Needles Highway in the Black Hills of South Dakota

 I'm unable to download new photos on my computer because of a defective optical drive that won't allow me to install my camera software, so until the replacement arrives I'm using some photos from my old photo files. I found these interesting photos to share from South Dakota.  My husband and I visited South Dakota this past summer and enjoyed seeing Mount Rushmore and The Crazy Horse Memorial,  The Badlands National Park, and The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, which I blogged about during the summer, but we also saw two other beautiful areas in South Dakota, one of which was the 14 mile long Needles Highway (SD 87) , part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

The highway is named after the high granite "needles" it winds among, along with tunnels such as these that are cut through the rock:

We were amazed to see tour buses being able to pass through this narrow tunnel!

The scenery was full of massive granite pinnacles, spires, and outcroppings of granite throughout rugged terrain. It was definitely a road on which you had to drive slow, not only because of the hairpin turns and narrow tunnels. but also because you want to see all unusual formations and views.

The beautiful views were of the Black Hills of South Dakota.  They were originally given this name by the Lakota Indian because of their dark appearance from a distance caused by their dense covering of pine trees.

South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck (1917-1921) carefully planned the highway to provide scenic views without disrupting the natural setting. Needles Highway was completed in 1922.

Sylvan Lake is located at the  end of the Needles highway. It was created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch.

All photos can be enlarged when clicked on, and if you enlarge this one you might be able to see the multitude of minerals that are in the Black Hills.  Rock formations such as these are so full of minerals and crystals that they actually sparkle in the sunshine! 

Needles Highway is considered one of the most scenic highways in North America and I'm glad we were able to see it on a beautiful day during our vacation. Next blog post I'll show Custer State Park, also in South Dakota.

I'm adding this post to Claudia of Dippity Road blog event "Friday Finding Beauty." Please visit Claudia today to see her post and other participating links which found beauty in their lives this week!