Backpacking

Hiking the Centennial Trail

Hiking the Centennial Trail

2019 marks 30 years since the Centennial Trail was established so we thought “We’re supposed to know all about hiking in the Black Hills. It’s probably about time that we hike this thing.” With that in mind, we needed to decide how we were going to do it.

Backpacking in Wind Cave National Park

Backpacking in Wind Cave National Park

When most people think of Wind Cave National Park they naturally think of the cave that the park was named for, but it also has back country trails, buffalo, elk, antelope and more. There are several trails throughout the park, but since I am working on section hiking the Centennial Trail, that is the trail I chose. The Centennial Trail is a 111 mile trail that begins in Wind Cave National Park in the south and ends at the top of Bear Butte in the north. For my purposes, I set out to backpack all of the Centennial trail that is in Wind Cave Wind Cave National Park.

Backpacking in Badlands National Park - The Castle Trail

This backpacking trip was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it. In less than 24 hours, we were able to drive from Rapid City to the Badlands, backpack to our camping spot, enjoy an evening with no one around us, and return to Rapid City.