We rolled into Rapid City, South Dakota around noon on a brutally hot summer day. The radio said the temperature was 102°, but fortunately the forest and the slight breeze kept things from getting too miserable.
The trailhead was next to Sylvan Lake, a beautiful, picture-perfect lake that deserved an entire lazy afternoon of swimming and fooling around on the rock outcropping. We didn't have an entire afternoon, since we needed to reach Illinois at the end of the day's drive.
The trail starts up a gentle hill, passing a nice overlook of the Black Hills, before descending to a small creek, which by late August had dried up to little more than a trickle. The trail then begins to climb Harney Peak itself, which isn't visible for much of the hike.
A few switchbacks bring you around the base of the peak to a set of granite steps, complemented with metal stairs at times. The path climbs through a castle-like structure that was partly blasted out of the rock, and partly created by building a windowed stone wall. Scambering out the top of the castle puts on on top of South Dakota, and next to the 1939 summit tower. A plaque informs one that Harney Peak is the highest point between the Rockies and the Pyrenees. Only a highpointer could care.
