Hiking Crow Peak

So the other day i finally had the chance to hike Crow Peak. It seems like every time you go into the northern hills its just kind of taunts you, which makes people like myself want to bag it even more. Even though its not one of the top 10 tallest peaks in the hills Crow Peak is the farthest north peak in the hills and offers a commanding view all the northern hills.The trail head is pretty easy to find and once you go through the gate you immediately start climbing. My first impressions as i began the hike was the awesome state of the trail. Many other trails in the hills and i feel like trails with high usage have liter and graffiti throughout so when i see a trail like the Crow Peak trail without all these things I get pretty excited. On top of that the trail itself was a well built and maintained trail. Nice grade, no washouts and switchbacks a plenty. Putting all these together made for a great trail experience. Its a fairly straight shot to the top, only one trail branch you have to watch out for (just a 1/2 mile out and back spur with a nice little view) but if your focus is on reaching the peak sticking to the right at this spur will see you there. Around 3/4 of the way up you hit a nice little scree field tucked into a gully with a really neat view. From this point you have a couple steep switchbacks till you come to the ridge line which has a few great camping spots on it if you were interested in camping for a sunrise. The final 100 yards is just open air with a little ground cover and a huge grove of aspen which is really cool to see on a peak like that. Finally the peak, at 5,760 feet you've reached the top after a climb of 1,563 feet and 3.3 miles to one of the most peaceful peaks I've yet to reach in the black hills. From the top you'll see Bear Butte to the east, Spearfish Peak to the south east, Terry Peak to the south and to the west you have a clear view of the Wyoming portion of the black hills all the way to Sundance. Unfortunately I was unable to catch a glimpse of the bighorns from the peak which was one of my hopes but the view did not disappoint. All in all the Crow Peak hike was a great hike, fairly easy to access (I saw people of all shapes and sizes and a family with little ones) and one i would recommend to any visitor or first timer to the black hills!

Luke

Heres some directions to the trail head if you would would like them: You can get off of I-90 at exit 8 at McGuigan rd and head south. Go to the second rd which is hillsview and take a right (west). Your then going to go past 5 roads and then take a left on the 6th which is higgins gultch rd. Your then going to go appr. 4 miles till you see a turn off and a gate on your right hand side and then your all set!