Grizzly Bear Creek Trail Archives : Tranquil Trekker

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy hiking in the Harney Range and the Black Elk Wilderness area of the Black Hills. Well, the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail is one of my favorite routes in that locale.

Because this trail is located in the wilderness area, it isn’t maintained as much as the surrounding national forest. There isn’t a lot of logging here and ranchers aren’t able to use this land to graze their herds, so you don’t have to worry about the “leavings” of cows. There also aren’t any people living nearby. Therefore, it’s really just left to Mother Nature. It’s natural, beautiful, and rugged.

What will you see on the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail?

This path is interesting because it doesn’t really “go” anywhere, per se. It’s really just a connector trail that meanders through the lower-lying areas of the Black Elk Wilderness.

This trail isn’t one of the more popular ones in the Black Hills so it’s rarely busy, no matter the time of year. It also tends to be VERY pretty, as it traverses canyons and valleys. A bubbling creek also accompanies you along much of the route’s length, which makes a pleasant accompaniment to your hike. It usually has water in it which can be rare in this part of the country (many local waterways dry up at certain times of the year).

The constant presence of water means this is a more verdant part of the Hills in regards to foliage and it’s a beautiful and colorful area to visit during the fall. This is also one of the easier trails found locally, with just simple, rolling hills to challenge you. In addition to the lovely foliage, you will also be treated to views of the towering spires and imposing rock walls created by the granite the Black Hills is known for.

Rear view of a woman and dog walking on a dirt path that meanders through green, pine trees, yellow-leafed plants and rock towers, all under a clear, blue sky. — Puppers and I enjoying the trail!

Yellow leaves on a tree with green, pine trees behind it — The aspen trees were lovely!

Where is the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail?

The Grizzly Bear Creek Trail does have a trailhead of its own. You will find it off of Forest Road 345 after it branches off of State Route 87 (also called the Needles Highway) in the northern portion of Custer State Park. As it is a connector trail you can also access it from a number of other routes in the Black Elk Wilderness, including the Black Elk Peak Trail (formerly the Harney Trail), the Centennial, the Horsethief Lake, and the Norbeck Trails.

How long is the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail?

The trail is about 13 miles in total length. If you just want to hike portions of the route, you can do out-and-back treks, or you can connect this path with several other trails in the local area to make a variety of loops. These can be shorter, day hikes or longer, multi-day backpacking trips. All of them make for a great way to see the rugged beauty of the higher elevations of the central Black Hills.

Related posts: Great Hikes in the Black Elk Wilderness; Black Hills Blackberry Trail, near Mt. Rushmore

When is the best time of year to hike the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail?

While the Grizzly Bear Creek trail can be enjoyed at any time of the year, the warmer months are a better time to access it. It would be beautiful in the winter, though it would be difficult to get to the trailhead as neither the forest road nor the Needles Highway is maintained during the snowy season. As this is one of the highest elevation areas in the Black Hills, you should also expect to encounter, potentially, feet of snow throughout much of the winter.

A dog pants while standing in the forest on dirt and downed, brown leaves. — This trail is Puppers approved!

Because you are so close to the creek for much of the trail’s route, there are also a number of water crossings along its length. You should be prepared for this and have either waterproof shoes or footwear you don’t mind getting wet.

Some of the crossings have rocks you can hop across, though the availability of these will depend on the depth of the water, which can vary greatly throughout the year. These stones can also become mossy and slippery so you should use them with caution.

A wooden footbridge crosses a small, dry creek, surrounded by fall-colored trees and leaves in the woods. — A bridge across the creek!

If you’re looking for a less-traveled but beautiful hike in the Black Hills, check out the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail!

Have you ever hiked this trail? What did you think? Tell me about it in the comments!

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The Black Elk Wilderness covers a portion of the central Black Hills, in the Mount Rushmore/Horsethief Lake portion of the Harney range (now the Black Elk range) of South Dakota. There are some great hiking trails that traverse this area!

