Needles Highway, Black Hills, South Dakota Poster

"Needles Highway, Custer State Park, Black Hills, South Dakota" by Catherine Sherman. Needles Highway is fourteen miles long, part of the South Dakota 87 highway, and is inside Custer State Park in the Black Hills. The road travels past spectacular granite formations, through pine and spruce forests and past meadows surrounded by aspen and birch trees. The road is about 30 miles from Rapid City and 35 minutes from Mount Rushmore. The road was marked by foot and horseback by former South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who initiated the project despite being told it would be impossible. The highway was completed in 1922. Needles Highway is one of three scenic routes along Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.