Black Hills and Beyond: Needles Highway and Cathedral Spires/Black Elk Peak Hike

We had some incredible excursions in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and it's safe to say that this was one of our favorite places we've visited since we started RVing. We got to see famous US landmarks, drive roads with scenery that shouldn't even be real, and have some of our best wildlife sightings to date. But there was still one thing we hadn't gotten to do: We wanted to plant our boots on the summit of Black Elk Peak.

Black Elk Peak, formerly known as Harney Peak, is the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Pyrenees in Europe. Its elevation reaches 7242 feet. There are a few trails that lead up to the summit, but we wanted to take the most scenic route, and we're hard pressed to find anywhere in the Black Hills more scenic than the Cathedral Spires. So that became our plan. We would hike the Cathedral Spires trail over to the Black Elk Trail and then make our way up to the top. The out-and-back would begin in Custer State Park and venture into the Black Hills wilderness, and in total it would clock between 7 and 8 miles.

To get to the trailhead, however, would take some maneuvering of our giant beast of a truck. We would need to drive a good portion of the Needles Highway, through the narrowest tunnel, the Needles Eye. We had already taken amazing scenic drives on Iron Mountain Road and the Custer Wildlife Loop, so now we'd be completing our trifecta. We knew we'd be in for some gorgeous views.

We had seen the "needles" from afar. We saw their jagged tips from the Stratobowl Rim:

We saw them as we made our way to the top of Mount Coolidge:

But nothing could have prepared us for the ensorcellment of driving through the spires.

If this was what the drive granted us, we couldn't wait to hike among the formations. We parked at the nearly-empty trailhead lot - the benefit of being early birds trying to hike before it got too hot - and we set out on our slow climb up 1500 feet to the summit of Black Elk Peak, by way of the enchanted rock forest.

Enchanted it was, right from the start.

Only we didn't know just how quickly the magic would become unparalled. Only about a half-mile in, we passed a woman who let us know she saw two mountain goats, a mom and a kid, about .75 miles up the trail. We thanked her and kept our eyes and ears peeled.

As we started the challenging boulder climb up to the spires, we stayed as quiet as possible - a difficult feat as our breathing became louder from the climb, but we took it slow. We heard distant rustling, and then a couple of unique sounds that we assume were the bleats of a young goat. Then nothing. As we climbed, we hoped we didn't miss them. Well, turns out we didn't see the two goats.

We saw five.

We stood crouched on the trail for probably 20 minutes, watching them graze on the flowers. The kids were still learning how to climb, sometimes stumbling on a tricky slope and other times being reprimanded by their mother to stay out of danger. Before long, we heard distant voices on the trail and crossed our fingers that they wouldn't scare the goats from finishing their breakfast. That was when we decided to climb on, so we could warn the hikers to keep it down before they got too close. Suddenly cooler temps and emptier parking lots were not the best perk of taking the hike early in the morning. We just had the sighting of a lifetime.

Now with the goats not there to distract us, we realized just how much of a climb this trail actually was. These boulders were no joke, but you know us, we love a good scramble.

The climb was over before we knew it though, and soon we came to the Cathedral.

There is a spur that leads through even more of the spires, which we highly recommend. Then it was time to continue onward as we connected over to the Black Elk Trail. Further along, there is an intersection where you can opt to take Little Devils Tower Trail, which we hear is a scramble as well. We considered taking it on the way down, but we ended up not having enough time after spending it with the goats. Worthy trade-off.

We love hikes that have lots of scenery and varied terrain, and this trail delivered. After the Cathedral Spires, we made our way through sand sparkling with South Dakota quartz, forests of tall ponderosa pines, and hills made of loose gravel - our most difficult terrain to traverse. There were times we got views of the spires from a distance, and others where we wound back through more formations.

Then we started our main ascent. To our thrill, the landscape was more boulders and less straight uphill. It was like walking up very large, natural stairs. On the way up, we caught stunning views of the mountains. Then, before the actual summit was a space to spread out and take a break - and some more photos.

Before long, we found actual stairs that brought us to Black Elk Peak and the Harney fire tower. We expected the spectacular views, but we found the entire summit to be a really fun place to wander around. We were even able to climb to the top of the fire tower.

On our descent, we passed many more people, some of whom were clearly beginner hikers who decided to bite off a chunk and go for a legitimate hike. Hats off to them! All in all, it wasn't too difficult a trail, but this is very dependent on skill level and body build. We got our hiking legs boulder scrambling the White Mountains, so this was good terrain for us. Other hikers were clearly huffing and puffing their way up. It didn't help that the clouds were parting and the sun was now high in the sky, giving off some intense heat. When we got back to the truck, the parking lot sure wasn't nearly-empty anymore!

It gets this crowded for a reason. This hike is beyond words. Even if you don't want to make your way up to the summit, the Cathedral Spires trail alone is well worth it to experience these unique rock features. Traversing tens of thousands of miles of road and hundreds upon hundreds of miles of trails all over the country, and we're still finding places that instill endless awe. It's a good life.