License and winter access
Park visitors need an entrance license. Non-stop through traffic on US 16A and south SD 87 is exempt. Needles Highway closes to vehicles with the first snow and reopens April 1 or later, depending on conditions.
Overview
About Wilson’s Corner Entrance Station
Why stop
- The 14-mile route adds Sylvan Lake and Needle’s Eye to the drive.
Heads up
- Two narrow tunnels limit vehicles close to their listed clearances.
Map
Where it is
Loading the Custer map
Full mapPlan your stop
Before you go
License and winter access
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Custer Tour Guide
Your drive to Wilson’s Corner Entrance Station, 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 area
The Vulture's Wobbly Glide0:00 / 0:27
“If you see a big dark bird soaring with its wings held in a shallow V, watch whether it rocks from side to side. That's a useful clue for a turkey vulture.”
Plays on the road 0.2 mi from Wilson’s Corner Entrance Station in the Parkwolf Custer Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Why Turtles Share a Sunny Log
- Legion Lake: A Short Walk and Lakeside Lunch
- 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 Wilson’s Corner Entrance Station
The south gateWilson’s Corner Entrance Station is the drive-through booth on SD 87 at the south end of…
Wilson’s Corner Entrance Station is the drive-through booth on SD 87 at the south end of Needles Highway, where it meets US 16A. It’s a quick checkpoint rather than somewhere to get out and explore.
Decide whether to take Needles HighwayPlan at least an hour for the 14-mile drive.
Plan at least an hour for the 14-mile drive. The route runs through pine and spruce forest, birch-and-aspen meadows, and rugged granite formations, and passes Sylvan Lake and the Needle’s Eye. If you’re taking the highway, leave time to enjoy the road at a careful pace.
Check the tunnel clearancesNeedle’s Eye Tunnel is 8 feet wide and 9 feet 9 inches high; Iron Creek Tunnel is 8 feet 9…
Needle’s Eye Tunnel is 8 feet wide and 9 feet 9 inches high; Iron Creek Tunnel is 8 feet 9 inches wide and 10 feet 10 inches high. Check your vehicle’s height and width before committing if it’s close to those limits.
A road with a storyFormer South Dakota governor Peter Norbeck laid out the route on foot and horseback, and…
Former South Dakota governor Peter Norbeck laid out the route on foot and horseback, and construction finished in 1922. The highway takes its name from the needle-like granite formations along the route. At Needle’s Eye, wind, rain, freezing and thawing eroded an opening through the rock.
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.
