Thru Hike of the Centennial Trail with EXPERT Gear and Tips before you go

I recently thru hiked the Centennial Trail in South Dakota. With every trail, it’s good practice to gather information about the trail prior to heading out. The element (joy) of surprise and leaving room for adventure can be good too, but navigational tips and safety items such as where one can find water on the trail is standard for many backpackers. This is my attempt at offering a few tips and lessons learned that I gained during my hike. 

As far as thru hikes go, this is a short one. It’s 124 miles. The trail is in the Black Hills on the western side of South Dakota. 

It took me a week to hike this trail. Doing the math, that’s about 18 miles per day on average. Some do it in less time but most people take more time. Do it at whatever pace makes sense to you. 

It wasn’t my first time on this trail, but it was the first time I did the entire trail in one go. 

There is no official trail organization website for this trail. But, there are a few guide books anyone can pick up on Amazon or at a South Dakota local outfitters store.

I haven’t read any of these books, so I can’t really recommend any one of them. But, I’ve heard generally good things. So, if you are a guide book person, these resources are a great start to the trail. 

My information came from YouTube and other social media groups. Plus, I’ve hiked in the area previous to my thru hike, so, I was already somewhat familiar.

This is not a comprehensive review of the trail or my gear, but I do want to point out a few things that I think everyone should be aware of before starting this trail. And then I’ll get into a few gear items. 

Logistics

It’s a point-to-point thru hike, so you’ll need to figure out what direction you want to go and how to satisfy your transportation needs. I drove from Colorado, parked my Jeep at the northern terminus at Bear Butte State Park, and then paid for a shuttle ride to the southern terminus to start my hike. Then I hiked back to my Jeep.

It’s a 2 hour drive from end to end. The shuttle service I took was through a place called Roamin’ Around. There are other services, but Roamin’ Around seems the be the most popular. You may also know someone in the area who could give you a ride. 

If you are one to hitch hike just know that the southern terminus trailhead is in Wind Cave National Park where it is illegal to hitch hike. So, the last few miles will be some road walking. Or maybe you’re not so much of a purist, which means you could start outside of the National Park, maybe at Highland Creek Trailhead. 

Parking at Bear Butte State Park Education Center will cost $15 at the entrance to the park for those who are not a South Dakota residence. It’s a bit less for those who are. Make sure you have a pen to fill out the form and cash on hand. If you are getting a shuttle ride from Roamin’ Around, they will put their placard on your dashboard so the folks at the State Park know that you are a thru hiker. In spite of what the registration form reads, you only need to pay the fee for one day to park your car there for the time you’ll be on trail. 

The reason I decided to go northbound was because the parking at Bear Butte is more secure than it is at the southern terminus. 

Another tip is to avoid hiking the section of the trail that is shared with off road vehicles; from around mile 70-85. I was there on memorial weekend and I had to deal with nearly 60 of them. I heard, however, that they’ve started plans to build a single track trail around this section so you aren’t competing with the traffic. 

My last note on logistics is to be fully aware that, for north-bounders, the last mile is one of the toughest miles on the trail – climbing 1000 feet in elevation over a mile up to Bear Butte summit. I would advise making the last day a lower mileage day so you have plenty in the tank for the final summit.

A side note about the historical significance of this whole trail: For generations before the U.S. expansion in the 1800’s, the whole Black Hills area was a sacred place for several Native American tribes. And Bear Butte is an especially significant place that is still used today for prayer and worship. It was and still is a place of pilgrimage, vision quests, sweat lodges, and other ceremonies. You’ll see prayer cloths and tobacco ties on the trees almost the entire way up the mountain. So, when you’re on this trail and especially when you are up on that mountain, just show a little respect and be aware of the history of the place. The Bear Butte Education Center is a great source of information that anyone should appreciate. 

