I love checking out old fire towers. Typically they require you to hike to them, however, you can drive to the Mount Coolidge Fire Tower. Just be careful driving the long, bending, and narrow road to get to it! In fact, on many other sites, they call it a drive on a terrifying road. It is a narrow road with sharp (blind) turns with sharp drop-offs on one side. So, it is important to go slow and watch for oncoming traffic!
Once you have reached the top, you find yourself surrounded by breathtaking views.
Mount Coolidge Fire Tower History
Complete in the 1930’s and built from local stone, it sits upon a 6,023-foot peak and still used today as a fire tower and dispatch center.
Beware!
As I stated about, you will find yourself on a 1.7 mile very narrow and blind curve gravel road. Motorhomes, large vehicles, buses, etc… should NOT travel this road! Go slow and watch for approaching traffic!
Getting There
Mount Coolidge Fire Tower and Lookout is located in Custer State Park, 3 miles south of Hwy 16A on SD 87. Watch for the gravel road turnoff for the tower on SD 87!
Tips!
It is only open during the daylight hours (typically 9am-5pm) during the summer.
On a clear day, you can see the Badlands; 60 miles away!
Drive slowly! I know I already said it multiple times above, but I cannot stress this enough! It is a popular spot and you can’t see oncoming traffic around the curves.
Bring your camera! The views are amazing and there are a lot of photo ops! Make sure to take a panorama if you are completing items from the Ultimate Black Hills Bucket List!
how long did this drive take? an hour or so or longer? trying to set up an itinerary!
The drive from the main road did not take long (maybe 10 minutes if memory serves me correctly). I would definitely plan on an hour to allow for drive time and exploring once you reach the top.
We did drive this just last week of 9/16/24. It was very dry and loose gravel. Take heed of the warnings. There has been some washout and the road outside surface actually dips DOWN towards the cliff. It is NOT wide enough for two full size vehicles at a lot of spots as said. I had a Jeep GC and meeting a pickup was atrocious. Unfortunately, people don’t go down it with caution. If you get hit by someone coming down – you will go over the cliff. A pickup hogging the center coming down almost hit us, made the wife scream pretty good. I have driven other mountain roads out west but this road needs serious consideration. The blind curve near the top is quite something. The views are spectacular – don’t make it the last pictures on your camera. Be considerate and drive as close to the inside edge as possible for others when going down.