[Custer State Park / Black Hills National Forest, SD, Jun 20, 2025]

It was going to be another hot day in Custer, so we had to start our day much earlier. With highs forecasted in the 90s, I wanted us to start our 7+ mile hike to the tallest peak in South Dakota as early as possible. We hit our hotel’s breakfast as soon as it opened at 6 am and managed to get out the door at 6:45 a.m.

Our hike to Black Elk Peak was not going to be easy even without the temps. The loop has several steep sections and it starts at nearly 6,000 ft (1,800 m), an altitude that affects almost everyone. Black Elk is the tallest peak east of the Rockies and west of the Pyrenees in Europe.

The loop is a combination of two trails, Black Elk Peak #9 and Black Elk Peak #4 (also known as Little Devils Tower). You can take Black Elk Peak #9 both ways if you want a shorter hike; it shaves off about a mile. If you want more miles and/or to combine things, you can start on Black Elk Peak #4 and take the detour to the Cathedral Spires before continuing on.

The trailhead is at Sylvan Lake, at the very west end of Custer State Park. It was nice to see the lake without all the crowds that would descend on it later.

The views improved as we went on, and we could definitely tell we were near the Cathedral Spires when we reached the junction.

The trail was fairly easy until the last mile, when the ascent really got steep. Between the steepness and the altitude, it was slow-going and tiring.

I could tell we were reaching the summit but I was wondering how we would get on top of the rocks at the peak. Did the trail stop just below? If so, I would have been a little disappointed since I would not technically be at the high point of South Dakota. But, as we got closer, I realized there are some stairs and ladders going up the rocks!

And just after that, we reached the summit and the historic Harney Peak Fire Tower. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built it between 1935 and 1938. They gathered stones from nearby French creek and hauled them themselves or by mule on the 3-mile trail to the summit, now known as Black Elk Peak. The US Forest Service staffed the tower from 1911 till 1965. Custer State Park took over for the two years after that, but then helicopters, airplanes and other fire towers took over.

After some photos and snacks at the summit, we headed back. Since we started on trail #4, we descended on trail #9 to complete the loop. We loved having the shorter side of the loop on the way down. We reached our car just 3.5 hours after we started. It was almost eleven, and the deserted Sylvan Lake from the morning had turned into a complete madhouse. I couldn’t blame people – it was a hot day and being on the lake sounded great! But we didn’t have any energy left for other activities. Instead, we headed back to Custer and enjoyed some much needed coffee and chill time on the back patio of Calamity Jane Coffee.

We spent the afternoon relaxing in out hotel room and waiting for the heat to die down. We grabbed dinner at Mt Rushmore Brewing Company, then headed out to the Crazy Horse Memorial, a Native American monument.

Before reaching the viewing platform for the memorial, we went through a small museum that showcased some amazing Native American Art.

Shawl Dancer by Patty Eckman. Made of paper pulp and paper designed specifically for shaping into sculpture. The shawl dance emerged in the 20th century as a popular feature of pow wow competitions. The dance’s spins and dips show off the colorful work of the shawl and fringe draped over the dancer.

Crazy Horse (c. 1840 – 1877) was one of the most beloved chiefs of the Oglala Lakota. He fought several battles against white settlers, who continuously violated treaties and encroached on more and more of the Black Hills. The memorial, when complete, will depict him riding a horse and pointing to his ancestral lands. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, in the late 1930s as a response to the carving of Mt Rushmore, which the Lakota considered sacred. Henry Standing Bear got one of the sculptors on Mt Rushmore, Korczak Ziolkowski, to work on it. He did so for over 40 years until his death in 1982, after which his wife continued his work until 2014.

Because the work is funded solely from the entrance fees to the memorial, donations and sales from the gift shop, work has been slow. The head was completed and dedicated in 1998. Next was the outstretched arm, which was completed in 2024. The tunnel in the photo below will eventually be the empty space between Crazy Horse’s outstretched arm and his horse.

The memorial is much larger in scale than Mt Rushmore. Crazy Horse’s head alone is 87 ft high, whereas the heads at Mt Rushmore are 60 ft. The horse will be even larger. There is no timeline for completion, but estimates are for the hand, arm, shoulder, hairline, and top of the horse’s head to be finished by 2037.

Although our visit felt anti-climactic at first, we changed our perspective as we meandered through the exhibits and learned more about the project. The progress over the years has been painstakingly documented in pictures and narrative. It is incredible that this work has been sustained for almost 100 years. I would love to come back in a decade or two and see what’s changed. To get up close to the monument, you can participate in one of the organized hikes that take place a couple of times a year, or through a special tour. Maybe I’ll do one of those next time.