The Needles Highway.

Today we went back into Custer State Park to drive the Needles Highway; we had been on this road before but it is one of those drives you could take on a regular basis and enjoy every time. We also made a stop at Sylvan Lake where we took a short hike.

We turned onto the Needles Highway (Hwy 87), from Highway 16A and started the curvy ascent to the needles area. Sandy was at the wheel so John captured a few images along the way, we also made a couple of stops for short walks and enjoyed the views.

 

We start our ride on the Needles Highway.

 

The tunnels offer narrow one-way passage.

 

At our first stop needles were visible in the distance.

 

 

At our second stop we walked up among the rocks to enjoy the view. The rock peaks and needles were enjoyable but there were a lot of dead trees in the distance, the pine beetle is taking it’s toll here. While we were up in the rocks we got a call from Rollie, it looks like we will be able to meet up with he and Gina later this week; we have followed their blog for quite some time and we will be happy to see them.

 

The highway takes you up among the rock peaks.

 

You can almost see tomorrow from here.

 

Sandy tries to keep John away, she was worried he was going to push instead of hug; a great view though.

 

A lot of brown trees in this view.

 

Needles.

 

 

At Sylvan Lake we struggled to find a parking spot, our last visit here was mid-September of 2001 and that is probably a better time of year to visit as a crowd is harder to find here in September. After we did find a parking spot we took the one-mile trail around the lake. The lake and the trail were crowded today but we still enjoyed our walk around this picturesque place.

 

Sylvan Lake.

 

The trail varied from a wide graveled path to climbing among the rocks.

 

The walkway atop the dam is visible just to the right of the center in this image (the walkway is not part of the  trail).

 

A great place for a walk on a summer day.