These granite spires, known as “needles,” are one of the signature sights in South Dakota’s Custer State Park

With 71,000 acres to explore Custer is South Dakota’s largest state park. Despite its size an excellent network of roads permit visitors to see most of the park’s highlights in a single day, although several weeks would be needed to fully canvas all of its lakes, creeks, mountains, plains and hiking trails.

Whether staying a single night or several, Custer is one of the more welcoming parks we’ve visited; with no fewer than four lodges ranging in style from posh to dude ranch. Choosing from among their 13 campgrounds was no small feat either. We eventually decided to stay at the excellent Legion Lake facility, but suspect we’d have been happy with any of the options.

Read More…