Discover the Thrill-filled South Dakota Escape You Need

Striking pink Sioux quartzite columns and 50-ft cliffs cut by Split Rock Creek amidst miles of eastern South Dakota farmland define this fantastic state park slightly more than 22 miles north and east of Sioux Falls. Parkgoers love the great climbing, kayaking, and gorgeous hiking trails. 

Named by the early Lakota people "mako sica," today these "land bad" draw adventurers from all across the world to marvel and explore the park's 244,000 acres of wonderfully-colored and other-worldly buttes, canyons, pinnacles and spires. 

This South Dakota state park's epicness often confuses visitors, who frequently refer to it later as a national park. And with all the hiking, climbing, fishing, horseback riding and other outdoor offerings found in the park's 71,000 majestic acres, you can see why. 

One of the oldest known inhabited places in the U.S. — with Indigenous residents potentially as far back as 6,500 B.C. — explorers today will find more than seven miles of trails along the Big Sioux River, across open prairies and rolling hills rewarding them with scenic overlooks of the historical plains.    

The beautiful Black Hills National Forest lovingly swaddle the small town of Spearfish and visitors here are spoiled with outdoor adventure options for all-seasons. Take the scenic byway that connects the town to the nearby Spearfish Canyon State Rec Area for amazing hiking, climbing and fishing or head up Tinton Road to Big Hill for its hiking, biking, and in the winter, cross-country trails. 

The Mighty Mo' (Missouri River) flows through the middle of the state, providing adventurers options all along, and one place it can get real fun is in the sister communities of Pierre and Fort Pierre with their miles and miles of hiking and biking trails, plus all the other amenities the state's capital affords. 

Sometimes, it's purely a numbers game — like 109 miles north-to-south through the heart of the Black Hills, over 100 converted railroad bridges, through four rock tunnels, with a grade that rarely exceeds 4 percent, or online ratings 4.5 stars, 4.8 stars and up. But even though the George S. Mickelson Trail has some impressive stats, no metric can genuinely measure the experience of this epic trail made from an abandoned railroad track bed through some exceptionally beautiful forests. 

For hikers, bikers and horseback riders, places like Fort Meade Rec Area, Pactola Reservoir, Rapid Creek, Spring Creek, French Creek and Wind Cave are worthwhile destinations people covet once they discover. The 111-mile Centennial Trail connects all of them while leading its travelers to sacred Indigenous sites and some prime wildlife habitat (Mount Rushmore National Memorial, too)! Want to experience the Black Hills in its entirety? The Centennial Trail is it.