Highpoint #36: South Dakota

Vanity Shot at Harney Peak Lookout Tower

Being able to visit the highpoint of Nebraska at the break of dawn, set me up with plenty of time for my next highpoint of the day:  Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota.  Just as well too, as this one was going to entail 7 miles of hiking in the Black Hills.  Thankfully the weather more than cooperated; I was in for a beautiful day. 

The drive up was peaceful and relaxing.  I was off the interstates for a change and was just making my way up through eastern Wyoming following the Can-Am highway for a good part of the morning.  Mostly quiet prairie land and clear skies along this stretch, but as I neared South Dakota, the road was taken over by long distance cyclists and their supported SAG wagon.  What a beautiful place for a long, uninterrupted bike ride.  They were obviously heading for Mt. Rushmore, as was I once I managed my hike up Harney Peak. 

Now Entering the Scenic Portion of South Dakota

After entering South Dakota, it was not long before I found myself in the Black Hills National Forest and finally Custer State Park.  Price of admission was pretty steep, $15 compared to only $11 for the considerably more famous Mount Rushmore memorial.  In fairness, the admission fee entitled me to all the hiking, fishing (license additional), Jeep rides, and camping I could muster, but, in truth, I was only visiting for a few hours to take a hike.  I asked where the trailhead was, and the gentleman at the gate kindly directed me to Sylvan Lake and explained that I could find the trailhead from the back of the parking lot.  The lake, considered the crown jewel of the park, was beautiful and attracted many visitors, for good reason.  I parked, quickly gathered my daypack together and was off for the mountains!

Trailhead for Trail #4  (Sylvan Lake)

Apparently there are two trailheads for Harney Peak from this corner of the park.  One has the choice of either following Trail #9 or Trail #4.  The first one is the most commonly used trail and the shorter of the two.  Not knowing any of this, I ended up on the second trail.  I certainly do not mind a little extra walking in exchange for less people, so I think I fared well. 

Typical View on the Early Portion of the Hike

Local Flora and Fauna

Trail #4 is a little odd though.  After a few rolling hills through some logging areas, it dumps you out after a half mile into another parking lot at another trailhead (the Little Devils Tower trailhead).  You are still following Trail #4, but it is disconcerting to interrupt the nature hike with a parking lot.  After this point, the trail becomes more dramatic.  Granite peaks abound, and one winds up with a fairly nice view of the Cathedral Spires, which were originally proposed as the site for Mt. Rushmore.   

Fantastic Rock Formations

The trail ends at the entrance to the Black Elk Wilderness where they have a kiosk set up to fill out registration forms.  I filled out the required information, including the number in my party and intended destination, left a copy in the lockbox and took a copy along with me.  Failure to do so is subject to a $100 fine – yikes!  I was now following Norbeck Trail #3, which would lead me to the aforementioned Trail #9 for the last stretch to the summit.  This seemed a little too complicated for a modest hike, but so be it. 

Registration Required Beyond this Point

In the Wilderness Now!

Now the rolling hills were giving way to sustained climbing.  The bulk of the elevation gain for the hike is in the final lead up to the summit.  Rather than employing switchbacks, the trail simply became steeper, and, then oddly, staircase-like.  

Gaining Elevation

Final Stretch

Indeed, careful placement of rocks and flattened stone sequentially each one higher than the one previous, made for a staircase to heaven, so to speak.  This led ultimately to a few granite columns just shy of the Harney Peak lookout tower.  At this point, the stone staircase gave way to actual metal staircases designed to bridge the gaps. 

Aided Climb

Obviously, South Dakota is not exactly home to rock climbing purists who would choose not to deface the rock formations in this way.  This point is even better exemplified, of course, with the purposeful destruction of rock in order to create Mt. Rushmore.  Incidentally, one can freely rock climb on the backside of Mt. Rushmore, and bolting is allowed there.  With that said though, the incorporation of man-made staircases certainly made the peak accessible to many more people, allowing for a special place to be enjoyed by a much broader class of visitors to the park. 

Finally Made it to the Harney Peak Lookout Tower

7242' -- Highest Point East of the Rocky Mountains!

After the staircases, I was before the Harney Peak Lookout tower and was afforded my first great view of the surrounding wilderness punctuated with curious rock formations for quite some distance. 

Great View of the Badlands

Inside the tower, one can continue upstairs to a platform to garner views of the area from several directions via open-air windows in the tower. 

View of the True Summit from the Top of the Lookout Tower

What is interesting is that many visitors think that tower is the highest natural point.  In fact, it is a lookout tower, which I took to mean that it looks out over the peak.  It is great for views, but it is obviously man-made.  The true Harney Peak still lied beyond.  I descended the steps from the viewing platform and then another set of steps to the outside of the tower. 

Narrow Staircase in Lookout Tower

Looking Back to the Lookout Tower

I could see in the distance some people scrambling over rocks trying to reach a stone plateau.  I descended a stone staircase, and did some hands-on scrambling over large rocks slowly making up the elevation I just lost with the steps.  I found two USGS directional markers, both of which pointed to the true summit of Harney Peak and neither of which pointed to the lookout tower.

USGS Directional Marker #1

USGS Directional Marker #2

Following the arrows, I arrived at the USGS benchmark marker as evidenced by the triangle in middle of the marker.  This was the highest point in South Dakota – yay!    

USGS Benchmark Marker for Harney Peak  (The True Highpoint)

I enjoyed the surroundings for a while, asked for a photo, and then slowly scrambled back to the tower and made my way down the hiking trail.  

Vanity Shot at the True Summit

Not being sure where Trail #9 ended, I just followed the same path back that I took on the way in.  I was pretty tempted to do some side-hikes, but I was getting hungry and I still had to make my way to Mt. Rushmore for a proper visit. 

A Required Stop, Post-Hike

Even after a visit to Mt. Rushmore, it was still early afternoon.  Could I push on to North Dakota and knock out three state highpoints in the same day?  Let’s see…