Scruton, Odakota, and Bear Mountains
Hiking Scruton, Odakota, and Bear Mountains | Camping in the Black Hills | July 2025
After deciding not to stay at Sage Creek Campground, we left the Badlands making our way towards Rapid City and the Black Hills, generally towards Pactola Reservoir and the hope of a dispersed site in the forest. We checked out a few stops around the Reservoir but they were either taken, not level, or generally gave off bad vibes. We ended up driving up into the forest from the Pactola Marina on the South side of the reservoir. Some signs suggested an established campground somewhere down the road past several small cabin communities, but we ended up finding a pull off just off the forest road before we reached anything established.
We don’t often just drive down forest roads hoping to find a spot when there’s nothing listed online, but today it worked out for us. The road had consistent traffic but was relatively quiet and met all our other metrics for a boondocking site. But even better, there was a trail to a firetower just down the road. We set up for the evening and made dinner, but even with our full day of activities in the Badlands, we had several hours of sunlight after we cleaned up after our meal. We decided to walk down the road and to the access road for Scruton Mountain and the Seth Bullock lookout tower. Again, this isn’t something we would normally do — just set off on a 4+ mile hike in the evening — but just settling in for the night now would end up with us just being sad, so we went for it.
It felt good to be out West hiking together and this was an easy enough peak. We walked about a half mile down the forest road to reach the trail. The trail was just the old fire tower access road, well maintained and gentle enough. We spent the time talking and made good time going up, never once stopping for a break, even though it was my first real peak hike in a while. I had spent Curtis’ spring season running and walking on treadmills in hotels with the elevation turned way up, and was glad to find that this really helped me to stay in shape!
After a couple of miles, we rounded the last switchback and summited the peak together . Unfortunately, the tower itself was closed with a high fence around it. Curtis scrambled around to the far side where he found the base of one of the older fire towers, a geocache, and better views, but it was very rocky getting there. Sundown still wasn’t for a while, but we were smarter than to stay out even if the road was easy enough to follow. We made our way back down, scaring up a herd of elk along the way, and then settled in for a peaceful and cool night in the mountains.
The next morning we felt sad, depressed, and despondent, and we had a hard time motivating ourselves, so we took our time getting up and getting ready for the day. We started our morning by driving back to Pactola Reservoir just to walk down to the water, sit and enjoy the scenery and cool air in the shade. Then a kayak passed by with a dog wearing a life jacket sitting in the front, and we broke down all over again.
When we were ready to move on, we made a vague plan for the day and got back on the road. We drove South on US-385 (and made a mental note to not drive this way again because of all the construction and long one-way roads) and eventually started heading West in Hill City into a part of the Black Hills that we had never seen before. Most of the highlights and things we’ve done or heard about before are in the Eastern part of the forest, around Rapid City, Deadwood, Custer, and Hot Springs, so we didn’t know what to expect about the Western side. We were pleased to find that the forest roads were in great condition, and we made our way out to the first hike for today.
Our first hike was for Odakota Mountain, one that is not popular at all and doesn’t technically have an established trail, but is one of the few peaks in the Black Hills that meets Curtis’ prominence goal and he was sure it would have a view. When we had planned this trip to the Black Hills, I had imagined that we would find places to stay or hang out where Curtis could hike and I would hang out at the van in the shade with Charlotte. But with no reason for me to stay back, I decided to join him. Most of his intended route was on forest roads with minimal bushwacking. I was finding that it was easier for me to handle my grief if I was doing something that Charlotte couldn’t do, such as hiking longer distances. Most of our hike was exposed to the sun and rather hot, which also made it easier because I could tell myself she wouldn’t have liked it here anyway.
We parked near a road junction off to the side, sure that we wouldn’t be in anyone’s way because there was no one else up here. We then walked the forest road to another more narrow forest road, crossed a cattle guard, and continued up to the edge of a cliff. Here we had great views of Black Elk Peak, the highest point in SD which we had hiked together in 2017. We recalled hearing a kid at the Badlands say something like “That looks like Mt. Rushmore but without the faces,” and decided that description fit every single one of the peaks we were looking at. From here, there was a bit more of a bushwhack to the actual summit, but I stayed back to enjoy the view longer instead of joining Curtis on that stretch. The best view was at the cliff anyway.
After that, we made our way back to the van and had a light lunch. We continued driving the forest road South until we reached what looked like a good boondocking spot for the night off of the road heading up to Bear Mountain Fire Tower. We found a dispersed spot and set up for the night. We played a few rounds of 5 Crowns and read, and when evening was growing closer and the heat was dying down we made our way a mile up the road to the fire tower. We were able to climb this one up to the landing just below the tower, and enjoyed what views we could see from here. I was proud of myself for having gone from not hiked a peak in months to hiking 3 in 24 hours, and for making it through another day.
Charlotte hiking in the Black Hills, September 2017
