Keystone, South Dakota

Black Elk Peak

The highest point in South Dakota contains the ashes of Valentine McGillycuudy, the "Holy White Man."

“I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world,” the Oglala Lakota medicine man Black Elk was quoted as saying from Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota at 7,242 feet above sea level.

The view from the peak is as expansive as it is stunning, and it has been marked with a stone tower as well as the grave of the first white man to mount the summit. The stone tower was built in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and was used as a fire tower until 1967, commanding a wide view of the surrounding Black Hills. (The name of South Dakota’s highest point was changed from Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak on August 11, 2016, by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.)

A plaque marks the tower’s history and another the interred ashes of Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, a friend of Crazy Horse and the first white man to climb the peak. McGillycuddy’s plaque reads: “Valentine McGillycuddy, Wasicu Wacan.” The latter phrase is Lakota for “Holy White Man.”

Many trails lead to the summit, with the easiest and most popular being Trail #9 from the Sylvan Lake Day Use Area in Custer State Park. This very scenic trail winds three miles through ponderosa pine forest and granite spires allowing for spectacular views until reaching the summit, one can take in the view of all the land below.

“And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.” - Black Elk