After leaving from Mount Rushmore, we moved on this afternoon to drive the Needles Highway within Custer State Park. This was an unplanned addition to our trip, and a very rewarding drive. That drive includes six narrow tunnels, the narrowest of them being the “Needles Eye Tunnel” which is 8’0″ wide, and 9’9″ high, and of course one-way even though traffic can approach it from either end. Images are worth a thousand words, so here you go, here is a short video from our drive:
Claudette’s Two Cents.
If there’s one thing Bernard and I enjoy, it’s driving on some pretty wild roads—so long as we feel safe. This one wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was actually fun navigating those hairpin curves. I suppose when you’re not right on the edge of a cliff that drops hundreds of feet into nowhere, it doesn’t feel quite as terrifying.
The tunnels were a great test of my ability to judge measurements and eyeball the width of the road.
As a precaution, we folded in the extended mirrors—just as recommended for driving through those tunnels.
All in all, it was a fun experience.
OMG my cortisol levels just tripled watching that video! That was some amazing driving to go through those tunnels and that eye of the needle tunnel was freaking scary looking!!