Rapid City Northern Black Hills Jeep Adventure

Custer State Park in the one of the largest State Parks in the nation. Encompassing 71,000 acres in the Black Hills, it is home to abundant wildlife and adventures. There’s something here for everyone, the granite peaks, rolling plains and clear mountain waters are fantastic.
Open-Top-Tours is the only company to offer 6 hour Bison Jeep Tours to ALL of Custer State Park. (Not the 60 minute limited tour offered by others.) We tour in our unique modified Jeep Gladiators and Wrangers, with seating from 2 to 14 with great panoramic viewing.

Our guides are professional, well informed and a 'hoot' to tour with. They will explain local history, wildlife and answer your questions.

Tours include: fees, bottled water and snacks. And we include special treats to feed the "Beggin Burros" as we stop along the Loop. (They know us well and come running when they spot us.)

Tours depart Rapid City at 8:00am and Keystone at 8:30am. Lots of restroom stops and extra wildlife/landscape photo ops.

Meeting Point

Holiday Inn Rapid City Downtown - Conv Ctr, an IHG Hotel

505 N 5th St, Rapid City, SD 57701, USA

At large parking lot In front of hotel.

What's included:

• Special Treats for feeding Begging Burros

What to expect:

Duration: 6 hours, 15 minutes

Custer State Park Visitor Center

US Hwy 16A and Wildlife Loop Road, Custer, South Dakota

First we stop at the State Game Lodge and detail its history at the Summer White House for Presidents Coolidge and Eisenhower.
Then stopping at the Custer State Park Visitor Center we visit the many displays about the iconic species of the prairie, the bison.

And one more stop along the Wildlife Loop Road at the Buffalo Corrals. The new Custer State Park Bison Center brings an all-bison experience to the park's scenic drive through the southern prairie of our 71,000 acre park.

1 hour, 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Wildlife Loop Road

Custer, 57730, South Dakota

We tour through 18 miles of open grasslands and pine-speckled hills that much of Custer State Park's wildlife calls home. Keep eyes peeled for bison, pronghorn, whitetail and mule deer, elk, coyotes, burros, prairie dogs, eagles, hawks, and a variety of birds that are rarely found together in one location. A medley of colorful wildflowers and prairie grasses surround the road, making for a picturesque drive; and the landscape changes throughout your trip, keeping you on your toes.

1 hour, 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Mount Coolidge Fire Lookout Tower

Custer State Park, , Custer, South Dakota

Built of local stone, Mt Coolidge Fire Tower rests atop a 6,023-foot peak on the way to Blue Bell Lodge and is still used today as a fire lookout and dispatch center.
As the highest point in central Custer State Park, it offers breathtaking 360-degree views from the top of the fire tower. On a clear day, you can see the Badlands nearly 60 miles away in the east, Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse to the north and the Wildlife Loop Road to the south.

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Stockade Lake

Custer, South Dakota

Stockade Lake is the largest lake in Custer State Park and is located between Mt Coolidge Lookout and the Needles Highway. It has a very scenic and serene atmospher and here we pause for a picnic lunch.

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Needle Eye Tunnel

Mp 31, Sd-87, Custer State Park, Custer, 57730, South Dakota

The Needles Highway is a spectacular drive through pine and spruce forests, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen, and rugged granite mountains.
The road’s name comes from the needlelike granite formations that seem to pierce the horizon along the highway.

The roadway was carefully planned by former South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who marked the entire course on foot and by horseback. Construction was completed in 1922.

Needles Eye Tunnel is a unique rock formation, so named for the opening created by wind, rain, freezing, and thawing. It is the most popular tunnel in the Park.

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Sylvan Lake

Custer, 57730, South Dakota

Sylvan Lake is the most popular of the may lakes in the Park.
It was created in 1891 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch Creek.
It is surronded by large granite spires, huge pines and creates a unique alpine feel to the guests. I is also home to an average of 4 wedding a week during the summer season.

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Iron Mountain Road

Custer, South Dakota

Iron Mountain Road is a unique road designed to showcase the Black Hills and Mt Rushmore. Known for its “pigtail” bridges. Iron Mountain Road redefined what a road could be with 314 CURVES, many one one-tunnels and of course the "pigtail" bridges.

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included