Parking
Use the Washington-side Mount Rushmore parking facility; the Blackberry Trailhead is directly across SD-244. Parking charges may apply, so check current arrangements.
Overview
About Blackberry Trail
Why go
- A creek, small water crossings and a wooden bridge add variety to a short forest hike.
- Two picnic tables sit along the route.
Heads up
- The route descends first, so the return is an uphill walk.
- The narrow gravel tread is not suitable for strollers.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Mount Rushmore map
Full mapElevation4,931–5,203 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Mount Rushmore alert
- ClosureHighway 16A Closure in KeystoneHighway 16A is closed at its intersection with South Dakota Highway 40 in Keystone; follow the detour.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Rushmore Tour Guide
Your drive to Blackberry Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Rushmore National Memorial. 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
Blackberry Trailhead: Creek Walk or Lake Hike0:00 / 0:24
“Up ahead is the Blackberry Trailhead, across Highway two forty-four from the memorial parking facility.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Mount Rushmore Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Grand View Terrace and the Visitor Complex
- Washington's Profile View
- A Record for the Distant Future
- Wrinkled Rock Climbing Area
- 5 audio storiesacross Mount Rushmore’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Mountain Goat, Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, and 7 more
- Works offlinemaps, 8 trails, 18 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 Blackberry Trail
A short creek walk, with a climb backBlackberry Trail is a gravel out-and-back from the Washington-side Mount Rushmore trailhead to…
Blackberry Trail is a gravel out-and-back from the Washington-side Mount Rushmore trailhead to the Centennial Trail junction at the memorial boundary. The mapped tread is about 0.76 mile each way, so walking the whole trail and returning is about 1.5 miles; you may also see it described as one mile. Allow 30–60 minutes. It suits a visitor looking for a brief forest walk after the memorial, with a creek and bridge along the way. The climb back makes it more than a flat stroll.
Down through the treesThe roughly two-foot-wide fine-gravel path drops into a small valley among ponderosa pine,…
The roughly two-foot-wide fine-gravel path drops into a small valley among ponderosa pine, quaking aspen and Black Hills spruce. Its maximum grade is 10%. Near the bottom, the trail follows a small creek toward the park boundary, with several small water crossings and a wooden bridge. Two picnic tables and horse tie-up stations are along the route; equestrians also use the trail, so be ready to share the tread.
At the Centennial junctionThe standalone Blackberry outing turns around where the path meets the Centennial Trail at the…
The standalone Blackberry outing turns around where the path meets the Centennial Trail at the park boundary. Continue farther and you are on a longer hike, not the Blackberry Trail alone. The return retraces the downhill approach as an uphill walk. Look through the pines on the way back for views of Mount Rushmore.
Access and footingThe trailhead is directly across SD-244 from the Washington side of Mount Rushmore’s parking…
The trailhead is directly across SD-244 from the Washington side of Mount Rushmore’s parking facility. The trail has no activity fee, though parking charges may apply at the memorial; check current arrangements before you go. Dogs are allowed on leashes shorter than six feet. The narrow gravel trail is not suitable for strollers.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Mount Rushmore
88 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
44 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
20 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
14 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around 1 PMSighting map
32 sightingsMarmotMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
11 sightingsBrook TroutMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Rushmore. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
