Threading the Needles at Custer State Park
We are very fortunate to have two personal mentors in our travel journey: Aunt Julie & Uncle Chris, otherwise known as Taking Leave RV. They travel the US for 6 months out of the year in their beautiful airstream & they have visited nearly all of the national parks in the lower 48!
So when I texted Aunt Julie from a gas station parking lot in Reno, Nevada to rave about Yosemite, she immediately called me full of recommendations for visiting Badlands National Park. Among these recommendations included an addition to the itinerary: Custer State Park.
We spent the night in Rapid City, South Dakota (state #41!) & we packed up to head out on a drive through the Needles Highway in Custer State Park. After driving through a slew of gargantuan wood carvings, including a very patriotic sexy Sasquatch (pictured below), we made our way to the start of the Needles.
Here’s the thing about the Needles Highway: If we were driving it, then I was volunteering Phil as tribute. Are Hunger Games references still relevant in 2024?
The drive is gorgeous, but it includes not one but two jagged rock tunnels that are only 8 feet wide, making it a thrill-seeker’s friend & a person with claustrophobia’s nightmare. Somehow, Phil took this all in stride & glided through the tunnel like an Olympian figure skater whose skates were coated in butter. As we made it to the other side, sunlight emerged & Phil threw up a rock on symbol which has for some unknown reason become his go-to on this trip.
We stopped at a scenic viewpoint overlooking the highway’s namesake rock formations & were very pleasantly surprised when a local woman pointed out a mountain goat by saying: Ope! Would ya looky there! I haven’t seen a mountain goat up here in ten years!
Inspired by Monsieur Mountain Goat, we decided to drive the Wildlife Loop where we were up close & personal to both bison & a new animal on this journey - prairie dogs! We kept our distance because their fleas can carry the bubonic plague & we were trying to avoid a Middle Ages reprisal (we had enough of that in 2020). Nonetheless, we had a lot of fun watching the prairie dogs dart in & out of their holes…from the safety of our car.
On its southern border, Custer State Park spills into Wind Cave National Park which is known for two things: caves and more bison. Upon researching Wind Cave, we realized that their caves were closed for 6 months due to elevator replacement. While I can think of nothing more exhilarating than getting trapped in a cave, we decided to keep it above-ground on this trip & see the bison on Red Valley Rd.
Wind Cave has one thing that Yellowstone did not have which is BISON BABIES. They are ridiculously cute and tiny, roughly the size of Great Danes (okay, fine, but it’s bison we are talking about). We oohed and awed as the calves grazed through the fields alongside their mothers.
There’s only one thing to do in Rapid City, South Dakota after a day spent driving through slender rock tunnels & staring at prairie dogs: Eat delicious ramen.
The thing is, I’m serious here. Bokujo Ramen is the best ramen restaurant we have eaten at & honestly the best restaurant of our trip out West! Chef Justin Warner (of Food Network fame) & team cook up incredible local ramen fusions like Bison Bone Broth Ramen, Bison Bao, and Oxtail Gyoza. Everything we had was absolutely divine.
If you find yourself in Rapid City in search of Mt. Rushmore, wave hi, snap a photo, & then book it to Custer State Park & Bokujo Ramen!
