The Custer State Park Wildlife Loop in South Dakota is one of the best wildlife experiences in the United States.
We visited as part of a trip to Rapid City and the Dakotas and it quickly became one of the highlights of our adventures in the region.
An added bonus is that the park is completely dog-friendly for leashed pets. Our anxious pup Kimmy somehow had zero issues checking out bison and other wildlife from her backseat window.
If you’re planning a trip to Custer State Park, don’t miss a chance to observe some of the best South Dakota wildlife.
Quick Tips for Your Custer State Park Visit
Your Flight: To get to Custer State Park, start in Rapid City and Rapid City Regional Airport. Use Skyscanner to watch flights. Love deals? Subscribe to Going.
Your Accommodations: Browse Booking.com or Hotels.com to explore hotels near Custer State Park. Vrbo is my Airbnb alternative.
Your Ride: You’ll need a car to get to and around the park. Book a rental car ahead of time.
Top Spots: You’re here to visit the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop. With more time, find the begging burros and hike the Prairie Trail.
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What is the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park?
The Wildlife Loop State Scenic Byway is an 18-mile scenic drive that cuts through Custer State Park and offers the park’s best wildlife viewing.
The park itself is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It spans about 71,000 acres in Custer County.
I’d argue that it should top the list of any tourist stops in the Black Hills region, as nature is always more impressive to me than man-made sights like Mount Rushmore.
READ MORE: Interested in more on that? I get into my thoughts and the history of Mount Rushmore in this guide.
If scenic routes are your jam, Iron Mountain Road to the north of the park connects you to Mount Rushmore and back to Rapid City. The Needles Highway passes Sylvan Lake and the intriguing Needle’s Eye, a rock formation that definitely fits its name.
You’re here to drive the Wildlife Loop, though.
How long does it take to do the Wildlife Loop?
It takes at least an hour to drive the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park. The full loop is just 18 miles, but you’ll be driving a max speed of 25 miles per hour while you’re on your scenic drive.
If you plan any hiking stops or encounter a wildlife traffic jam, you could be on your drive for a few hours. Plan to spend some time observing the animals, too. You really don’t want to rush this one.
Enter the park at the Custer State Park east entrance near the Custer State Park Visitor Center for the Wildlife Loop. Once you enter the park, follow the signs for your scenic drive. It’ll take you to the Blue Bell entrance on the western side of the park.
How much does it cost to drive the Wildlife Loop?
It costs $20 per vehicle to go on the Custer Wildlife Loop. Pay at an entrance gate or a self-service stop if there’s no one manning the entrance upon your arrival.
That fee covers your entrance fee to the park itself, so plan to spend time exploring the rest of Custer State Park once you’re done with the critters.
What time of day is best for the Wildlife Loop?
Dawn or dusk is the best time of day for seeing animals along the Custer Wildlife Loop. That said, we arrived around 8am and still had fantastic conditions. The right time for you may just be what’s right for your South Dakota itinerary.
Custer State Park is open 24 hours per day. The park is open year-round, but you’ll have access to fewer amenities between Oct. 1 and April 30.
Things to Do on the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop
The scenic drive itself is worth a trip along the Wildlife Loop. See bison herds roaming freely along the road, graceful pronghorns acting a little more skittish, and curious prairie dogs seeing what all the fuss is about.
Mule deer, bighorn sheep, hawks, eagles, mountain goats, elk, coyotes, marmots, and even mountain lions are all possible sightings in the park. There are bears in Custer State Park, too, but sightings are rare.
The park typically keeps close tabs on bear activity at Custer because they’re not native to the region. The bears don’t know that, though, so they tend to roam where they please.
Fun fact: Many of these animals are descendants of animals once held at a zoo that once operated on this land in the 1920s.
On our trip, we encountered a few pronghorns along the side of the road right as we arrived.
Coming up on the west end, we ran into a huge herd of the local bison.
There are nearly 1,400 free-roaming bison in the park, making this one of the best places in the world to see bison herds. That’s more than big national parks like Yellowstone, a park notorious for wildlife traffic jams.
Fun fact: People use the word “buffalo” interchangeably for the enormous creatures in the park, but that’s incorrect. Yes, the annual Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival held in the park has it wrong, too.
It’s basically a guarantee that you’ll encounter bison on the Wildlife Loop. If you’re here in late spring and summer, you’ll probably see lots of bison babies, too. Predictably, you’ll see people exiting their cars to get a closer look when they see bison on the road.
Don’t do this.
Approach a bison in a way they don’t like and they will toss you around like a ragdoll. It happens every year in parks around the country, and yet people approach them thinking they’re just fluffy cows anyway.
