Black Elk Peak
Mountain Peak · Custer, South Dakota
At 7,244 feet, the highest natural point in South Dakota and in the Black Hills, crowned by a stone fire lookout built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938 that you can walk into. It was renamed from Harney Peak in 2016 for the Oglala Lakota holy man Heȟáka Sápa, Black Elk, who described a vision received on this mountain as a boy. It remains a sacred place, and people come here to pray as well as to hike.
1019 North 5th Street, Custer, South Dakota, 57730, United States
FREE and open year round, dawn to dusk, in the Black Elk Wilderness within Black Hills National Forest. ⚠ THE MOST POPULAR TRAILHEAD IS AT SYLVAN LAKE, INSIDE CUSTER STATE PARK, WHICH MEANS A STATE PARK ENTRANCE LICENCE IS REQUIRED TO PARK THERE - the peak is free, the parking is not. Trailheads outside the park are free. Winter access depends on snow and the road up. ⚠ THE ADMINISTRATIVE ADDRESS IS THE BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST HEADQUARTERS IN CUSTER, not the trailhead.