Black Hills National Forest · South Dakota, Wyoming

Hell Canyon

5.3 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 32 · trail class 3 · typical grade 12-20% · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, horse, bike

Trailhead Hell Canyon Trailhead Drive there

Hell Canyon Trailhead the Forest Service's write-up

A placeholder image
Photo: US Forest Service

Hell Canyon Trail Brochure

Located west of Custer, SD, the Hell Canyon trail follows a bench below limestone cliffs and provides outstanding views of Hell Canyon and the surrounding area.

Download

Hell Canyon Avenza Digital Map

This trail is maintained for hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. No motorized use is allowed. There is a 1/2 of mile of trail that climbs at a steep slope with one switchback until you top out on the limestone crest. The last 2 miles follows a two-track road along the bottom of Hell Canyon drainage.

The Hell Canyon Trailhead is located approximately 16 miles west of Custer, SD and has a parking lot that fits several vehicles but is not big enough for larger trailers. A bulletin board is on site with information and maps available to the public.

Directions: From Custer, SD the Hell Canyon Trailhead is approximately 11 miles west on Highway 16.

This trailhead on fs.usda.gov

Every trail in Black Hills National Forest

All 535 trails in Black Hills National ForestFind a trailForest on fs.usda.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.