Black Elk Peak
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 11:49 am
June 15, 2020
While on my road trip I headed south to the land of the advertising campaign "Meth. We're On It", better known as South Dakota. Formerly known as Harney Peak, the highest point in the state was renamed Black Elk in 2016 by the feds, after the state had researched and decided to keep the original name. It's located near Mt Rushmore, so I also had the opportunity to drive past that landmark - I thought it was pretty small, so I'm glad I didn't pay the $10 parking fee and just took a picture from the roadside. Speaking of parking fees, the standard route up Black Elk is 3.5 miles via Sylvan Lake which is in Custer State Park and charges $20 for admission. (!!) Cheapskate that I am, I found a different route which promised a 10-mile round trip starting from Willow Creek in Black Hills National Forest.
Arriving after a four hour drive, I managed to hit the up-and-down trail #8 around 0930 and followed horse shit for a while to the junction with trail #9, which leads to the summit. From there it was plenty of sweat and uphill in the sun, as the sparse forest trees weren't providing much shade. I was also getting hungry, but I figured no problem because I had a granola bar in my pack and I could eat when I took a break. After a long downhill section to cross a tiny creek I sat down away from the mosquitos and learned that my pack was devoid of food except for a few Lifesavers (sadly not Butter Rum). Dang. Fortunately I had tossed in a water bottle before leaving, because as I was nearing the peak I began to pull bubbles out of the drink tube on my back. Double dang. The views from the top were great, although the lack of food had me pretty whipped and I didn't feel like exploring too much. After a short rest I headed back down, dreading the uphill sections that I knew were common. I stopped at that little stream again and grabbed some water, it was so shallow that I could only get about four ounces at a time into my short Nalgene. A few of those were refreshing, since it was nice and cold! I dumped about 16 ounces into the Camelbak and set off once again - when I reached the #8/#9 junction I decided to go the other way, since trail #8 makes a loop and I didn't want the uphill parts that I saw earlier in the day. I learned the hard way that my route was over a half-mile longer and when I crossed some streams I noticed they were pretty cloudy, meaning so was the water I was drinking. Oh well, fun is fun and done is done. I finally got back around 4:00pm and sat down to devour a Snickers and some regular food along with clean water. After that it was just another few hours of driving to find a place to sleep.
Total for the hike: 12 miles, 2680 elevation gain.
Starting up the trail in sunny forest lands.
Since it's June the meadows were amazing.
Wilderness. Not the peak ahead, had to go around that and then down canyon first.
Looking back at that same group of rocks.
First view of the building on the summit.
Getting closer. Around here I was cursing the GPS since I was past the five mile mark and should have been on the summit already.
Around the corner is the junction with the Sylvan Lake trail and a short spur to the summit. Views forever.
Another look down at the first group of rocks with some trail visible in the foreground.
Way too tired to pose here.
AllTrails rendition of my day.
While on my road trip I headed south to the land of the advertising campaign "Meth. We're On It", better known as South Dakota. Formerly known as Harney Peak, the highest point in the state was renamed Black Elk in 2016 by the feds, after the state had researched and decided to keep the original name. It's located near Mt Rushmore, so I also had the opportunity to drive past that landmark - I thought it was pretty small, so I'm glad I didn't pay the $10 parking fee and just took a picture from the roadside. Speaking of parking fees, the standard route up Black Elk is 3.5 miles via Sylvan Lake which is in Custer State Park and charges $20 for admission. (!!) Cheapskate that I am, I found a different route which promised a 10-mile round trip starting from Willow Creek in Black Hills National Forest.
Arriving after a four hour drive, I managed to hit the up-and-down trail #8 around 0930 and followed horse shit for a while to the junction with trail #9, which leads to the summit. From there it was plenty of sweat and uphill in the sun, as the sparse forest trees weren't providing much shade. I was also getting hungry, but I figured no problem because I had a granola bar in my pack and I could eat when I took a break. After a long downhill section to cross a tiny creek I sat down away from the mosquitos and learned that my pack was devoid of food except for a few Lifesavers (sadly not Butter Rum). Dang. Fortunately I had tossed in a water bottle before leaving, because as I was nearing the peak I began to pull bubbles out of the drink tube on my back. Double dang. The views from the top were great, although the lack of food had me pretty whipped and I didn't feel like exploring too much. After a short rest I headed back down, dreading the uphill sections that I knew were common. I stopped at that little stream again and grabbed some water, it was so shallow that I could only get about four ounces at a time into my short Nalgene. A few of those were refreshing, since it was nice and cold! I dumped about 16 ounces into the Camelbak and set off once again - when I reached the #8/#9 junction I decided to go the other way, since trail #8 makes a loop and I didn't want the uphill parts that I saw earlier in the day. I learned the hard way that my route was over a half-mile longer and when I crossed some streams I noticed they were pretty cloudy, meaning so was the water I was drinking. Oh well, fun is fun and done is done. I finally got back around 4:00pm and sat down to devour a Snickers and some regular food along with clean water. After that it was just another few hours of driving to find a place to sleep.
Total for the hike: 12 miles, 2680 elevation gain.