4 Days of Solo Backpacking, Hiking & Camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
For this late summer backpacking adventure, I decided check out two places I had never been to before – the Mount Rushmore Memorial and the adjacent Black Elk Wilderness within the Black Hills National Forest.
I was surprised to discover that there’s actually a trailhead right at the base of Mount Rushmore, so it seemed like to perfect opportunity to create a unique backpacking experience.
Speaking of those looming presidential faces, I should make an important point – While the Mount Rushmore statue, parking lot and visitor center, etc. is a National Memorial (managed by the National Park Service), the surrounding area is National Forest, so dispersed camping is all good!
With that in mind, I mapped out a roughly 30 mile hiking loop using the available trails, packed my tent, sleeping pad and some backpacking food into my backpack, and got a ride from my wife to the trailhead.
Due to the close proximity to the National Monument, the trailhead parking lot is closed off to overnight parking. This probably makes this a lesser used starting point for backpackers, but it’s well worth it if you have someone nice enough to drop you off and pick you up after a few days of camping in the Black Elk Wilderness.
Route Overview – Mt Rushmore Black Hills Backpacking Loop – Sintax77
Full GPS track data, including campsites, water sources, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.