Centennial Trail (SD) Day 6: Miles 83-102

On the Sixth Day

We had a very slow start finishing our 3-4 mile hike to Dalton Trailhead. We were quite surprised that the campsite didn’t have a spigot of any kind. The guidebook said that there wouldn’t be, but other campsites that said the same, incorrectly. I proceeded to spend almost an hour filtering, as we were quite low. The break was appreciated by both members though. 

Dalton Lake to Elk Creek

Dalton to Elk Creek  went smoothly enough (12.5 miles, 2300 ft elevation gain). The first half we were on edge for the majority of the switchbacks because we saw some pretty fresh cougar prints. Right before the road we took a lunch break. Within a minute of us starting up again it rained hard for like 6 minutes. Not too big a deal but it made our stuff heavier and made it a lot more sweaty with increased humidity. The second half was a lot of ups and downs going in and out of stream crossings (all dry,) but with some incredible views! We got some sheer cliff faces, our first views of the plains, and the beginning of some smoke. 

With a final mile felt like an eternity, we took our last stop of the day at Elk Creek Trailhead. We had left our water resupply there, so we snagged that and talked with a guy named Mason who had started NOBO a day or two ahead of us. He was also from the Twin Cities area! After lending us a bit of his leftover water, he took off a little before us, and we didn’t see him again that day.

Final Push

It was at this point that we decided to see if we could get a campsite at Alkali Creek the next day, drop our stuff off, and hike to the base of Bear Butte the next day to get my car and drive back. We didn’t have a specific plan on how long we wanted this day vs the next day to be. We ended up pushing another 4 miles and stopped just shy of Bulldog Gulch. Pretty easy hiking to end the day (850ish ft elevation gain.) We were excited for tomorrow to be our last full day of hiking!