Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / South Dakota / Black Hills

Centennial Trail: Big Pine to Wind Cave

Black Elk Wilderness, Custer State Park, and Wind Cave National Park

The southern end of the Centennial Trail (Trail 89) crosses four very different landscapes: the granite of the Black Elk Wilderness, the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, the forests and bison range of Custer State Park, and the prairie of Wind Cave National Park. The Forest Service lists this Southern Hills section at about 38 miles, ending at the Norbeck Trailhead in Wind Cave.

Each land manager has its own camping rules, so the nights take more planning than the miles.

The hike

From the Big Pine Trailhead, the trail enters the Black Elk Wilderness for about 8 miles, according to Wikipedia, with a side trail of about a mile to Mount Rushmore. Treeline Review describes steep, short climbs and descents among granite spires. The Custer State Park trail guide says wilderness visitors must register at a major trailhead and carry the form.

After a short stretch through the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, the trail enters Custer State Park near Iron Creek. South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks says the trail runs about 22 miles through the park, with trailheads at Iron Creek, Badger Hole, and French Creek, and is marked with brown fiberglass posts and gray diamonds and shared with riders and mountain bikers. It passes through the area burned in the 1988 Galena Fire, and the park’s trail guide says the stretch shared with the Legion Lake Trail is rocky and steep in places. Treeline Review describes a climb out of French Creek to Legion Lake and a shaded creek corridor at French Creek with plenty of poison ivy.

Adventures of Lupe measured 9.9 miles from the French Creek Horse Camp to the Highland Creek Trailhead in May 2023, over a series of low passes, past a prairie dog town, and through burned hills. Its author found “nary a drop” of water along the trail after French Creek, apart from a tiny seasonal creek and Flynn Creek, and met a herd of about 80 bison near Highland Creek. A tall fence with a gate marks the Wind Cave boundary just beyond.

In Wind Cave, the National Park Service lists the Centennial Trail at 6 miles. Treeline Review describes gentle prairie with prairie dog towns and common bison, ending at the Norbeck Trailhead, about two miles from the visitor center. Jason Brocar, who set a Fastest Known Time on the trail in 2026, had to route around bison in both Wind Cave and Custer State Park.

Treeline Review recommends spring and early June, and warns that summer heat can top 95 degrees on the shadeless prairie.

To loop through Wind Cave’s backcountry instead, see the Highland Creek and Centennial loop. For the creek walk through French Creek Natural Area, see French Creek Natural Area.

Tips

Camping

Black Hills National Forest and Black Elk Wilderness: Dispersed camping is allowed at least 100 feet from creeks and half a mile from developed recreation sites. In the wilderness, Order 159 bans camping within a quarter mile of the Black Elk Peak summit and within 100 feet of water, and caps groups at 25. No open campfires in the South Dakota forest.

Custer State Park: Treeline Review says backcountry camping is limited to French Creek Natural Area. The park’s guides say overnight camping there is allowed only in the canyon bottom, at least 50 feet from the stream, with no open fires; self-register at the East or West Trailhead station.

Wind Cave National Park: A free backcountry permit from the visitor center is required. Camping is allowed only in the northwest area, at least a quarter mile from and out of sight of roads and 100 feet from trails and water, for up to two nights per site and seven per trip. No open fires, and no pets in the backcountry.

Inside Intel: Backpacker’s Wind Cave loop camps on a grassy knoll above Beaver Creek, near the junction of the Centennial and Highland Creek trails, and calls Beaver Creek a year-round water source.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Dinner in the French Creek canyon bottom:

The only place to camp on the Centennial Trail's 22 miles through Custer State Park is down in French Creek's canyon. See the trail meals testers keep coming back to.

See the picks →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.