MAPS & AERIAL PHOTOS:

Narrow BLUE FRAMES on the Forest Service Map below identify the following links to TopoZone and TerraServer maps.

Topo maps—|Topo-18 | Topo-19 | Topo-20 | Topo-21 |
Aerial Photos—|Aerial-18 | Aerial-19 | Aerial-20 | Aerial-21 |

HIKING DETAILS for Today:

QUICK LOOK:

Begin—French Creek Primitive Campsite in Custer State Park
End—Iron Creek in south Black Elk Wilderness
Water Sources—Morning: French Creek. Mid-day: Legion Lake. Evening: Iron Creek.
Food Source—Small store at Legion Lake Resort beside the trail.
Mile Posts—miles 18 to 29 or so
Mileage—11.6 miles
Accumulated Climb—1150 feet (reduced from a possible 1800 feet)
Energy Miles—16.2 on level ground (reduced from a possible 18.0)
Possible Campsites—Iron Creek vicinity and beyond. No primitive camping in Custer State Park.
Other Notes—Iron Creek is not a large stream but generally has treatable water. Take eastern routes in the figure 8's north and south of Legion Lake. Follow Switchback Draw and Galena Creek to Legion Lake.

TODAY'S HIKE:

MORNING ON FRENCH CREEK

On the morning of June 2nd, Tyler and Misti wake in the shade of French Creek Canyon. Though the sun had risen, it would not shine on their camping location until after 7:40 MDT. The overnight low temperature has been mid-40's to about 50° F. By 7:00 AM, it approaches 60° F.

Upon arriving at camp, eating had been a priority. Thousands of calories expended that day needed replaced. More than one meal was necessary, and sooner was better.

In an hour of daylight, Tyler and Misti had set up camp and cleaned up with water from French Creek.. As temperatures had cooled, they dressed warm.

This morning also, dressing warm is important. Shivering burns calories. But today would not be as strenuous as Day One. The climb is only half as much, the mileage only 2/3 the previous day.

This is Saturday, and horse traffic, can begin early along French Creek. By 7:00 AM, the hikers are eating and hydrating for the day's 12-mile hike. They sit together with their Trails Illustrated topo map of Black Hills South.

THE MAP AND THE CENTENNIAL NORTH OF FRENCH CREEK

North of French Creek, the Centennial Trail winds through two figure-8 patterns stacked on top each other. Which is the main trail—who can say? A half-mile north of French Creek, the Centennial divides and either climbs up Spring Draw or up a little and then down Switchback Draw toward Galena Creek. The Trails Illustrated map identifies the eastern Switchback-Galena route as the Centennial Trail. But not all maps agree.

The western Spring Draw route climbs to 5500 feet, descends to 5000 feet, then climbs back up to 5280 feet. But the eastern Switchback Draw route climbs to only 5200 feet, descends to 4840 feet, then gradually climbs back to 5000 feet along Galena Creek to Legion Lake.

Total climbing today will be 1800 feet by the Spring Draw route to the west but only 1150 feet if the hikers stay to the eastern route up Galena Creek. The difference in mileage is not enough to matter. And near Legion Lake, the eastern route goes to the lake and to a small store along the highway, where there is food.

North of Legion Lake, the eastern route climbs 200 feet higher than the western route, but the western route is a half-mile longer, and they would have to walk up the highway to find it. Besides that, the campground is on the eastern route. There they can refill their water bottles.

Our hikers will stay with the eastern route all the way through both figure 8's. The east is simpler and easier. It has food at the store, drinking water, and the lake.

LEAVING CAMP

By eight or nine o 'clock the hikers resume their trek northward. They have slept, eaten, hydrated, filled and treated two quarts of water each. Employing a plastic 2.5-gallon shower bag to transport water, they have attended to personal hygiene well away from the creek. And they have left no trace behind.

They return three-quarter miles back to the Centennial Trail. From the junction with French Creek, the Centennial begins a mile climb up 600 feet, from 4600 to 5200 feet. This is half of the second day's climb in the first hour of the trek. Surrounded by pine forest and the rugged hills of schist outcrop, the hikers adapt the rhythm of their breathing to the rhythm of their steps. It's always surprising to learn they are not as tired as they supposed.

At a third of a mile they cross under a powerline above their heads. They meet it again atop the hill. There they take a break. From here, Mount Coolidge is west-northwest at about 6000 feet. They are about to pass the mountain that had seemed so distant and so often near to north from Wind Cave National Park.

GALENA CREEK TO BADGER HOLE

From the hill near the powerline, they hike northeast down Switchback draw, arrive near a road that turns northwest before reaching Galena Creek (aerial photo). There the trail follows a paved road. A half-mile southeast of Legion Lake they leave the paved road to walk northwest past Badger Hole, the former home of South Dakota's cowboy poet, Badger Clark.

Here lived for 30 years a cowboy who never married and wandered the hills turning out verse in the cowboy vernacular. Here is a "place where one can still be an unworried and unregimented individual, and sit on a log and get his sanity back again." Fortuantely, he never outgrew that way of thinking.

THE LEGION LAKE AREA AND UP THE HILL

From the cabin the hikers enter the Legion Lake Area. At the Legion Lake Resort store, near the highway, Tyler and Misti restock food items. With the food packed away, they wander to the shore of the lake. There, to the envy of any fisherman's dog, Tyler and Misti drench themselves in the cool waters of the lake. It's a quick swim and back out to begin the hike northwest up the hill from Legion Lake.

