Early
in my time in South Dakota I became interested in climbing the peaks of the
Black Hills. During my first tour in 1982, I was focused on the field work that
would support my master’s thesis, and didn’t get outdoors nearly as much as I
would have liked. But my old slides show two different trips to Black Elk Peak
(then Harney Peak). In 1987, when I returned for a six year stint, I quickly
took up mountain biking to supplement my running and hiking. In Horning and
Marriot’s “Mountain Biker’s Guide to the Black Hills” I discovered routes to
many of the 7,000 footers, especially those on the Limestone Plateau. The
longer bike rides seemed much more sporting routes than what would otherwise
been long drives to access short strolls to the peaks.
Black Elk Peak in 1982.
Crook’s
Tower (Crooks Tower) in 1987 was my first
serious mountain bike ride. Later that summer I rode to the top of Odakota and
Bear mountains. At the end of ‘87 I again used the MB’ers guide to make a late
season ride to Crows Nest Peak. It seems unusual to have waited a year to climb
nearby Terry Peak, but my records don’t show my first visit until June ’88,
again on a mountain bike ride.
Bear Mountain, 1987.
For
a while the 7,000 footer list sat dormant, until I found another project. This
time my goal was getting to all the active and abandoned fire tower sites in
the Black Hills. There was plenty of map examining to do as that part of the
project, but it yielded some interesting results. Green Mountain (unnamed on
the USGS quad) had a just barely 200’ saddle with Odakota, its neighbor to the
south. At 7164’, that meant Green qualifies as a 7,000 footer. On 3-30-91 I
made a late season ski trip that covered both summits. My next discovery was
even more interesting.
Green Mountain from 7,159, 1991
West
of Black Elk Peak is a small range bounded by U.S.16 and South Dakota 89, and
anchored by Buckhorn Mountain on the south and St. Elmo Peak to the north. St
Elmo is the highest named point and I hiked it in September of 1991. But
looking carefully at the map I also saw an unnamed peak south of St Elmo just breaking
7,000’. The peak had a long north ridge that would provide a 1,400’ climb.
Sylvan and St. Elmo Peaks.
On
10-5-91 I headed down to the southern hills. For most of the day I rode the
10.8 mile Grace Coolidge and Bear Gulch mountain bike ride as described in the Mountain
Biker’s Guide. I was done before 3PM, and decided to give the new 7,000’ peak a
shot.
The
north ridge proved as exciting as it had looked on the map. Most of the north
slope had been logged, and there was plenty of downed timber, but not enough to
ruin the walking. There were great views toward Black Elk Peak and Sylvan Lake,
and especially of the climbing area known as the Outlets. I crossed one old
logging road, and made a side scramble to the top of a false peak. After
crossing one other faint logging road and a shallow saddle I was at the summit.
There was only a small cairn to mark the top, and no other evidence of previous
hikers. I enjoyed more summit views before returning the same way.
St Elmo Peak from Sylvan Peak, 1991.
The
peak was a great edition to the first edition of my guide. As the high point of
its own subrange, I felt it deserved a name, and called it “Sylvan Peak” in
honor of the great views of Sylvan Lake. The name was adopted on the 1996 Black
Hills National Forest map and is shown on later editions. The name doesn’t yet
appear on USGS maps, and is not approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
I don’t know if the BHNF map makers used “Sylvan Peak” because the name was
used in my guide, or if someone else was equally inspired in their peak naming,
but I hope name becomes official.
“Sylvan
Peak” is also the highest point in Custer County. This distinction has earned
the attention of a dedicated group of peak baggers called the County
Highpointers. As their name implies, members devote their energies to reaching
the high points of various counties, usually within a state or region. Trip
reports on their website (cohp.org) describe a shorter
and easier route to the summit via the southeast ridge. This route starts where
a dirt road leaves the west side of South Dakota 87, 0.9 north of the South
Dakota 87/89 junction, or 2.1 miles south of the start of the north ridge
route. I hiked this route on 9-8-04, it is shorter, but less scenic than the
north ridge.
Bear Mountain Tower, 2007.
Sylvan
Peak also upped the number of Black Hills 7,000 footers to eight, the number
that is still generally accepted today if you poke around online. Some sources
don’t include Green Mountain, but there is consensus on the other seven peaks.
For my hiking guide I tried to compile a list of “worthy” peaks that includes
the 7,000 footers, summits with towers or former tower sites, mountains with
maintained trails, and peaks on the Wyoming side of the range and in the
Bearlodge mountains. My list has 39 peaks, with Sundance Mountain (on private
land) being the only one I haven’t been able to climb.
John on Terry Peak, 1987.
Online
it appears that the 7,000 footers have been climbed by a modest number of
people, though there is no central source for this information. Here’s a
summary of my Black Hills 7,000 footer climbs.
Bob on Odakota Mountain, 1987.
Height Name Date Type # of Ascents
7,242 Black Elk Peak ?-?-82 Hike 19
7,200 Odakota
Mountain 8-16-87 Bike 2
7,166 Bear Mountain 8-16-87 Bike 4
7,164
“Green Mountain” 3-30-91 Ski 1
7,137 Crooks Tower 6-12-87 Bike 2
7,064 Terry Peak 6-19-88 Bike 11
7,048 Crows Nest Peak 12-6-87 Bike 2
7,000 “Sylvan Peak” 10-5-91 Hike 3
Here’s
a link to a report on trip to climb all the 7,000 footers in a day
self-supported. https://www.southdakotamagazine.com/black-hills-eight-over-seven
