Black Elk Peak

Harney Peak is the highest peak in South Dakota.
It is also the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.
Harney Peak is located within the Black Elk Wilderness area within Black Hills National Forest.
The summit can be reached by following the trails either from Sylvan Lake, Camp Remington, Highway 244, Palmer Creek Road, Mount Rushmore, or Horse Thief Lake.
An abandoned fire lookout tower is on the summit.

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"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

"Hiked it solo. Not a difficult hike. The summit was shrouded in clouds so there was no view unfortunately, but still very cool. There was a US Forest Service crew doing some renovation work on the lookout tower, and a local Fox TV station reporting crew arrived just as I started to head down. They did a piece on the renovation work. Was distressed to see the large stands of pine trees killed by mountain pine beetle; it is an epidemic." — jefff • Sep 9, 2015

"Doug and I stopped to hike Harney Peak on our drive from Las Vegas to Winnipeg Canada. Beautiful weather, but it was the weekend of Sturgis... which meant it was crazy busy and we heard bikes roaring down the road nearby for at least the first third of the hike. Incredible wild raspberries everywhere! Fun little peak!" — Brenda • Aug 6, 2015

"Awesome hike! Found the marker a little bit away from the lookout tower- forgot sunblock-- I don't think I have ever been more sunburnt in my life-- lol-- only bad thing about the day!! Great place to explore!! :)" — Dana-Elizabeth • May 16, 2015

"Did this one pretty hungover, I don't recommend you do that. Very popular hike in the Black Hills of SD. It was my second state high point in two days! (ND being the other, haha)" — D-Cap • Sep 21, 2013

"Parked in the Sylvan Lake Parking lot and took trial #9 to the summit. Trail #4 was closed because of a recent wild fire. Made sure to to the short scamble from the lookout tower to the benchmark to make it official (this was my favorite part of the hike). 7 mile hike took about 3 and a half hours and we spent plenty of time on top. Also, I took 4 bottles of water which was overkill on 60-70 degree day. Still would recommend that much if it was warmer out. Had a beautiful sunset on the hike down and was in the parking lot around 8pm. 11/50 state highpoints done!" — hollis83 • Jul 26, 2013

"The hottest day on record down in Rapid City but the summit temps were milder and it was breezy so the hike was pretty descent. 6 miles round trip, 2 1/4 hours, on trail #9 from Sylvan Lake. " — StoneMan • Jun 4, 2012

"Had a great hike. My only complaint was that it was the first day of Sturgis, and we could hear motorcycles even at the summit. We were also buzzed a couple of times by a tour helicopter with a Harley Davidson logo on it! Here's a more detailed trip report with photos: http://rockymountainhikingtrails.blogspot.com/2012/11/harleys-helis-and-harney-peak.html " — SmokyMountainHiker • Aug 5, 2011

"Saw a mountain goat atop! Not a terribly difficult endeavour. I had only climbed a difficulty 4 (Katahdin) and difficulty 1's (Jerimoth,Hoosier); so I was a bit concerned with Harney...but it was fine." — KhartDougie23 • Jul 1, 2010

"After circling around the parking lot to get the last parking place, then parking back where some people had saved a place for them, we prepared for the grueling hike ahead. We took the Cathedral Spires trail up from Sylvan Lake. The weather was clear and hot, about 90 degrees. The trail was beautiful with lots of tall grass that somehow remains weed-free. We stopped at Cathedral Spires and walked/climbed out to the rocks, finding a geocache there. The grass was very tall and almost felt like a river. R & M enjoyed going out to a sheer dropoff that was a little too hard for W to access, so W just watched as his nimble teenagers clambered up and down heart-attack inducing sheer cliffs. W took a few pictures as Renny made some titanic leaps across a vast chasm, all the while trying to quell his anxiety for R’s safety. Meanwhile N continued ahead, as she knew that M and R would be racing up the trail, leaving old W in the dust. After reaching the peak, we relaxed with delicious sandwiches that N had graciously made in the morning. Kids teased the copious chipmunks with little sandwich tidbits. Chipmunks apparently do not like pickles. The 360 degree view from Harney was outstand..." — wbrouhaha • Jul 27, 2008

"At midnight on July 1, 1991, 5 climbers, Pete Allard, Jim Grace, Shaun Lacher, David Sandway and myself, Dennis Stewart, took their first step off the summit of Mount Rainier and began a climbing marathon to reach the highest point in each of the 48 contiguous states in one calendar month. During the month of July in 1991, the team hiked over 250 miles, climbed over 14 vertical miles and drove over 14,000 miles. Their total time (summit to summit) was 30 days, 10 hours and 52 minutes. All 5 members of the climbing team reached every summit during the month long expedition. Harney Peak was the 39th peak climbed on this record breaking trip, which got the team recognition in Guinness Book of Records." — Stewy • Jul 19, 1991