Admire the animals from the safety of your car. If you’re on a trail, the park recommends a distance of 100 yards for bison and other large animals.
That includes the park’s prairie dog towns. Don’t set out to meet prairie dogs up close on purpose. These things carry the plague and I’m not even joking.
Here are a few more experiences you can have as you travel the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop.
Greet the begging burros.
These burros are begging because they’re fed by humans navigating the loop on a daily basis. If your window is rolled down, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you’ll see one of the burros poke their head in for a treat.
We had our dog with us so they mostly ignored us during our drive, but we saw lots of people getting out of their cars to feed them whatever snacks they’d packed for the day. We even saw people go in for cuddles.
They’re pretty cute, but these are still mostly feral. The park describes them as “semi-wild.” They descend from a pack once used for summit treks up Black Elk Peak, once known as Harney Peak.
Just be careful is all I’m saying. These guys can be unpredictable.
Note: While the park turns a blind eye to people feeding the burros, you should not under any circumstances feed any other animals in the park. You are putting yourself and the animals at risk if you do so.
Hike the Prairie Trail.
This loop hike of about two miles is a great way to get up close and personal with the surrounding grasslands. We saw a prairie dog town along the way and evidence of bison in the form of large cow pies.
There’s some shade along the way but loads of exposed sections, so pack water and sun protection. It was sweltering by the time we finished around 10am on a warm July morning.
If you’re here to get some more steps in, the Centennial Trail is a longer, out-and-back option of 3.2 miles. Hikers like this one as a more moderate trail with decent views, but don’t expect much wildlife along the way.
You can pick up the Centennial Trail along the western end of the drive before you reach the Blue Bell Lodge.
Visit the Custer State Park Bison Center.
Learn more about the park’s bison herd in this interactive center. You’ll educate yourself about the bison’s role in the local system, its cultural importance to Native Americans, and conservation efforts over the years.
The center also has a few viewing decks available for safe bison-watching, but you’ll get loads of opportunities along the loop drive itself for that.
Note: If you’re traveling with kids or just really love learning new things, the Peter Norbeck Outdoor Education Center is another optional stop along the loop road. It’s just one mile west of the Custer State Park Wildlife Station Visitor Center and a great introduction to the ecosystems within the park.
Attend the Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival.
This is an attempt by park officials to make the idea of cutting down the bison herds more tourist-friendly. I don’t love it, but I get it. It’s a method of population control and disease prevention and a way to ensure genetic diversity in the herd.
The event itself doesn’t involve anything too grim. Spectators watch riders drive the herd for sorting, testing, branding, and treating as necessary. A few dozen are then sold at auction.
Should you book a guided tour at Custer State Park?
The only situation where I’d suggest a guided tour may be the right move is if you don’t have access to a car. We drove our vehicle through the park, but it’s easy enough to rent a car from wherever you’re starting from.
Guided experiences available online that include Custer State Park are generally expensive and leave limited time for the loop itself.
Seriously, don’t drop over $300 per person on a “safari” in the park. It’s not necessary, and bloggers who suggest this are clowns. Buffalo safari jeep tours are lame, too. You already know there are no buffalo in the park.
Where to Stay Near Custer State Park
Custer State Park is only about half an hour from Rapid City. That’s where we came from on our visit to the park and what I’d recommend for accommodations.
If you’re here for max efficiency, the State Game Lodge is the main resort within the park. Sylvan Lake Lodge sits at the northwestern corner of the park and Legion Lake Lodge is popular with visitors seeking lakefront accommodations.
Use the map below for more options as you start your hotel search with Custer State Park in mind:
Custer State Park’s Wildlife Loop is worth the trip.
The Wildlife Loop road in Custer State Park alone is reason enough to explore this park. The wildlife spotting you’ll get here is just as good as big national parks like Glacier or Grand Teton.
For those with more time outside of this scenic drive, it’s a great park to take in some stunning scenery, hiking trails at all levels, and outdoor activities without big crowds. I’d love to come back myself to take a deeper dive into Custer State Park.
On a longer road trip out this way? Check out these posts:
- Deadwood: Is it Worth Your Time?
- A Guide to Top Road Trips from Cheyenne
- A Detailed Travel Planner to Cheyenne, WY
- Pay a Visit to Adorable Fort Collins, CO
- How to Plan a Quick Trip to Devils Tower
Love wildlife? Check out these guides next:
- Top Tips for Accommodations at Yosemite
- Meet Elephants in Thailand the Right Way
- Plan Your Jackson Hole to Yellowstone Trip
- See the Wildlife of Theodore Roosevelt
- Plan a Scenic Alaska Drive to Denali
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