Snowshoe & Cross-country Ski Trails
A friend – who lives on the flatlands of eastern South Dakota – emailed me earlier this week with questions about the region’s cross country ski trails. She’s coming out to the Black Hills next week with her family, is an avid cross-country skier, but isn’t all that familiar with the ski trails available in the Black Hills region. She asked where they could go to ski when they get out here. My answer was “anywhere you want.”
With so much public land here in the region – a person literally can hike, snowshoe, ski and explore just about anywhere that is not posted as private land. To be slightly more helpful to her though, I sent my friend the following Black Hills National Forest listing of some of the more popular (and maintained) trail systems for cross-country skiing.
- Central Hills – Rapid City
- Northern Hills-Spearfish
- Northwestern Hills – Sundance
- Southern Hills – Custer
Personally, I’m more of a snowshoe guy myself, so I tend to be drawn to the lesser developed areas. However, many of these cross-country ski areas also have separate, snowshoe routes in the same area as the ski routes.
The carefully groomed cross-country ski trails can get buggered up pretty quickly by snowshoes tromping down the same path. Skinny cross-country skis don’t exactly agree with the big, round tracks made by snowshoes. So, if you choose to explore any of these areas on snowshoes – be sure to pay attention to any separate routes or tracks that might be available for you.
Whichever winter recreation sport you choose, stay safe and have fun.
