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Black Elk Peak
- Easiest route
- 4.5 km+356 m · about 1.5 h · T2
- Prominence
- 891 m2,922 ft
- Tonight
- 33°FPartly cloudy · Wind 16–29 mph W
Black Elk Peak is a 2,208 m (7,244 ft) mountain in the Black Hills, South Dakota, United States.
All facts
- Elevation
- 2,208 m · 7,244 ft
- Range
- Black Hills
- Region
- South Dakota, United States
- Protected area
- Black Hills National Forest
- Coordinates
- 43.8660° N, 103.5312° W
How to get to the top of Black Elk Peak
3 mapped walking routes from where a car can get you, with distance and climb from the terrain model.
Easiest route: from Cathedral Spires Trailhead (trailhead)
- Distance
- 4.5 kmone way
- Climb
- +356 m−58 m (1,168 ft up)
- Time up
- about 1.5 h
- Difficulty
- T2Mountain trail, sure footing needed
Other routes 2
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL. Climb from the terrain model. Trails change and maps miss things: check conditions locally.
Black Elk Peak 3D map
Drag to orbit · click, then scroll to zoom (or Ctrl/⌘ + scroll) · One finger scrolls the page · two fingers orbit and zoom · 7.6 × 7.6 km
Black Elk Peak terrain and contours
25 m contours from the USGS 3DEP 10 m terrain model. The route drawn is the easiest mapped one, from Cathedral Spires Trailhead. Click two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.Tap two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.
West → east through the summit
Black Elk Peak weather
Tonight · Partly cloudy · 33°F (1°C) · 9% chance of precipitation · Wind 16–29 mph W
Black Elk Peak forecast for the summit, about 1,874 m.
- Tonight33°9%16–29 mph W
- Sat29°44°10%3–18 mph N
- Sun28°34°34%5 mph E
- Mon28°35°50%3 mph E
- Tue34°50°15%8 mph SW
- Wed29°47°8%3–13 mph W
- Thu30°47°10%3 mph S
Forecast data: NOAA National Weather Service, public domain, model run Oct 24, 00:16 UTC.
Camping & parking near Black Elk Peak
Campsites, parking, trailheads and mountain huts mapped in OpenStreetMap around Black Elk Peak, nearest first, by straight-line distance. Check access, fees and permits locally.
Nearest parking
2.7 km S
Nearest trailhead
Cathedral Spires Trailhead
Nearest campsite
Willow Creek Horse Camp
Nearest hut
3.6 km SW
Nearest caravan site
Mount Rushmore KOA Resort at Palmer Gulch Resort
All mapped places 13
| Place | Distance |
|---|---|
| Parking | 2.7 km S |
| Parking | 2.7 km S |
| Parking | 2.7 km S |
| Cathedral Spires TrailheadTrailhead | 2.7 km S |
| Willow Creek Horse CampCampsite | 3.4 km N |
| Sylvan Lake CampgroundCampsite | 3.6 km SW |
| Hut | 3.6 km SW |
| Hut | 3.7 km SW |
| Hut | 3.7 km SW |
| Mount Rushmore KOA Resort at Palmer Gulch ResortCaravan site | 4.3 km N |
| Horse Thief Campground & ResortCampsite | 4.4 km W |
| Black Hills Trailside Park ResortCaravan site | 7.5 km NNW |
| Caravan site | 7.9 km NNW |
How steep is the route to Black Elk Peak?
The easiest mapped route, 4.5 km from 1,899 m to 2,208 m. Steepest stretch: 33°.
- 0–15°4.4 km
- 15–30°0.1 km
Grades are averaged between profile points about 50 m apart, so short steeper steps don’t show.
Land cover
ESA WorldCover 10 m classification of the same area.
Snow & ice means glaciers and year-round snow (a yearly average), not today’s snow cover.
Wildlife seen nearby
Sightings of the most-seen species on iNaturalist (research grade) within 3.8 km; 525 species recorded in all.
Sightings per species 6
- Fireweed232
- Least Chipmunk163
- Richardson's geranium125
- Wood Lily118
- Bearberry116
- Woodland pinedrops110
Where Black Elk Peak sits
- Region
- South Dakota6United States932North America1,313
Ranked in 1
Nearby places
Sylvan Lake1,873 m↑3.4 km SW
Spearfish Canyon↑73 km NNW
Lake Oahe502 m↑259 km ENE
Hole-in-the-WallPass↑268 km W
More in the Rocky Mountains 6
Black Elk Peak downloads: topographic map, heightmap, STL 3D model and DEM
Free files made in your browser from this page's terrain data. No sign-up; credit the sources below.
Print & wall
3D printing & 3D apps
Free to use with credit: see the data sources
How accurate is this?
within 10 m This 3D map reads 2,203 m at the summit; the official height is 2,208 m.
A 10 m terrain model averages each cell, so a few metres either way is normal.
| Source | Summit | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Official height (Wikidata) | 2,208 m | — |
| USGS 3DEP lidar | 2,206 m | -2 m |
| USGS 3DEP 10 m (used on this page) | 2,203 m | -5 m |
| Copernicus GLO-30 | 2,193 m | -15 m |
| Copernicus GLO-90 | 2,180 m | -28 m |
Data sources
- Terrain
- U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program (public domain)
- Imagery
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026 (scene 2026-09-09)
- Land cover
- © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium
- Facts
- Wikidata (CC0)
- Routes, Camping & parking
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
- Summits
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overture Maps Foundation (ODbL)
- Protected area
- USGS Gap Analysis Project, PAD-US (public domain)
- Wildlife
- iNaturalist community observations, counts only
- Accuracy comparison
- Includes Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Accuracy comparison
- Includes Copernicus WorldDEM-90 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Forecast
- Weather forecast from NOAA National Weather Service (public domain)
- Sources
- Wikidata · OpenStreetMap · GeoNames · Wikipedia