Custer State Park Wildlife Loop Road

The Wildlife Loop Road runs 18 miles in a long, lazy circle through the southern half of Custer State Park, well away from the granite spires the Black Hills are known for. Here the land opens up into rolling grassland dotted with pine, the kind of wide, golden country where a herd of bison can graze in plain view a mile off. The road is fully paved and gently graded, an easy two-lane drive with generous shoulders and pullouts, so any passenger car handles it without trouble. There is no tunnel to squeeze through and no white-knuckle grade, just miles of prairie unspooling ahead of you.

The driving experience is built entirely around going slow. A low speed limit keeps traffic to a crawl, which is exactly right, because the wildlife here has the right of way in every sense. Bison cross when and where they please, and a herd can stop the whole line of cars for as long as it takes them to amble across. Most people budget about 45 minutes to drive the loop without stopping, then find it takes far longer once they start pulling over for photos, watching a burro nose at a car ahead, or simply sitting still while a pronghorn crosses the road.

Because the loop is a circle, you can start it from either end off US Highway 16A and drive it in whichever direction you like. Along the way it passes the open bison range, a wildlife visitor station set out in the grasslands, and the flatter stretches where the begging burros tend to gather. It is the quiet, spread-out counterpart to the park's dramatic mountain roads, a place to trade cliffs and switchbacks for horizon and herds.

Custer State Park sits in the southern Black Hills of western South Dakota, and the Wildlife Loop Road threads through its lower, grassier half. The loop is a spur off US Highway 16A, which is the park's main east-west road, so nearly everyone reaches it by way of 16A no matter which direction they come from.

Coming from Rapid City, the largest nearby city and the region's airport hub, drive south on US Highway 16 and then US 16A toward Custer State Park, entering the park near the State Game Lodge and Visitor Center on the north side. The Wildlife Loop Road branches off 16A there and heads south into the grasslands. Coming from the town of Custer to the west, follow US 16A east into the park to reach the same junction. Travelers already touring the Black Hills often arrive by the park's own scenic roads, dropping down from the Needles Highway or Iron Mountain Road onto 16A.

The loop is a circle, so you can pick it up at its northern junction near the park's main developed area or at its southern junction farther along 16A, and drive it clockwise or counterclockwise. Many people connect it in a single day with the rest of the Peter Norbeck byway, saving the Wildlife Loop for dawn or dusk when the animals are most active.

Custer State Park grew out of a game preserve set aside in the early 1910s, and it became one of South Dakota's first and largest state parks, covering some 71,000 acres of the southern Black Hills. Much of the credit belongs to Peter Norbeck, a South Dakota governor and later United States senator who fell in love with this country and worked tirelessly to protect it and open it up to travelers. He personally helped route the park's roads, walking the ground and even scouting on horseback to plan drives that would show off the scenery to best effect.

The bison are the heart of the park's story. The herd was rebuilt from a small number of animals brought in around 1914, at a time when the American bison had been hunted to the edge of extinction, from tens of millions down to only a few hundred wild animals nationwide. Under the park's care the herd grew into the free-roaming population of roughly 1,300 that travelers see today. To keep the range healthy and the herd at a sustainable size, the park holds its famous Buffalo Roundup each fall, when riders and vehicles gather the whole herd across the open grassland. These plains were long central to the life of the Lakota and other Northern Plains nations, for whom the bison were the foundation of daily life.

The Wildlife Loop Road was developed to let visitors experience that free-roaming wildlife up close from the safety of their cars, and it grew into one of the park's signature drives. In 1996 it earned national recognition as one leg of the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway, a federally designated National Scenic Byway named for the man who did so much to build the park. The byway ties together three legendary Black Hills drives, Iron Mountain Road with its pigtail bridges and Rushmore views, the Needles Highway with its granite spires and tight tunnels, and the Wildlife Loop with its grasslands and herds, into a single celebrated route through the region.

The begging burros are a happy accident of history. They descend from a herd of donkeys once used to carry visitors on rides to the top of Black Elk Peak, the highest summit in the region. When those rides ended, the animals were simply turned loose into the park, where they have lived freely ever since. Generations of tourists handing snacks out car windows have made them bold and friendly, and they now crowd stopped cars along the loop, poking their heads toward any open window in hope of a treat.

