Visit Badlands National Park, go hiking in Custer State Park, visit Wind Cave National Park, and learn how to visit Mount Rushmore. PLACES TO GO IN SOUTH DAKOTA: Here are 15 great things to do near Rapid City, South Dakota. I don’t have hiking stats for this, since we did not hike Trail #9, but if you do this and want to share your experience, you can do so in our comment section below.ĭoesn’t this look like the best hike in Custer State Park? If you have any questions about this hike, or if you want to share your experience, let us know in the comment section below. Return to Sylvan Lake on Black Elk Peak Trail #9. You could do one big loop, hiking Trail #4 to Little Devils Tower and Cathedral Spires, then continue to Black Elk Peak. Adding all of this up, the hike Black Elk Peak + Little Devils Tower + Cathedral Spires is 9 mile round-trip hike. The spur trail to the Cathedral Spires adds 1.2 miles round trip. The spur trail to Little Devils Tower adds 0.8 miles round trip. Both are a very similar distance, but if you want to add on Little Devils Tower and/or Cathedral Spires, you must take Trail #4. Two trails lead to Black Elk Peak from this trailhead: Black Elk Peak Trail #4 and Black Elk Peak Trail #9. Starting at Sylvan Lake, the round-trip hike to Black Elk Peak, without adding on Cathedral Spires or Little Devils Tower, is 7 miles. The disadvantage of starting here is that the hike will be slightly longer. The advantages of starting here are more parking and the chance to use the restroom before and/or after the hike. You can also hike this loop from Sylvan Lake. However, you can hike to this peak, plus Little Devils Tower and Cathedral Spires for a total of 8 miles from the Cathedral Spires trailhead (the loop described in this post). The shortest route to Black Elk Peak is from Sylvan Lake, with a total distance of 7 miles. From here, you can see Cathedral Spires, Little Devils Tower, Wind Cave National Park, out over the Badlands, and on a clear day, the neighboring state of Wyoming. The view from Black Elk Peak is spectacular. Sitting on top of Black Elk Peak is Harney Peak Fire Lookout Tower, a building that is now listed in the National Historic Register of Historic Places. From the peak of Little Devils Tower, you are treated to panoramic views over Custer State Park.īlack Elk Peak: Black Elk Peak is the highest point east of the Rockies. The top part of the climb features rock scrambling in several places. Little Devils Tower: This hike is the most thrilling on the list. From the Cathedral Spires trailhead, this hike is 1.6 miles round trip with just under 500 feet of elevation gain. This is where you get to see spires of granite rock, aka, the Cathedral Spires. Note: These hikes, including the loop trail we describe, can be started at either the Cathedral Spires Trailhead or Sylvan Lake.Ĭathedral Spires: This short, sweet, somewhat strenuous hike takes you through a wide canyon. Combining these three trails into one hike is one of best things to do in Custer State Park if you are an avid hiker. Since they are all located near one another and share the same trailheads, it’s very easy to combine them into one hike. This hike combines three different trails into one. Overall a fun hike and a great way to end our journey to the western Great Plains and TR’s conservation legacy.Please practice the seven principles of Leave No Trace: plan ahead, stay on the trail, pack out what you bring to the hiking trail, properly dispose of waste, leave areas as you found them, minimize campfire impacts, be considerate of other hikers, and do not approach or feed wildlife. High, milky clouds played havoc with photos for much of the day – but relented for a few shots in the morning and from the summit. Of the two trails, we enjoyed the #4 the most because it was less rocky and traversed more varied terrain (especially the needle-like rock formations). After swarming us at the lookout, this mass of hikers mysteriously evaporated as soon as we were descending on the #9. But once we were on the trail we were pretty much alone until we got near the summit – at which point a whole lot of hikers materialized on the trail. We started from the #4’s trailhead at Sylvan Lake which was an amazingly popular (and crowded) place even on a weekday. This time we opted to do a loop to the stone lookout on the summit up the Little Devils Tower #4 Trail and down the Black Elk Peak Trail #9. Although not directly part of Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy, we included it in our roadtrip because it offered a good hike, one we’d done before in 2003 (during our highpointer days). It sits in the Black Elk Wilderness west of Rapid City, South Dakota. Black Elk Peak (its name was changed from Harney Peak in 2016) is the highest natural point in South Dakota.
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