Overview
About Heddy Draw Overlook
Why stop
- Benches, picnic tables and extra viewpoints extend the stop beyond the shelter.
Heads up
- The small parking lot can be tight for longer vehicles.
Map
Where it is
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Custer Tour Guide
Your drive to Heddy Draw Overlook, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Custer State Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Mount Coolidge and Heddy Overlook“You're approaching the turnoff for Mount Coolidge's summit road. The drive climbs narrow, winding gravel, with no access for campers or oversized vehicles.”
Plays as you drive up to Heddy Draw Overlook in the Parkwolf Custer Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Smoke Seen from Mount Coolidge
- Badger Clark’s Singing Cowboy
- Badger Hole: The Poet’s Cabin
- The Dragonfly's Underwater Life
- 82 audio storiesacross Custer’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bison, Wapiti, Bighorn Sheep, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 40 trails, 49 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“We recently toured Badlands, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and more! We learned so much from this app as we toured each of these sites. The audio tours are worth the money.”
Guide
More about Heddy Draw Overlook
Stop for the viewHeddy Draw Overlook is a roadside scenic stop on South Highway 87 in Custer State Park, with a…
Heddy Draw Overlook is a roadside scenic stop on South Highway 87 in Custer State Park, with a small parking area and a covered log shelter reached by a short paved walk. It’s worth a quick pause for the view over the draw toward pine-covered Black Hills ridges; stay longer if you’d like to continue to other viewpoints. The lot is small, and longer vehicles may find it tight.
Wander beyond the shelterThe paved approach reaches the shelter, then the paths change to gravel and dirt with pine…
The paved approach reaches the shelter, then the paths change to gravel and dirt with pine needles underfoot. Benches, picnic tables and additional viewpoints make it easy to linger a little longer. These paths are separate from the Heddy Draw Trail routes; the longer path surfaces and accessibility details aren’t verified.
Read the landscapeFrom the shelter, look across the draw to the wooded ridges.
From the shelter, look across the draw to the wooded ridges. For a photo, keep a few foreground pines in the frame; they give the hills depth. Elk may pass through the area, but a sighting isn’t guaranteed, so treat one as a bonus rather than the reason to stop.
Bring what you needNo food service or potable water was identified at the overlook, so bring what you need for a…
No food service or potable water was identified at the overlook, so bring what you need for a longer wander. Restroom availability isn’t confirmed, so don’t count on one. The short walk from the lot is paved, but footing changes beyond the shelter and accessibility details weren’t available.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Custer
993 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
91 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
258 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
85 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
256 sightingsBurroMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
707 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Custer. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
