Sunday Gulch Trail

Sunday Gulch Trail is widely regarded as the most thrilling and physically demanding short hike in Custer State Park, descending steeply into a narrow granite canyon carved by Sunday Gulch Creek below the famous Sylvan Lake. The trail begins at Sylvan Lake's southern shore and immediately plunges into the gulch via a series of iron rungs, wooden ladders, and carved rock steps bolted to the canyon walls, a descent that requires genuine scrambling and confident footing on wet granite. The creek roars through the canyon bottom, channeled between smooth pink granite boulders that hikers must hop and wade to navigate the gorge.

The canyon bottom is a micro-climate world apart from the ponderosa pine forest above, shaded and cool even on hot summer days, with mosses and ferns clinging to the perpetually damp rock faces. Massive granite boulders fill the creek bed, many the size of small houses, creating cascades, pools, and natural arches that reward careful exploration. The trail climbs out of the gulch via switchbacks cut into the granite slope, rejoining the Sylvan Lake shoreline trail for the return to the trailhead. The loop is not recommended for dogs due to the ladder sections, and wet conditions make the rock surfaces genuinely hazardous. Hiking poles are a significant asset. One of the premier adventure hikes in the Black Hills.