Pre and Post Hike Lodging

I stayed at the Sturgis Motel, it’s a 15 minute drive to Bear Butte from there. It’s inexpensive, clean, the staff is great, it’s just a few blocks from anything you’ll need while you’re in town. Don’t expect 5-star services, it’s not that kind of place. But it had everything I needed to crash for the night. 

Navigation 

At the time I’m writing this, there is no Far Out Map for this trail. There might be soon, as I understand it’s currently being negotiated. But until then, there are other options. I used the Avenza app with GPS files I bought from Roamin’ Around. 

One could easily just use their Garmin or other GPS device, All Trails, Gaia, or even paper maps. However, the Avenza maps have markers for key points along the trail that I found useful – like, nearby towns and restaurants, services, elevation profiles, etc. 

The trail is marked well in most places. But I did need to use my GPS to get around some of the logging activity and in a couple places where the markings weren’t great.

Maps aren’t always great for identifying reliable water sources. There’s a crowd-sourced spreadsheet that I found on the Facebook group that identifies water sources, some that are not on maps. The spreadsheet also indicates the reliability of each source with recent notes. This is where I discovered the 24 mile segment that doesn’t have a water reliable source; which led me to cache a gallon of water at the Elk Creek Trailhead. 

Wildlife

Wild bison roam the southern end of the trail. These majestic grazers can be dangerous if you get too close to them. Just keep a wide girth and let them go wherever they want at whatever speed they want. There are some tragic stories about people who treated wild bison as if they were just big cows. They behave much differently and are often more aggressive than cows. So, don’t make that mistake. They are not just big cows. 

I saw plenty of deer, rabbits, squirrels. 

There are about a dozen black bear sightings per year in the Black Hills. In an area of this size with as many people who visit the area every year, we can easily say that seeing a black bear along this trail would be very unusual. But, take the appropriate precautions with your food anyway; if for no other reasons but to keep rodents away. 

I talked with a few people that saw some elk. There are around 6000 in those hills. 

So, this trail has some great wildlife encounter opportunities. 

Food

I underestimated the number of food stops along the way and consequently ended up carrying more food than I needed. Below is a list of places you can stop along the way to get a meal. Of course, all of these have times of the year they are open with specific operating hours, so look them up before you go to see if they’ll work out for you. 

1. Legion Lake (around mile 21) has a lodge with a restaurant. This is right on trail if you take the alternate to the lake like I did.
2. Mount Rushmore (take the cutoff around mile 32.4) has a cafe and other vendors. This one is a little over a half mile off trail and up about 250 feet in elevation.
3. Sheridan Lake has a convenience store at the marina (cutoff around mile 50.6). I didn’t stop at this one either. It’s about a mile off trail and it’s probably not worth the detour unless you’re desperate for a soda.
4. Pactola Reservoir has broasted chicken and other items at the Marina shop. It’s a little over 2 miles off trail from around mile 61.6. I didn’t go to this one either.
5. Whispering Pines Campground has frozen pizzas and a few other snacks. It’s not a great place to resupply. Take the cutoff around mile 67.4 and then turn left and follow the road; it’s about a half mile off trail.
6. Nemo Mercantile (cutoff around mile 79.4 – it’s a half mile or so off trail) has a restaurant. They don’t have a fryer, but they do have sandwiches and a few grill items. This is the only convenient place along trail to resupply if you are looking for a fairly well stocked store.
7. One could hitch into Sturgis from Fort Meade to get some food at mile 116. But this is less then 10 miles from the end of the trail.

I did one resupply by dropping off a resupply box at Whispering Pines on my way to the start of the trail the day prior to starting. And while I was on trail, I stayed in one of their very affordable cabins. They publish that they will hold resupply packages for a $10 fee, but they didn’t charge me for that. Maybe it was because I rented a cabin; I’m not sure; I didn’t ask. Very nice people run the place. It was a good stay. You can do laundry there, take a shower, and they’ll even cook up a frozen pizza for you. 