Hike the Horsethief Lake Trail to Grizzly Bear Creek Trail in the Black Hills

One great option is to begin at the Horsethief Lake Trail. The trailhead can be found at the Horsethief Lake Fishing/Rec area which is located off of Hwy 244, west of Mt. Rushmore.

Note: this is one turnoff east of the drive for the Horsethief Lake Campground.

There is a larger parking area right at the lake. The trailhead is located at a small parking area just to the east of here–there is a sign.

We took the Horsethief Lake Trail (Trail #14) to the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail (Trail #7) which traverses a lovely canyon area and parallels Grizzly Bear Creek for a time.

This portion of the Black Hills is particularly vulnerable to storm damage as it was decimated by the Pine Beetle plague in recent years. Due to this, there are several hazards to watch out for in this area, including blow-down sections of trees and falling limbs/trees if windy conditions are occurring.

What you’ll see hiking through the Black Elk Wilderness

The hike was lovely. Much of it traverses canyons, surrounded on all sides by towers of granite. There are several beautiful, lookout points with views of the surrounding Hills and the prairie stretching far to the east. The trail is in a largely wooded area so it would be fairly shaded in the warmer months, and as you climb there is usually at least a moderate, cooling breeze (that can be downright chilling in the cooler months).

Portions of this trail are open to horses as well so be watchful for the equines (and be careful not to step in what they leave behind).

The portion of the trail we completed was of moderate difficulty, was well-developed, and was fairly wide. There weren’t many rocks/large steps to negotiate and while there were few trail markers, they weren’t needed as the path was evident.

It should be noted that the lower part of the Horsethief Trail is frequently wet and muddy so waterproof shoes/boots are suggested. In the winter/early spring, thanks to snow-melt and the nearby creek it is often extremely icy and slick. This portion of the trail is located in a canyon under a canopy of trees so it doesn’t get much sunlight to melt the ice. We have seen several inches of thick, hazardous ice on this trail in the early spring that required our Yaktrax to navigate safely.

Other trail loops in the Black Elk Wilderness

If you’re up to the challenge, a loop can be made of this trail using the Horsethief Lake Trail to the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail to the Centennial Trail (Trail # 89). This will then eventually take you back to the Horsethief Lake trail almost at the Trailhead (the loop can be completed in either direction). This entire loop would be around 10 – 12 miles. While this is within our ability level, we weren’t sure about the steepness/difficulty of the remainder of the trail, and daylight was growing short so we chose to stop at about the halfway point, have some lunch along the creekside, and return the way we had come.

Numerous trails connect throughout the Harney (Black Elk) range. Depending on your skill level and how long you are willing to commit to being out in the wild you can hike any combination of these, ranging from a simple hike of a few hours to a backpacking trek of several days.

For those non-locals who may be wondering why I keep referring to this area as the Harney (Black Elk) range, I’ll explain. Harney Peak is the highest mountain in the Black Hills (and the tallest east of the Rockies). It stands out among the surrounding peaks of the Harney Range. The Black Elk Wilderness area comprises much of this range.

Black Elk was a Lakota, Holy Man who lived around the turn of the century, the Wilderness area is named after him.* A few years ago, it was decided that Harney Peak would be renamed Black Elk Peak in honor of this great man and as a tribute to the local, Lakota culture. As it has been such a short duration of time since the change, many of the books/maps regarding this local area (and the signs currently posted) will still carry the former name of the mountain/range.

*If you’re a history buff or just interested in American Indian culture, I highly recommend the book Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt. It’s a biography of the Holy Man’s life based on interviews Neihardt completed with him in his final years. It is a very interesting, fairly objective account of a man growing up in a changing world. It discusses Black Elk’s nomadic life before General Custer and his soldiers arrived and the way this life changed after gold–or as Black Elk called it, “the yellow metal that makes white men crazy”–was found in the Black Hills.

Below are two pics that Mr. Trekker took of our hike: