Black Elk Peak

Custer South Dakota is a great jumping off point for many spectacular parks and historic sites around the Black Hills. This visit was primarily for the Balloon Festival in Hot Springs, but we made some time for some extra adventures while we were here.

Last time we visited the National Parks, Wind Cave National Park, and Jewel Cave National Monument……this time we headed for Custer State Park.

Custer State Park and Wind Cave NP butt right up against each other, both have those extraordinary distinctive Black Hills landscape and bison herds roaming free.

The 7 day pass for Custer state park is a mega bargain at $20…… and the top recommended hike for the park is the trail up to Black Elk Peak. (the highest point in South Dakota with a fire lookout built on top) too good an opportunity to miss and an excellent reason for a day out….. 😁.

The trail head is at Sylvan Lake and was not immediately obvious, there were a few people milling around trying to figure it out same as us…….but eventually we found the signs…

Here in the Black Hills the landscape is like some fake Styrofoam film set for a 1960’s Star Trek shoot…….except this stuff is real…..lol…

It was a hot day…so we were well prepped with lots of extra water…

Part way up there is a side trail to Little Devils Tower……well why not….!!!!!

It’s not far (when you look at the map…!!!)…but then you get to this little baby. A fissure in the rocks that you have to climb up…….

It looked worse than it was…..ironically…..when you are crammed in between two rock walls it dramatically reduces any sense that you might fall….!!!

The next bit looks easier than it is…..I clambered part way, then could not make myself go any further…….so I stopped here for some water and a snack…Scott continued on up….(Editor. My protestations, come on it’s for the blog, were completely ineffective)

The intrepid blogtographer, dedicated to his craft…LOL…….

….and took some pretty spectacular pictures whilst calling to me how easy it was to get up there ( not buying….!!)

The previous picture (above left) is of the Cathedral spires……you can’t actually make it out on the picture…..but there were tiny little ant sized climbers on top of the spires…..amazing….

….and then he reappeared……triumphantly…..!!!

…and then it was time to go back down that crevice…..

back on the regular trail to the fire lookout……we met lots of folks walking the loop in the opposite direction to us. Interestingly….I think it’s the first time we have done such a popular hike where every person we met was appropriately dressed for the hike….and carrying water.

It was a fairly gentle hike to this point…other than the bit of rock climbing at Little Devils Tower

This area has a generous dusting of mica flakes from the rock formations glistening in the sand causing parts of the trail to look almost wet…or siliconised with the amount of now powdered mica through the sand…….it was impossible to photograph…so if you want to see it….you’ll have to go there….

At this point the trail started to climb…seriously climb…

The Black Hills is an area which has seen more than its fair share of settler/native conflict. Much sadness has happened around these places.

…and …did I mention that it was hot. The last part of the trail separates for the cheaters on horseback…..

…and then…at the top…access to the fire lookout is carved from the rock of the peak.

This is the highest point in the USA outside of the Rockies.

It’s one of those ‘top of the world’ places….the view is outstanding.

Mount Rushmore is just around the corner……we were pretty sure we were looking at the backside of it

Harney Peak was originally named for a US general, despite some of his conduct during his time in the army. After 50 plus years of campaigning to have the name changed and restored to its indigenous name ( Hinhan Kaga)…..in 2016 the Federal US Board on Geographic Names voted to rename it as Black Elk Peak , after Nicholas Black Elk.….a distinguished medicine man/shaman.

It’s easy to see why this was such a sacred land for the indigenous peoples.

We lingered for quite while here…….drinking it in.

Then the journey down and around the other half of the loop

By this time, we were pretty tired. That last part was a hard climb on a hot day.

Extra pix