My Gear

My full gear list is on my website. In this article I’ll just point out a few items worth mentioning. 

• I wore shorts for the first time on a long hike. I’m not really a shorts guy, but I was trying this out because I’m starting to get too much chaffing in the heat with long pants; and I knew there was not going to be a lot of biting bugs on this trail in the early spring. I’m glad I wore them. I stayed cool and got just a couple scrapes on my legs – no biggie.
• And I’m also glad I bought my rain pants for those cool mornings and windy ridges.
• I used my sewing kit for the first time ever on a hike. This is one of those items we could carry forever and never use it. But, when we need it, we really need it. This was the case on this trip; one of my cinch straps broke on my pack. My kit is homemade. It’s a curved needle tucked into a small correlated piece of cardboard with thread wrapped around the cardboard. It worked perfectly.
• This trail is perfect for hammock campers. There are a few areas where it’s tough to find a place to hang. But I would say 80-90% of the trail is well suited for hammocks.
• I’m still testing my Pachallama Stakes – these are 2-gram stakes made out of carbon fiber. They have glow in the dark tops that make them easy to find. It got breezy a few times on this trail. The stakes held strong. These things continue to impress.
• I used my OneWind silnylon poncho on this trip. It’s been a long time since I took a poncho on a longer trail. Of course, ponchos aren’t the best in windy conditions, but this one has enough velcro, clips, and straps to mostly make up for the typical poor performance in the wind. And I really like the coverage it gives me. It goes down to just below my knees and it covers my pack. I think I’ll be doing a couple mods on this to help keep it even more stable in the wind. 
  • I changed to a poncho on this trip for all the reasons rain jackets don’t work: they don’t vent well so we eventually get wet on the inside and outside (if it’s warm outside) and they don’t cover my pack. So what happens far too often is that at the end of the day I’m wet and my pack is wet. This has happened with every rain jacket I’ve ever owned. Sure, I use a pack liner and I could use a pack cover – which, have problems of their own. But if I have a way of keeping me and my pack dry at the same time, I’m going to give it a good test. In the past it’s worked well for me – except for the wind problem. I just wanted to give it another go.
• I recently switched to mylar food bags for my homemade dehydrated food. These promise to be tougher against punchers and they are far more heat resilient. I liked them for both those reasons – but the size they call a quart is too deep and a challenge to eat from, even with a long spoon. So, I ordered the next smaller size for my next trip.
• My new Garmin Messenger Plus was great! The battery life is WAY better than my Garmin Inreach Explorer Plus. I was tracking every 30 min and sending at least one message every day. It used less than 10% of the battery life per day. But on the first day I had it connected to my phone via Bluetooth all day. And even in Airplane mode it burned up about half of my phone battery every day. After the first day I turned off my Bluetooth connection and only turned it on at the end of the day so I could use the Garmin app on my phone, which is much easier than using the menu and small screen. I guess I just didn’t realize how much of a drain a Bluetooth connection is on my phone. It was good trip to learn that lesson.
• For a battery bank, I only brought a 10KmaH battery and I only used it once. With as many places along this trail there is with convenient outlets, I just didn’t need it until the last leg of the trail. I charged up at Iron Creek Horse Camp the first night. Topped off again at Mount Rushmore and again at Whispering Pines. I could have done the same at Nemo Mercantile. So, unless you have a lot of electronics or if you are not planning on stopping anywhere, a 10KmaH bank or less will be fine.

Summary

The Centennial Trail is an awesome short thru-hike! It’s great for those who want to try a long trail but don’t want to or can’t take on something like the PCT. It’s challenging, diverse, remote enough to get some solitude, but close enough to get off trail quickly in case of emergencies. It’s centrally located in the U.S. The community around the trail is excellent. It’s just a great option for a lot of reasons. Be sure to check out the 2-part video series I posted on this trail. 

And go to the website to get my full gear list. 

Have fun out there!