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Wind Cave National Park is home to two scenic roads. South Dakota Highway 87, which is the southern section of the road that makes up the Needles Highway, and Highway 385 that runs from Deadwood, South Dakota, to Big Bend National Park, Texas.
In the On the Road Episode 9, Wind Cave National Park Scenic Drive, I start at the southern entrance to the park on Highway 385 near Hot Springs. The road turns north heading towards the Visitor Center. You can often see bison and prairie dogs on the rolling golden hills of the park. There are several overlooks with exhibits about the park wildlife. There is another road that intersects with Highway 385 twice, that leads to the park visitor center where the cave tours are. The road continues out of the park towards the small town of Pringle. I turn on Highway 87 North towards Custer State Park.
The road crosses the one lane, Beaver Creek Bridge, a historic arch bridge. Things become more forested at this point instead of the wide open prairies seen further south in the park. One of the most unique features of the road is a pigtail turn, one of four in the Black Hills. A pigtail turn is when the road goes under itself with a bridge. Another wide area opens up on the left side of the road, another place to potentially see Bison, on the right is the turnoff for the Rankin Ridge Trail. Before you know it, the road crosses out of Wind Cave and into Custer State Park.
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