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United States United States national forest

Black Hills National Forest

Black Hills National Forest U.S. Forest Service · Public domain

49% trees around it and 366 species recorded.

71Forestyas Score

ForestNational forestWildMountain forestBirdsWildlife

  • trees within 3 km49%
  • wild within 10 km99%
  • species recorded366
  • Altitude1,633 m

The forest around

49% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 45%Grassland 34%Bare ground 1%Built-up 20%Trees 50%Grassland 44%Water 0%Bare ground 0%Built-up 5%Trees 48%Grassland 51%Built-up 1%Trees 58%Grassland 41%Water 0%Built-up 0%49%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km45%
  • 1–3 km50%
  • 3–6 km48%
  • 6–10 km58%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees50%
  • Grassland44%
  • Water0%
  • Bare ground0%
  • Built-up5%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

366 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Ponderosa Pine
Ponderosa PinePinus ponderosa21 recordsWalter Siegmund · CC BY 2.5
Lilac penstemon
Lilac penstemonPenstemon gracilis19 recordsKurt Stüber [1] · CC BY-SA 3.0
Woodland pinedrops
Woodland pinedropsPterospora andromedea11 recordsWalter Siegmund · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wild bergamot
Wild bergamotMonarda fistulosa10 recordsHardyplants at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Blackeyed Susan
Blackeyed SusanRudbeckia hirta9 recordsG. Edward Johnson · CC BY-SA 3.0
Prairie sagewort
Prairie sagewortArtemisia frigida9 recordsFranz Xaver · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hairy false goldenaster
Hairy false goldenasterHeterotheca villosa9 recordsMatt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Nodding onion
Nodding onionAllium cernuum8 recordsWalter Siegmund · CC BY-SA 3.0
Common Toadflax
Common ToadflaxLinaria vulgaris8 recordsIvar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sandberg bluegrass
Sandberg bluegrassPoa secunda7 recordsMatt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Kinnikinnick
KinnikinnickArctostaphylos uva-ursi7 recordsWalter Siegmund · CC BY 2.5
Hoary alison
Hoary alisonBerteroa incana7 recordsHardyplants at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

71out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 49%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 99%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 366Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 1,633 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in May and in September.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan0°-10°13 mm
  2. Feb0°-11°18 mm
  3. Mar7°-6°27 mm
  4. Apr11°-2°54 mm
  5. May17°3°90 mm
  6. Jun24°9°71 mm
  7. Jul29°14°61 mm
  8. Aug27°12°49 mm
  9. Sep22°7°40 mm
  10. Oct12°-1°35 mm
  11. Nov5°-5°14 mm
  12. Dec0°-10°14 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Black Hills National Forest.

National forest in South Dakota and Wyoming

Black Hills National Forest is a national forest in United States, 1,633 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 49% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 99% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

366 species have been recorded around it: 183 plants, 35 fungi, 130 birds and 18 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Ponderosa Pine, Lilac penstemon and Woodland pinedrops.

The best time to walk is in May and in September.

Black Hills National Forest - Social 1
Black Hills National Forest U.S. Forest Service · Public domain

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at RAP airport (Rapid City)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Black Hills National Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 1marked trails within 5 kmGeorge S. Mickelson Trail
  • 5picnic sites within 4 km
  • 10shelters and huts within 6 km
  • 2viewpoints within 5 kmSunrise Point, Big Rock Lookout
  • 1visitor centres within 6 kmCrazy Horse Memorial
  • 85car parks within 3 km
  • 22campsites within 10 kmFort Welikit Family Campground, Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort, Custer's Gulch RV Park and Campground and 19 more
  • 23places to stay within 10 kmChalet Motel, Days Inn by Wyndham Custer, EconoLodge Custer and 20 more
  • 21restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Black Hills National Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas53 mountains within 25 km
Custer Mountain1,849 m · 5.4 kmNeedles2,121 m · 7.8 kmMount Coolidge1,832 m · 9.7 kmCicero Peak1,880 m · 11 kmBlack Elk Peak2,208 m · 12 kmBear Mountain2,184 m · 16 kmIron Mountain1,660 m · 16 kmMount Rushmore1,745 m · 16 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
Black Elk PeakBortle 2 · 12 km
Viewyas2 viewpoints within 15 kmComing soon
Mount Coolidge Lookout Tower6,023 m · 9.7 kmBlack Elk Peak Lookout Tower11 km
Cavernyas1 caves within 20 km
Jewel Cave20 km
Riveryasthe river nearby
French Creek100 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Black Hills from Harney Peak
Navin75 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Black Hills 432 751enh pan crop 15 (32745254685)
Pierre Markuse from Hamm, Germany · CC BY 2.0
Black Hills National Forest - Social 3
Black Hills National Forest U.S. Forest Service · Public domain

Other forests nearby.

Black Hills National Forest

United States

  • 71Forestyas Score
  • 49%Trees
  • 99%Wild
  • 366Species

Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest

United States · 238 km

  • 42Forestyas Score
  • 0%Trees
  • 98%Wild
  • 74Species

See the guide

Roosevelt National Forest

United States · 378 km

  • 69Forestyas Score
  • 49%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 217Species

See the guide

Bighorn National Forest

United States · 311 km

  • 42Forestyas Score
  • 16%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 13Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q594965) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species6,918 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Darkskyas, Viewyas, Cavernyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here