Family Nature Summits: Black Hills Summit

6.3 mile, 1300 foot total climb "strenuous minus"; one-way hike; 42 min. drive each way.

This gem of a route is simply the most lake and rock spire scenery one can pack into a hike. Not to be missed.** To make it more accessible & enjoyable, we will self-select into two groups. The group feeling a bit less fit will start from Cathedral Spires Trailhead, nicely providing an afternoon option for doing as little or as much of the Sylvan Lake & Sunday Gulch loops as desired. The other half will start on those loops and will have no options to skip anything in the afternoon. Your group may (or may not) switch leaders when you pass each other a bit before lunch.

**If not up for 1300 feet of climb(!), please choose, for much of the same scenery, the half-day (morning only) Cathedral Spires Moderate Hike, or one of the shorter, easier Summit rambles at the iconic, dramatic Sylvan Lake.  This hike duplicates much of the Black Elk Peak hikes; doing both is not recommended.

4.0 mile, 450 foot total climb "moderate" loop hike; no drive.

What's special about this route is that nobody else will be there.  That could improve our wildlife spotting chances, even in the heat of midday.  Scouting this hike included a close encounter with elk & plenty of bison evidence.  Instead of a peak, waterfall, lake, or rock spire, this hike gets to a "park".  In this part of the country, a "park" is a high altitude meadow, a large open area, & relatively less steep.

We'll get some decent views and see up close the "bomb-like" downed tree devastation from the 90mph winds of the Dec. 2025 Black Hills wind event of the century. We'll be off trail 1/4 of the time, in some rocky areas with awkward footing, stepping over many fallen trees, but the poison ivy omnipresent elsewhere is absent here. This area has rebounded slowly but nicely from the big 1988 Galena Fire.

4.2 mile, 800-foot total climb "vigorous plus" out & back hike; 47 min. drive each way.

About ¾ of this hike overlaps with the Black Elk and Cathedral Spires/Sunday Gulch hikes.  What's unique is a steep granite slab scramble to the top for the Black Hill's 2nd best view, at 6,870 feet above sea level.  It's as close to the "incredible rock spires" as possible, hiking through quaking aspen country on the way to and from.  If you conclude that the rock formations & "look like huge pancakes turned on edge and stuck in the ground, " you'll get no argument.

At the top, after this Summit's steepest (but short) rock scramble, we'll be rewarded with panoramic views of the Cathedral Spires, Black Elk Peak, and much of the Black Hills.