Sunday Gulch Trailhead — Attraction in South Dakota

Ok. So I am reluctant to give a hiking trail 3 stars (especially since the park workers have done a wonderful job of maintaining this trail and were hard at work at the base of the gulch when we walked by) BUT we did not have such a good time on the back half of this trail. We had read that it was 2.8 miles and strenuous but after a rough 3.3 hours (and no more water or snacks) we reached the other side of the loop only to discover that we'd walked closer to 4.5 miles. My partner and I are no strangers to hiking, but the amount of preparation for a 2.8 mile hike is quite different than that for a 4.5 mile hike. By the time we finished this hike we were not able to get to the next thing on our itinerary. We should've known what we were getting ourselves into when we'd meet people on the handrail portion of the trail saying "you're gonna do the WHOLE trail?!" However, it is beautiful and we saw a variety of Black Hills flora and fauna on our hike.

My suggestion would be to do the fun hike down the handrails (which is just off of the Sylvan lake trailhead) and then turn around and come back up the way you came--a 30 minute ordeal. Otherwise, treat the "whole trail" like a half day trip: bring multiple liters of water, pack a lunch to eat at the waterfall at the base of the gulch right before you start to head back uphill (equivalent to about 80 flights of stairs according to my Fitbit) and...

Hiked this yesterday - 6-28-18. Best hike I’ve done in a long time! This felt like the longest 4 miles I’ve done in a while (I mean that in the best way possible). About half of the trail is maneuvering over rocks, crossing streams and going up and down hills. I managed to complete the whole trail without getting my feet wet, woo! There are some muddy patches of the trail that were a little difficult to go around without stepping in it but I did it. I did see a snake. It was probably about an inch in diameter and maybe 2 feet long. It was all black and it slithered into the bushes so fast I wasn’t able to identify it. Almost completely certain it wasn’t a rattlesnake. Other than that, I didn’t see any wildlife. The trail gets close to the highway in a few spots. Beautiful trail. I highly recommend starting the trail on the west side of the lake so you can save what I think is the most beautiful part of the trail for last. The last part of the trail is a lot of crossing streams and jumping over big boulders while being surrounded on all sides of some towering rocks. Extremely beautiful. Bring lots of...

This hike is not just a little stroll through the woods. We consider ourselves pretty physically active but this was challenging for us. There are many rocks and tree roots to climb over. There’s spots where it’s beautiful, and spots along the trail that are actually quite boring (forest trails, road noise, etc.)... I wouldn’t go on this hike unless you consider yourself pretty physically fit, up for an adventure, and have fresh legs for the day. We have done this hike clockwise twice. However, the last time we did the hike we were unable to complete it due to the dangerous steep rocks that need to be climbed towards the very end. It would be best to go down the rocks at the beginning instead of climbing up them at the very end with tired legs. There’s very limited cell phone service (with Verizon). Bring more water than you expect you would need. Our second time doing this hike we had to turn around towards the end (the steep rocky part) due to the dangerous conditions (slippery!) and retrace our footsteps on the hike, after a long day, this was exhausting. Be careful on this hike, it was...