"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

"We parked off the fork in road, 1.25 mile from summit, followed trail. 1 hour hike up. Temperature 65F, Low humidity, light breeze, kept the bugs away. Wind picked up, time to leave. Great pine smells up and back" — BadlandsBill • May 6, 2017

"Hiked up on a cold winter day after a fresh snow. It was 8 degrees at the trailhead and made for a very comfortable hike. The trek took four hours and when we got back to the trailhead the temperature was 29 degrees. That's Black Hills weather for you. " — ACDelco • Nov 27, 2015