Black Hills & Custer State Park – June 2025

Black Hills & Custer State Park – June 2025

by Kim · Published June 25, 2025 · Updated July 24, 2025

Black Hills & Custer State Park – June 2025

Not far from Mount Rushmore National Monument, in the beautiful Black Hills, is Custer State Park. The park has beautiful drives, wildlife, lakes and so much more. It was a great place to spend time.

Bridges, hairpin turns and tunnels kept Dale on his toes!

The scenic drive had a place to stop and view Washington's profile.

A different lake in Custer.

Sylvan Lake again.

Sylvan Lake is a beautiful place to spend the day.

Prairie dog towns are busy with acitivity.

The Needles Highway has some very narrow tunnels.

You can see Rushmore in the distance.

Sylvan Lake goose and her rather large chicks.

Our cooler has held many sandwiches during our Moon River travels!

My granddaughter made us cookies to take on our trip.

A beautiful stream near our picnic spot.

We only got to see the bison from a distance.

Burros freely roam on Custer State Park. They go right up to you, hoping for a snack.

This tri-level bridge is a landmark near Keystone, on the way to Mount Rushmore.

Waiting for the production to start!

Got our snacks and seats!

The interior is impressive for its deep-woods location.

Waiting for the production to begin.

The famous Needles Eye Tunnel only fits one car at a time, and absolutely no RVs!

Deep in the woods of Custer State Park is this lovely theater - since 1946.

The Black Hills Playhouse

This park is just as good as many national parks that we've been in.

At this spot in 1923, Doane Robinson's Model-T overheated. As he looked around he conceived the idea for Rushmore.

The beautiful Black Hills.

The scenic drives were amazing!

There were plenty of rocks to jump from at Sylvan Lake.

Mountain goat Dale!

The trail around Sylvan Lake.

Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, South Dakota

View of Sylvan Lake

The trail around Sylvan Lake had interesting features like this.

Lunch at Sylvan Lake.

Beautiful scenery on Sylvan Lake Trail.

Sylvan Lake is a great place to hike and swim.

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