Parking
Use the marked French Creek Trailhead parking. The loop begins some distance from the parking point; confirm the connector at the trailhead and allow for an approach walk.
Overview
About 2 Hour Trail Loop
Why go
- A complete loop without a long mileage commitment.
Heads up
- The connector from parking and trail-specific footing are not clearly described.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Custer map
Full mapElevation4,678–5,016 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Custer Tour Guide
Your drive to 2 Hour Trail Loop, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Custer State Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
French Creek Horse Camp: A Base for Riders0:00 / 0:27
“You're nearing French Creek Horse Camp on North Lame Johnny Road. This is a creekside base for visitors camping with horses, with two corrals at each site and riding routes from camp.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Custer Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Bat's Feeding Buzz
- The Squirrel’s Winter Store
- Blue Bell: Creekside Dining and Horseback Rides
- A Fuzzy Sign of Spring
- 82 audio storiesacross Custer’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bison, Wapiti, Bighorn Sheep, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 40 trails, 49 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“We recently toured Badlands, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and more! We learned so much from this app as we toured each of these sites. The audio tours are worth the money.”
Trail guide
Hiking 2 Hour Trail Loop
A compact French Creek loopThe 2 Hour Trail Loop is about 2.
The 2 Hour Trail Loop is about 2.1 miles as a complete circuit in the Blue Bell and French Creek trail network. Allow around 1.5 hours for the loop itself. It is a good fit when you want a shorter named walk while exploring this side of the park.
Keep the routes straightThe shorter 1 Hour Loop and Colt route sit nearby. Follow the trail names at each junction.
The shorter 1 Hour Loop and Colt route sit nearby. Follow the trail names at each junction. French Creek Trailhead is the nearest marked parking access, but the mapped loop begins some distance from the parking point and its connector is not clearly described; confirm the approach at the trailhead and allow extra walking.
Share the trailThis is part of a multi-use trail network, so watch for other trail users and follow posted…
This is part of a multi-use trail network, so watch for other trail users and follow posted restrictions. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than 10 feet. Custer State Park requires an entrance license.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Custer
993 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
91 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
258 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
85 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
256 sightingsBurroMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
707 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Custer. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
