Motorcycle Ride Planner · Routes · United States
Needles Highway (Custer State Park)
United States · SD-87
Winds through towering eroded granite pillars, spires, and pine forest. Navigates tight single-lane rock cuts including the famous Needles Eye Tunnel (8'4" wide) and Iron Creek Tunnel. Expect slow tour bus bottlenecks, free-roaming wildlife, and extraordinary rock formations.
Needles Highway (Custer State Park) runs 14 miles between Sylvan Lake, SD and Custer State Park Visitor Center, SD. We count about 155 corners along it, which is relentless. Committed riding: real corners, real consequences.
Tank-bag quick reference
- StartSylvan Lake, SD43.8475, -103.5658
- High4,800 ft - 6,145 ftelevation range
- EndCuster State Park Visitor Center, SD43.7667, -103.5417
T-CLOCS before you go: tyres and wheels, controls and cables, lights and electrics, oil and fluids, chassis and stand.
Repair within reach
- 23 miBlack Hills Harley-DavidsonRapid City, United States
- 39 miSturgis MotorsportsSturgis, United States
Straight-line distance from the start of the route, not driving distance.
More in United States
- California Route 36 - '140 Miles of Curves'140 mi · 1800 corners
- Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia Ridge & Peaks of Otter)176 mi · 620 corners
- Blue Ridge Parkway (Southern High Peaks Section)129 mi · 580 corners
- The Snake 421 (Holston Mountain Pass)33 mi · 489 corners
- Coronado Trail (The Devil's Highway)92 mi · 460 corners
- Lolo Pass (Lewis and Clark Highway)132 mi · 450 corners
Questions riders ask
- How long does Needles Highway (Custer State Park) take to ride?
- About 14 miles. At an unhurried pace with stops that is roughly 1 hour of riding, longer if you are stopping for photographs.
- Where does Needles Highway (Custer State Park) start and end?
- It runs between Sylvan Lake, SD and Custer State Park Visitor Center, SD. Either end works as a start; the route reads the same in both directions.
- Is Needles Highway (Custer State Park) a twisty road?
- We count about 155 corners across 14 miles, which is relentless.
- Is there a GPX file for Needles Highway (Custer State Park)?
- Yes. The GPX is free, there is no account, and the planner will build a route that includes this road alongside others nearby.
Where these numbers come from
Distances and corner counts come from the route's own geometry, not from ratings or votes. Nothing here is crowdsourced and nobody paid to appear.