• Custer State Park is home to one of the largest publicly owned bison herds in the country, roughly 1,300 free-roaming animals, all descended from a small starter herd brought in around 1914 when the species was nearly extinct.
• The Wildlife Loop is one of three legs of the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway, designated a National Scenic Byway in 1996 and named for the South Dakota senator who helped plan the park's roads, in places scouting the routes on horseback.
• The park's famous begging burros are not wild natives at all. They descend from donkeys once used to carry tourists up Black Elk Peak, and when those rides ended the animals were released into the park to live free.
• Every fall the park stages the Buffalo Roundup, when cowboys and cowgirls on horseback drive the entire herd across the open grassland into corrals, a working event that also draws thousands of spectators.
• Along with bison, the loop's grasslands support pronghorn, elk, white-tailed and mule deer, wild turkeys, and colonies of prairie dogs whose burrow towns dot the flats.
• The pronghorn you may spot on the loop are the fastest land animal in North America, built to outrun predators that vanished from the continent thousands of years ago.
• At about 71,000 acres, Custer is one of the largest state parks in the United States, big enough to hold an entire free-ranging bison herd within its boundaries.
• The Wildlife Loop is the gentle, grassy counterpart to the byway's mountain roads. While the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road climb through granite, this leg stays down in open prairie country where the herds roam.

Yes. The Wildlife Loop Road is one of three legs of the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway, which was designated a National Scenic Byway in 1996. The byway is named for Peter Norbeck, the South Dakota governor and senator who helped create Custer State Park and plan its roads, and it also includes the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road.

The loop runs 18 miles in a circle through the southern grasslands of Custer State Park. Driven without stopping it takes about 45 minutes, but most visitors spend far longer, because wildlife on or beside the road slows things down and there is always a reason to pull over and watch. Give yourself an hour and a half to two hours to enjoy it properly.

The star is the park's free-roaming bison herd of roughly 1,300 animals, but the grasslands also hold pronghorn, elk, deer, wild turkeys, and colonies of prairie dogs. You may also meet the park's famous begging burros, a band of friendly donkeys that walk up to stopped cars. Dawn and dusk are the best times to see the most animals active.

No. Bison are wild, powerful animals that can move surprisingly fast and may charge without warning, so you should never approach them on foot or try to feed them. When bison are near the road, stay inside your vehicle, keep your distance, and be patient if they cross or block the way. Watching them from the safety of your car is the whole point of the drive, and it keeps both you and the animals safe.

It is best not to. The burros are friendly and will crowd a stopped car hoping for a snack, but the park discourages feeding them because human food is not healthy for them and teaches them to block the road and depend on handouts. Enjoy the close-up visit, roll through slowly, and let them stay the wild animals they are.

The road is inside Custer State Park, so a park entrance license is required to enter and drive it. The license is typically valid for the day and covers your vehicle, and it can be purchased at park entrances and visitor centers. There is no separate charge for the loop itself beyond the park entrance license.

Early morning and the hour or two before sunset are by far the best times to see wildlife, when bison, pronghorn, and elk are most active and out on the grasslands. Late spring through fall brings the greenest prairie and the most animals in view, and the fall Buffalo Roundup is a spectacle all its own. Midday in summer can be hot and quiet, with animals resting out of sight.

The Wildlife Loop is a paved, lower-elevation road and generally stays open all year, unlike the park's higher mountain roads such as the Needles Highway, which close for winter. That said, winter storms can bring snow and ice, and wildlife viewing changes with the seasons, so check current park and road conditions before you go in the colder months.

No. The Wildlife Loop Road is fully paved and gently graded, and any ordinary passenger car handles it easily. There is no rough or unpaved section required to complete the loop, so four-wheel drive and high clearance are not needed.

The Buffalo Roundup is an annual event held each fall, usually in late September, when cowboys and cowgirls on horseback, along with vehicles, drive Custer State Park's entire bison herd across the open grassland into corrals. It is part of managing the herd's size and health, and it has grown into a major spectacle that draws thousands of visitors to designated viewing areas to watch the thundering herd move across the prairie.