"My first 7ker and State High Point summit ever as me and my friends climbed up Black Elk Peak. From the summit and lookout tower we could only see 3 miles out because of the canadian wildfire smoke. Roundtrip was 7 miles, 4 hours 45 minutes. The Black Elk Peak Trail aka Trail 9 is mostly easy but moderate at the end. Be careful walking over loose rocks, slippery rocks, or logs other than that it's a great hike overall." — timothywittrock1 • May 18, 2023

"Very hungover hike with Danny from Sylvan Lake. We opted for the loop. Lots of people out hiking Black Elk. Trails were easy to navigate. It was a very hot an humid day. We were happy to get back to the car when we were done. " — LGH-Tom • Aug 3, 2022

"It was 42 degrees when I started. I expected rain, so I packed my rain gear- just in case. I made it up to the summit in just under two hours taking trail #9. The tread was good with few rocks as I'm used to. The work that went into making the tower on the summit is really incredible. Anyway, I had the summit for about 10 minutes before a group of kids appeared. One of them immediately put his empty water bottle on the wall and watched it blow away. I decided to loop around on trails #3 and #4 instead of going back down #9. Soon it started to rain. Then the rain turned to snow. Fortunately I was prepared so it wasn't that bad, although it was pretty windy. " — Hillary • May 22, 2017

"Left the Sylvan Lake Lodge at 6am......made it to the top at 9am.....awesome weather, great views and a real blast climbing over rocks to get to the marker......the watchtower was a thrill and met a local named Craig who we had some enjoyable dialogue with......it's on to ND now and our next summit....bye.... Walter & Tracey Oddo" — walteroddo • Sep 27, 2015

"Hiked up to the top with my wife to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was a great hike both up and down. The weather was fabulous and the top was quite cool and really windy. The views were amazing and mind blowing. The skies were clear and the view went on forever. There were four horses with riders at the top and how they did that I'll never know. I would have loved to have seen that happen. I barely made it in several places. I was an interesting assortment of people that made this climb...from the hardcore couple that spent the night on the peak to a lady hiking this difficult trail in flip flops and a sundress. If you are near here take the time and do this peak. You will not be sorry. " — lasttofallthedogs • Sep 17, 2015