Family Nature Summits: Black Hills Summit

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.