Iron Mountain Road - Route 16A in Custer State Park SD

I parked for four nites in the Spearfish city campground starting on Tuesday afternoon, walked up the street and rented a car from Enterprise. A little costly but best move possible. I think I got to see and enjoy a whole bunch more stuff using the car. Wed, Saw Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Drove the wildlife loop and Iron Mt highway, one day plus all of the getting there and back to Spearfish, Thursday I drove Spearfish Canyon road, rode the steam train from Hill City to Keystone and back, and drove the Needles Highway, plus some more random scenery, and stopped to check out a couple of Federal campgrounds in the Black Hills. Friday I drove out to Devils Tower and stopped by the Vore Buffalo Jump and turned the car in in the afternoon. Spent next day doing laundry, Wal-mart shopping and driving the MH to Rapid City to meet my brother who drove in from Fargo. Toured a museum called The Journey, real neat, ate dinner and ran down to the Hot Springs KOA. Saw the Mammoth site on Sunday, checked out the COE campground at Cold Brook Reservoir, and the Museum of the Fur Trade at Chadron, NE, relocated to Alliance and found some good $50 parking with three other MHs of the same make/model (how odd is that?) and on Monday my brother drove down and we watched the eclipse. Good trip, but could not have done all of that in the Motorhome that quickly and easily.

Charles

We went, by the way, it it was not even hard.

A report back: We did it, and it was actually a bit anti-climatic. Note that we did NOT do Eye of the Needle, where the tunnels are smaller.

We're now looking at buying a 2016 Thor ACE 30.1, which at 12'2" I would NOT try on Iron Nountain Road!

Bicycles had to get off the road so we could get past them with our dually. I would not personally take an RV.

So, thank you all for your responses.

We did it, it was no problem. Plenty of clearance. (For us. YMMV.)

I think some of those responding were confusing the Iron Mountain Road (16A) with Needles Highway (87.) But cautions are valuable.

We actually had more problem driving through Badlands later that day, with people stopping their cars on the road IN A CURVE to get out and take a picture. Not one person. Multiple people. Made the drivers on Iron Mountain Road look almost smart.

e-mail csp for a copy of TATANKA, it has a map on the back showing location and size of all tunnels plus great magazine about custer state park.

zigzagrv wrote:


No problem! You can do it!!

That is NOT the Iron Mtn Road. That is needles highway. Leaves Custer city and loop up through the Eye of the Needle and then back down, ending in CSP.

Iron Mtn runs from just outside the east entrance of CSP to Rushmore. There are two or three tunnels and a couple or three pigtail bridges on this road. I have seen at least one class C in this road. the tunnels looks smaller than they actually measure, but it is a poor idea to drive it in anything other than a regular car or truck IMHO

k6ncx wrote:
On an upcoming trip we will pass by this area and would like to drive through.

I've driven through there (WB) 30 years ago (and in a Tradesman van) but this would be EB in a Coachmen Santara 302SA. Length is 31 feet, height is either 10'6" or 11'6" (I'll remeasure when I get home!)

Anyone have experience/wisdom to share?

I was there a couple weeks ago, and I wouldn't recommend it. As noted, the switchbacks are tight, the tunnels are low and narrow, you'll be going slow and impeding traffic, and, most of all, it'll diminish the experience. It's such a great drive, it would be a shame to detract from it by worrying about maneuvering an RV. For example, here's one of the pictures I took:


(and yes, the tunnels do perfectly frame Mt. Rushmore).

Having said that, for a while we were following a guy pulling a L-O-N-G horse trailer and, much to my surprise, he made it. So I guess it's possible, at least in some cases. Still, he didn't look like he was having a good time.

Skip

On edit: if you're interested, here's the trip report and route map for the loop we did. My little travelogue is mostly written for family to keep track of us, but it might whet your appetite for what's in store: http://skiprd.com/?p=855.

k6ncx wrote:
On an upcoming trip we will pass by this area and would like to drive through.

I've driven through there (WB) 30 years ago (and in a Tradesman van) but this would be EB in a Coachmen Santara 302SA. Length is 31 feet, height is either 10'6" or 11'6" (I'll remeasure when I get home!)

Anyone have experience/wisdom to share?

If time permits why not stop for a couple of nights in the area and rent a car to drive both Iron Mountain and Needles Hwys. see Mount Rushmore just up the hill from the northern end of Iron Mountain, I have ridden both on a motor cycle and its fun, but I don't think it would be in your 31' MH. JMHO

No problem! You can do it!!