They stop along the way at Legion Lake campground northwest of the lake. Here again the hikers drink plenty of fluids and pack at least two quarts each of fresh water. It may be seven miles to the next water source, though four miles northward, Grace Coolidge Creek in springtime may have water near the trail. From the campground, they resume their journey northwest to the top of the hill.

NAVIGATION NORTH OF LEGION LAKE

Atop the hill less than a mile northwest of Legion Lake, Tyler and Misti halt to review their maps. And they glimpse the granite outcrops of Black Elk Wilderness six miles further northwest.

North of Legion Lake trail markers along the path are very important. Maps don't show all the ways hikers might stray off the Centennial and expend a day's supply of energy wandering up and down rolling hills on un-mapped trail- and fire-roads, as the hikers look again for a Trail 89 marker.

Tyler and Misti have been fortunate thus far. In Wind Cave Park, the forests were broken by open prairie and meadows, there was Rankin Ridge, and there were long ridges, difficult to mistake for any other location. In Custer State Park, as the trail approached French Creek, it was located within a mile of a paved road on either side. Were hikers to stray from the Centennial, either highway would lead them back to it. And Mount Coolidge was present.

The situation is different north of Legion Lake. The trail occasionally crosses paths not shown on any maps. Hikers need to continually seek trail markers. Sometimes the markers may be many yards beyond the crossing. But two hundred yards without a trail marker is a strong sign that the hikers may be on the wrong trail. Most of the Centennial here is well-marked.

In the dozen miles north of Legion Lake, prominent landmarks are few. The hills they may use in the next few miles have no names on the maps, but are found in sections 23 and 24.

The Centennial climbs 200 feet of Hill-24. That is where the hikers are now. Then the trail will descend to travel northward almost between Hills-23 and -24, cross Powerline Draw—but not the powerline—then turn west to the base of Hill-23, where the trail goes under the powerline.

It will be important that the hikers not cross underneath the powerline off-trail in Powerline Draw—where there is also a trail road leading away from the Centennial.

Traveling north of Hill-23, it might be better to error toward west than east, that is, for our hikers to take the left fork at a junction, rather than the right fork. Going astray to the left will lead hikers soon to the park border or to a gravel road, which leads back to the trail. Going astray to the right may lead to a wonderland of rolling hills—off trail.

Here is a good place to have the compass out and ready to use.

DOWN THE HILL TOWARD THE WILDERNESS

Descending this hill, Tyler and Misti find the western route of the Centennial. There is only one route now and they are on it. They climb, then descend to Powerline Draw. The trail turns west for 3/4 miles before passing under the powerline. They know now which is Powerline Draw and which is the Centennial.

And Misti notices a bison standing in the trees nearby and watching them. At 35 mph, that bison can reach them in about three seconds, if it so desires. But our hikers know their route now and depart without delay.

North of Hill-23, they cross beneath the powerline. Trail markers are very important, but they don't identify where exactly the hikers are on the trail. The hikers appreciate the difference when they reach a junction less than a mile north of the powerline.

Here the trail could go to the right up a knobby hill or to the left up a gentle slope. There don't seem to be any markers. Here they use a compass and decide that the knobby hill to the east is off-trail. The slope is too abrupt to fit anything on their topo map. They proceed northwest and are reassured to find those silver 89 tags on the trees.

Soon they find upper Grace Coolidge Creek. For miles the trail is conveniently wedged between the creek and a gravel road a quarter mile away, each taking a northeasterly direction. The hikers wander up and down bumps on a ridge marked quite often with Centennial tags. The creek offers a trickle of water not likely present later in summer.

By four or five in the afternoon, Tyler and Mysti cross a paved highway near a sign that says, "Camp Remington." They are doing well. Across the highway a few dozen yards, the Centennial leaves the gravel road and heads up-slope northwest through the trees.

BLACK ELK WILDERNESS AND IRON CREEK

From the highway 3/4 miles, they find another trailhead at a gravel road. This trailhead is not marked on their maps. The sign says "Norbeck Trailhead." Not to be confused with "Norbeck Lake" Trailhead, where the journey began the previous morning, this trailhead marks entry into Norbeck Wildlife Preserve and Black Elk Wilderness. There at the trailhead, our hikers register for entry into the wilderness. There is no fee.

Tyler and Mysti are in the vicinity in which they will camp tonight. Iron Creek Horse Camp is nearby to the west, but it has no water pumps. Between the trailhead sign and the horse camp, Iron Creek flows beneath the gravel road. To the north from there, the original Centennial Trail followed an old trail road. That route is closed now. But passing through a clearing near the stream, it may offer a primitive camping site. 

From the trailhead sign, the existing trail passes over and around a short hill a couple hundred yards, and there the Centennial crosses the creek among granite outcrops and majestic spruce.

The hikers are eager for the wilderness and walk over the hill. There they explore near the creek upstream and downstream, as they watch for poison ivy near their feet. Along the creek the underbrush is dense and difficult to tread. Spraining an ankle is a serious risk.

Finally, they choose a campsite upstream from the crossing. It is near where the original trail passed. Downstream from their campsite, among the granite outcrops and water pools, Tyler and Mysti get a glimpse of the beauty of this wilderness.

E Next Page: Day Three