Black Elk Peak, the highest natural point in South Dakota and the highest summit in the Black Hills, holds deep spiritual importance for the Lakota, who know the surrounding Pahá Sápa as sacred and associate the mountain with older Lakota names and with Black Elk’s childhood Great Vision. Renamed in 2016 after decades of Lakota advocacy, the peak replaced the earlier Harney Peak name, which had honored General William S. Harney despite his role in a brutal 1855 attack on Sicangu people. The summit also preserves twentieth-century fire lookout and Civilian Conservation Corps stonework, reflecting both Indigenous meaning and later conservation history.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Hill City, South Dakota · USA