Little Devil’s Tower and Black Elk Peak, Custer State Park, SD & Spearfish Canyon

ByChristine Updated on

Two hikes we highly recommend when visiting Custer State Park, are Little Devil’s Tower and Black Elk Peak (formerly Harney Peak). The climbing is so great around here and the hiking is no exception. There are so many gorgeous views, cliff faces and rock formations, challenging elevation gain, and cool forests, that we have to use a term our caving friend coined, that it is “outrageously scenic.”

Add these on to a day driving the Needle’s Highway in Custer State Park and then go a little further to drive the scenic Spearfish Canyon, and you’ll see why this is one of our favorite areas after RVing around the country for over 7 years.

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Hiking up the Little Devil’s Tower Trail

We hiked out and back to Little Devil’s Tower one morning. This was a fun little hike. The trail starts off pretty flat and easy, begins to gain some elevation, and then really gets going with some steeper switchbacks

Once the trail makes the last cut alongside the back side of Little Devil’s Tower, the real stair-stepping begins. This part is short but steep, with the final stage being on the rock itself. We really enjoyed this part especially, but unfortunately the fog was out in force, and lasted much longer than we’d hoped.

We had been hopeful that the mid-morning sun could break through and burn off the fog, but it persisted, so we really had no view what-so-ever from the top. But since we had been getting some great views while rock climbing, we could envision what the view might be and weren’t too disappointed.

We had also seen Little Devil’s Tower in the distance while sitting on top of Cathedral Spire #4. This just meant that we were able to head back to the trailhead and then get on with some rock climbing for the rest of the day!

We felt accomplished when we reached the top of Little Devil’s Tower, but there were no views.

Take a close look at the rocks as you’re hiking. We admired the colors and sparkles we saw in the stone.

Hiking the Black Elk Peak Trail

Black Elk Peak, previously known as Harney Peak, was approximately 6-7 miles round trip via the trail we chose (depending on which map/sign you reference as they didn’t seem to be in agreement). We did this hike pretty quickly, as we got kind of a late start.

We also weren’t sure how long the weather would hold out. The clouds were continuously shifting, but looked ominous enough in the distance. We were constantly moving from blue sky to shade, cool wind, and back to sun.

There is a longer approach hike to Black Elk Peak from the north, which we hear is more strenuous and maybe more scenic, but this worked just fine and allowed us to be back before the rain and lightning started. The views more than made up for the fog we had experienced on Little Devil’s Tower.

On the summit of Black Elk Peak is a historic stone fire lookout tower.

We even hiked past the base of Little Devil’s Tower on the return trip from Black Elk Peak.

Driving through Spearfish Canyon

If you’re looking to take it a bit easier one day, take a drive through Spearfish Canyon like we did. This was nice and relaxing, and there was great scenery the entire way.

The Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway is 19 miles long one-way and will take you about 30 minutes if you don’t stop. Of course we turned this into multiple hours.

There are 3 waterfalls you should plan to see one or more of as you explore this scenic drive.

Roughlock Falls

An easy hike approximately one mile each way will take you to Roughlock Falls which is about 50 feet tall.

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls is super easy to see and very accessible since the observation area is adjacent to the parking area. This waterfall is about 60 feet tall.

Spearfish Falls

You can either view Spearfish Falls from an observation platform on Latchstring Inn restaurant’s south side, or hike 1.5 miles to the bottom of the 47 foot falls.

What To See Next

If you’re interested in doing any rock climbing in the area, consider a climb in Custer State Park with a guide. Make sure you don’t miss Mount Rushmore of course and you can also check out the Crazy Horse Memorial nearby.

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!