null
Trail Wise!
Posts: 578 
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Post by null on Sept 3, 2021 10:28:06 GMT -8
Last time I was on the Centennial Trail in Custer State Park (7 years ago?) the Centennial Trail had been re-routed to dirt/forest roads because of all the pine beetle devastation. I'm not sure if they put the trail on existing roads or built new ones to access the infested trees.
Anyway, I'm thinking of hiking the Northern part of trail 89, from Bear Butte down to Mt. Rushmore
Is the trail primarily on dirt roads or single track? Any help appreciated.
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Hungry Jack
Trail Wise!
Living and dying in 3/4 time...
Posts: 3,809
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Post by Hungry Jack on Jun 21, 2022 5:05:35 GMT -8
Did you ever get up there?
I am head to Spearfish in July to do some gravel and road biking. May hike a bit, but mostly will be plying the hills south of Spearfish and Sturgis on my gravel grinder. Looking forward to it!
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null
Trail Wise!
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Post by null on Jul 17, 2022 2:26:50 GMT -8
I did finally get up there in June and it was great! Actually, it was not very homogenous at all. Many different sections. One day was all ATV roads up to Dalton Lake. North of there was almost no camping whatsoever so we just dispersed camp in a not-too-hospitable site. After 2 inches of rain, we couldn't cross the raging Elk Creek so we did a 13 mile road walk around it. After that, the trail was awesome. Almost all single-track.
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Post by Coolkat on Jul 18, 2022 7:50:46 GMT -8
This trail popped up on my radar this weekend. Looking at it for maybe possibly for next year. Any thing that I should be aware of and how was the water situation?
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null
Trail Wise!
Posts: 578
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Post by null on Jul 21, 2022 13:00:49 GMT -8
We had no issues with water, but we did have 2" of rain on the 2nd night so it's not surprising. If you use the front country campgrounds, both Dalton Lake and Alkali Creek had no water on tap. We were able to get water out of the lake and the creek, but the faucet at these sites did not work. Bear Butte had running water. And Elk Creek is reliable.
The one thing that surprised me is how few established campsites there were. Oh sure, you can usually find a place to drop a single tent but we were a group of 7 which made it difficult to find an established camping area.
Also, between Black Elk Wilderness and Dalton Lake, there are a LOT of ATV roads. I'm usually OK with this, but all day long gets tiring.
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