would get stuck. It was tight… just inches on either side of the truck!












At the highest point of the road, there were many cars parked alongside the road. It turns out that this is a favorite location of rock climbers. We saw one guy hanging at the top of one of the needles.  Nope, that is not for me! The view is probably amazing, but rock climbing is definitely not in my wheelhouse.




Many portions of the highway were not quite wide enough for two vehicles to pass side by side. So, one would have to wait for the other to pass. With drop-offs on my side of the truck, I was happy to see road lines and a wide enough roadway for two cars to easily pass. This road made the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia look like a wide highway! 






After the nerve-wracking drive, we stopped in at the Badlands Brewery for a couple of beers and tasty burgers before heading back to camp.

The amazing rock needles are a must see in the Black Hills, but a smaller vehicle would make the drive less challenging 😊

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 – Searching for Some Sunshine

Image
We headed south from Olympia, driving through gloomy rain showers until we were well east of Portland, Oregon. Our destination? The Total Eclipse of the sun in Texas, which will occur on April 8th. That will give us about 9 days to travel the 3,000+ miles. I always forget the interesting geology that is exposed in the Columbia River gorge. The varying shapes of the basalt columns kept my interest for miles on end. Especially this time of year, spring, there were many waterfalls spraying the cliffs, and Multnomah Falls was roaring! Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host location in Echo, Oregon. The host was Echo Ridge Cellars. They have a nice flat gravel lot for Harvest Host guests.   The wines sold are pressed from their vineyard which is about 3 miles away. The building itself is my favorite part. They have restored and updated an old grain elevator. The inside of the elevator was left exposed so visitors can see the construction. It is very solid 2x6 boards stacked flat, rat
Read more

Day 9 – Side Trip to the Border

Image
With an extra day before our reservation at Lake Brownwood State Park for the eclipse, we debated where to go. Pat suggested a side trip down to Del Rio and/or Eagle Pass at the US-Mexican border which had been in the news of late. After looking over our maps, we decided to just go take a look at it. (Our apologies, this blog is longer than our normal ones, but it was a very interesting excursion) We drove down Hwy 277 through relatively flat terrain. There was scrub brush and cactus for miles and miles. When news reporters talk about illegal immigrants disappearing into the brush, we could easily see how that could be. Someone could be just feet away from the edge of the road and not be seen. The two-lane road was a good road with regular passing lanes. The further south we went the sparser the traffic became. It was kind of eerie and we wondered at times if we should be heading down there.   “Was this really a good idea?” However, curiosity kept us going. About thirty miles fro
Read more

Day Two – Diamonds and Daydreams

Image
We found our next camp along the shore of Diamond Lake with the towering Mt. Thielson keeping watch over us. A cloudy first day gave us some rainbows and puffy pink clouds. It seemed to us that the mountain looked an awful lot like the mountain that The Grinch lives in, so we kept watch for him. This was a great campground and our site was right on the lake. During the day, we had frequent visitors in the form of gray jays, squirrels, ducks, and geese. Later that night, the sparks from our campfire flew away into the black night and brought back with them a brilliant sunrise. As the sun rose behind Mt. Thielson, first there was a glimmer, then there was a silvery rim, and finally the sun rose, a white diamond above the black mountain.  The suns rays spread more diamonds across the lake surface.  What a beautiful way to start our day.
Read more