Black elk peak trail length professional#

Harney, his commander in a regional military expedition. The mountain was named Harney Peak in 1855 by American Lieutenant Gouverneur K. They considered it a sacred site within the Black Hills, which they call Pahá Sápa and Ȟé Sápa. They dominated this region and occupied the territory at the time of European colonization. This peak was called Hiŋháŋ Káǧa, or, 'Owl maker,' after rock formations that look like owls (and the association of owls with impending death by the Lakota Sioux). The peak's fire lookout tower and the staircase leading to it, as well as a nearby dam and pumphouse, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. This is believed to be the only precise survey that has been made to determine the true elevation of this peak.

Black elk peak trail length professional#

In September 2016, a team of professional surveyors obtained precise GNSS data over the course of two days and found the highest natural rock to be at 7,231.32 feet (2,204.11 m) NAVD88 and a nearby secondary peak located approximately 300 feet south of the lookout tower and unofficially named 'McGillicuddy's Peak', to be slightly lower at 7,229.41 feet (2,203.52 m) NAVD88. Board on Geographic Names, which has jurisdiction in federal lands, officially changed the mountain's name from Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak on August 11, 2016, honoring Black Elk, the noted Lakota Sioux medicine man for whom the Wilderness Area is named. It is also known as Hiŋháŋ Káǧa ('owl-maker' in Lakota) and Heȟáka Sápa ('elk black'). Though part of the North American Cordillera, it is generally considered to be geologically separate from the Rocky Mountains. At 7,244 feet (2,208 m), it is the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The peak lies 3.7 mi (6.0 km) west-southwest of Mount Rushmore. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills National Forest. state of South Dakota and the Midwestern United States. Black Elk Peak is the highest natural point in the U.S.