Gribblenation

After completing South Dakota State Route 87 over the Needles Highway I briefly pulled onto US 16/385 and headed east on SD 244 towards Mount Rushmore. This blog post is the 6th in the 2016 Mountain Trip Series, Part 5 can be found here: 2016 Summer Mountain Trip; South Dakota State Route 87/The Needles Highway SD 244 is an approximately 10.5 mile east/west route between US 16/385 and US 16A which curves through the peaks of the Black Hills.  My understanding is that SD 244 was part of the most northern extent of SD 87 until 1977.  This seems to be backed up on historicaerials as a change from SD 87 is seen comparing the 1976 to 1983 topographical maps of the Mount Rushmore Area.  For what its worth a 1949 Shell South Dakota State Highway Map doesn't show the alignment of SD 244 under state maintenance and part of current SD 87 as US 85A. 1949 South Dakota State Highway Map Mount Rushmore National Memorial was in 1925 on the site of a granite rock formation...

After leaving the Wind Cave I headed north to the junction of South Dakota State Route 87 the Needles Highway. This is Part 5 of the 2016 Mountain Trip Series, Part 4 can be located here: 2016 Summer Mountain Trip; Wind Cave National Park SD 87 is an approximately 38 mile state highway which connects US Route 385 in Wind Cave National Park to US 385/16 north of Custer State Park in the vicinity of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills.  The northern 14 miles of SD 87 through Custer State Park is known as the Needles Highway.  The Needles Highway is named for the granite needles that common near the high peaks of the Black Hills Range.  SD 87 begins at an approximate elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level before ascending above 6,000 feet. Even though SD 87 heading north from US 385 through Wind Cave National Park doesn't start in the Black Hills it still is a spectacular route that starts off with a scenic bridge over Beaver Creek. SD 87 crosses over i...