Black Elk Peak & the Iron Mountain Road of South Dakota
Every year, I try to schedule a trip to a national park with Austin. On my bucket list, I have it to visit at least one national park in every state that has a national park. Not all do! And then there are some, like Utah, that have several. So far, we’ve been to Big Bend (Texas), Carlsbad (New Mexico), Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Arches (those three are in Utah), Rocky Mountains (Colorado), and Hot Springs (Arkansas).
This year I chose South Dakota because I have a childhood friend who lives there currently, so I wanted to say hi. He is probably my oldest friend, since middle school. I don't really have a lot of close friends, and even less of those whom I have known for such a long time. Technically, I guess, I am old enough to say that I have known him for over half of my life. I know, I know. Very impressive.
In any case, I was hoping to visit him in addition to hiking all week long. These trips are typically week-long adventures because I would not want to cram that much into any less amount of time. It is also why my international trips will tend to be two week trips (or I try!). Austin and I had a layover in Denver, and then onto Rapid City, where we were given the keys to roam the Dakotas in a rental car!
One of our friends, Brent, had lived in South Dakota, so he had lots of helpful recommendations on places to hike and eat. It was a good thing too, because those two are really the main points I like to focus on when creating an itinerary. Yes, I created an itinerary. I am a very organized traveller. Austin, thank goodness, will leave all of the planning to me. We like mostly all the same things anyway, and in the schedule that I create, there is enough flexibility in case he wants to add anything else on, or if we see something that interests us.
One of the places that Brent recommended to us was the Black Hills National Forest. After having done my research on AllTrails, it was confirmed that most of the top ten hikes in South Dakota were located within the Black Hills National Forest. I was a little surprised because I would have thought that most of those hikes would be located in the national park. Shrugging, we made our way to Custer State Park for the Black Elk Peak Trail. Did you know that the trail has “recently” been renamed from “Harney Peak”? It was originally named after this guy that had led a slaughter against many of the natives in the area, which led to his nickname “woman killer”. Not the kind of name that I would be proud of. In 2016, there was much deliberation which went up to the federal level before finally being changed.
The parking lot was packed to the brim with cars on a Sunday morning. There was also a wedding being held at the park, so probably many cars were there for that. As we made our way to the trailhead, we overheard some hikers saying that they did not know where the Black Elk Peak trailhead was, so I am telling you now! #9. I am not sure why they are labelled with numbers, but it is número 9.
The trail started flat enough, and we were on the trail awhile with a family until I started filming a bit more then they left us behind. Quite far behind, if I am being honest. Austin is a fast walker with long legs. I used to take it personally being “left behind”, but now I focus more on what is around me so that I can film it. It was a longer trail, and I knew that, but I still chose my Tom’s as hiking shoes. Even though they do not have the best traction, they are so comfortable. For maybe 6 miles. And then I can start to feel every speck of dust beneath my feet.
Often in the distance, we would see this tower-looking structure which Austin would repeat how much he wanted to visit the castle. I vehemently kept saying how we were not going there, but guess where we ended up? The castle. There were lots of stairs, but we wound up at the top of what used to be an old lookout tower. There are amazing views to be had, and supposedly one could see South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota. If only I had known that when we were at the top. It was a clear day, so we very well could have seen all of the states, but probably not to the extent that we could identify them. But I probably could using Google Maps. At the very top, no drones were allowed, but thankfully there is a good spot about mid-way up that has a great area for just that use (it seemed like).
So yeah, Black Elk Peak was probably my favourite trail in South Dakota. Both Austin and I really enjoy a hike where we are going to end up somewhere, most of the time it’s a vista, and not just a loop for loop’s sake. So not only was there a beautiful vista at the very top, but there were plenty of places to sit (rocks) and have a lunch or a snack, and enjoy the cool, windy air. There is also a ladder up the lookout tower, to get even higher which was pretty cool.
The hike back to the parking lot was pretty uneventful, but only because we passed up a couple of trails that we would end up doing the next day - Little Devil’s Tower and Cathedral Spires. I was glad to get back to the car because we had sandwich materials! And there were picnic tables around the lake area as well. We did have a casual stroll around the lake, which apparently was the popular thing to do! And there was a good reason why with such beautiful weather. Would absolutely recommend this and other trails in the area in the Black Hills National Forest.
“"It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." – Sir Edmund Hillary
What trails do you know about in South Dakota? Do you have a favourite that we didn’t mention?
