after chuckwagon dinner-do wildlife loop?

If we do the chuchwagon cookout for dinner at Blue Bell in Custer(5-8pm) will it get to be too late to do the wildlife loop, do we just drive through, or do you get out and stop, and iron mtn road on the way back to Keystone?

after chuckwagon dinner-do wildlife loop?

Hi: I can only speak for our family, but the wildlife loop takes quite a bit of time to drive. The problem is that as it gets darker, it is really hard to see (not just hard to see the animals that you want to see...but also a little harrowing to drive -- the roads are not lit, they curve around quite a bit, and you don%26#39;t want to hit any wildlife! We tried to drive a bit of the wildlife loop after the chuckwagon dinner. We did not finish the loop, but turned around early as we didn%26#39;t want to get to far and ebe in the darkness.

You will see (hopefully) lots of wildlife on your way out to the chuckwagon dinner. You can do the Wildlife loop after the dinner, but I wouldn%26#39;t count on finishing it.

Hope this helps,

Kelly

after chuckwagon dinner-do wildlife loop?

I highly recommend doing Custer State Park in the morning to early afternoon hours. After dark, as stated above it gets tough and you don%26#39;t want to do the Iron Mountain Road or Needles in the dark (but they are definetely worth doing). When we rode motorcycles through Custer State Park we got off for ice tea and again amongst the buffalo; it was great! The chuckwagon dinner is maybe the last thing in the evening you want to do.

I agree with those that say to do the loop first. We did this last summer, and really had fun driving the loop. Be sure and find the beggin%26#39; burros - your kids will love them as they%26#39;ll stick their heads right in your window. You can spend a couple of hours at least driving this, so don%26#39;t wait until dark!

Echoing everyone else, do the loop before the cookout. Last time we were there, we stayed in the park at Legion Lake but went to Mount Rushmore for the night lighting. Left our cabin around dusk, and driving was kind of scary-lots and lots of deer darting about at that time. Coming back into the park at dark was even scarier trying to navigate Needles in the dark.

We%26#39;ve always done the loop in the middle of the day and have still seen so much wildlife-buffalo, pronghorns, goats (sheep?), deer, and of course, the awesome pan-handling burros.