Yesterday, Kelly and I decided to backpack in the Black Elk Wilderness. Since tourist season is mostly over, we figured it would be quieter and less traffic. So, we got to the turn, just outside of Keystone, to take us down Iron Mountain Road to head to our trailhead and the road was closed due to a ½ marathon being run from a dude ranch up Iron Mountain Road and into keystone. So, as we figured out what to do, we drove back into Keystone and took a right heading into the old district of Keystone. Then looking at the map we found a backroad which could possibly get us to our trailhead. At the other end of the road the main road was blocked off, so we took another backroad and found a connection into Custer state park, and then connected to a dirt road which took us to a trailhead along the trail we were going to hike. There were 3 trailheads along the trail we were going on, and we started at not the one we planned, but decided to go from there. Same trip just a different starting point. The temperature was in the upper 40’s and warmed up to the mid 50’s and was mostly cloudy, a beautiful day for a quiet hike. This has been the first hike we have done since June as the weather and my shingles have just been terrible. Weather calmed down and my shingles are just about gone (no more pain). We started out at around 4350ft elevation and climbed immediately to around 5000ft over .7 of a mile. Then the trail leveled off and was very smooth going for the next 3 miles. For lunch we stopped at our original trailhead picnic area and had some cheese spread (Pack-it Gourmet) and crackers and for dessert we had Peanut M&M’s. It was a very comfortable hike back to the main trail, but the wind had picked up and the temps fell back into the 40’s. Had some steep downhills for about .25 of a mile and then ended up at trailhead number 2. We filled up with water and the last part of the hike took us along a dirt road back to where we were parked. Total distance was around 6.5 miles and it took us 4.5 hours with a 30-40-minute lunch break. So, a slow hike but the scenery was beautiful. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Hiking/Backpacking

Custer County, South Dakota, United States

time : Sep 21, 2019 9:11 AM

duration : 4h 24m 31s

distance : 6.3 mi

total_ascent : 1492 ft

highest_point : 5268 ft

avg_speed : 1.8 mi/h

user_id : Tleon14

user_firstname : Tom

user_lastname : Leonard

Yesterday, Kelly and I decided to backpack in the Black Elk Wilderness. Since tourist season is mostly over, we figured it would be quieter and less traffic. So, we got to the turn, just outside of Keystone, to take us down Iron Mountain Road to head to our trailhead and the road was closed due to a ½ marathon being run from a dude ranch up Iron Mountain Road and into keystone. So, as we figured out what to do, we drove back into Keystone and took a right heading into the old district of Keystone. Then looking at the map we found a backroad which could possibly get us to our trailhead. At the other end of the road the main road was blocked off, so we took another backroad and found a connection into Custer state park, and then connected to a dirt road which took us to a trailhead along the trail we were going to hike. There were 3 trailheads along the trail we were going on, and we started at not the one we planned, but decided to go from there. Same trip just a different starting point. The temperature was in the upper 40’s and warmed up to the mid 50’s and was mostly cloudy, a beautiful day for a quiet hike. This has been the first hike we have done since June as the weather and my shingles have just been terrible. Weather calmed down and my shingles are just about gone (no more pain). We started out at around 4350ft elevation and climbed immediately to around 5000ft over .7 of a mile. Then the trail leveled off and was very smooth going for the next 3 miles. For lunch we stopped at our original trailhead picnic area and had some cheese spread (Pack-it Gourmet) and crackers and for dessert we had Peanut M&M’s. It was a very comfortable hike back to the main trail, but the wind had picked up and the temps fell back into the 40’s. Had some steep downhills for about .25 of a mile and then ended up at trailhead number 2. We filled up with water and the last part of the hike took us along a dirt road back to where we were parked. Total distance was around 6.5 miles and it took us 4.5 hours with a 30-40-minute lunch break. So, a slow hike but the scenery was beautiful. Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.