Overview
About Norbeck Overlook
Why stop
- A convenient roadside view of Mount Rushmore without leaving the scenic drive.
Heads up
- The monument is a distant view, and the overlook has no restrooms or potable water.
Map
Where it is
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Custer Tour Guide
Your drive to Norbeck 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.
More stories near here in the app
- The Living Crust on a Rock
- The Tunnels Beneath Pine Bark
- Iron Creek: The Centennial Trail Traverse
- Hole-In-Wall: A Bridge and a Rock Opening
- 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 Norbeck Overlook
A roadside stop on Iron Mountain RoadNorbeck Overlook is a drive-up viewpoint on Iron Mountain Road in Black Hills National Forest,…
Norbeck Overlook is a drive-up viewpoint on Iron Mountain Road in Black Hills National Forest, just outside Custer State Park but on the scenic route the park promotes between the park and Mount Rushmore. The memorial is about a mile away across forested hills, so treat this as a quick distant look rather than a close visit to the monument. The paved parking area makes it an easy pause; there are no restrooms or potable water here.
Look for the faces through the pinesThe granite faces appear between evergreen branches, with wooded ridges stretching across the…
The granite faces appear between evergreen branches, with wooded ridges stretching across the view. At roughly a mile away, binoculars can help; for a phone photo, keep some of the pines in frame so the distance reads. There are a couple of viewing angles around the overlook area, so take a moment to look around before getting back in the car.
The road has its own storySouth Dakota governor and senator Peter Norbeck chose Iron Mountain Road's alignment in the…
South Dakota governor and senator Peter Norbeck chose Iron Mountain Road's alignment in the 1930s and pushed the project forward despite doubts it could be built. The 17-mile road takes at least an hour to drive, winding past three tunnels and pigtail bridges; this overlook works best as one short pause along the route. Winter conditions can close the road periodically, so check its status before setting out.
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.
