Iron Mountain Road is the reason many riders come to the Black Hills, and it was designed to be exactly that kind of road. When South Dakota's governor and later senator Peter Norbeck laid out the route in the 1930s, he insisted that it should be a road to enjoy, not to hurry along, and he personally scouted much of it on foot and horseback. The result is a twisting, turning ribbon of asphalt through ponderosa pine forest, with pigtail bridges, narrow tunnels and constant changes of direction.
The pigtail bridges are the signature: wooden trestle bridges where the road loops over itself in a tight spiral to gain or lose height in a short distance. There are three of them on Iron Mountain Road, and riding them is a unique experience, like going around a corkscrew. The tunnels are even more remarkable. Norbeck had them aligned so that, as you approach from the south, each one frames a view of Mount Rushmore in the distance, with the four presidential faces perfectly centred in the rock opening.
The road runs between Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and it is part of a loop that includes the Needles Highway and the Wildlife Loop Road. The Needles Highway, another of Norbeck's creations, winds through a forest of granite spires and squeezes through tunnels so narrow that large vehicles cannot pass. The Wildlife Loop is famous for its herds of bison, which often block the road, and the begging burros, descendants of pack animals, that wander up to cars looking for treats.
Riding these roads is a pleasure, but it requires care. The speed limits are low, the corners are tight, and the traffic can be heavy in summer, especially during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in early August, when hundreds of thousands of bikes descend on the Black Hills. Watch out for bison, which are large, unpredictable and dangerous, and do not approach them.
There are no services along Iron Mountain Road itself, but Keystone, the touristy town at the foot of Mount Rushmore, is close by and has fuel, food and lodging. Custer, about seventeen kilometres to the southwest, has more services, and Rapid City, about thirty kilometres to the north, is the largest city in the area. A pass is required to enter Custer State Park.