Black Elk Peak, Summit in Black Hills, South Dakota, US

Black Elk Peak is the highest natural point in the Black Hills and in South Dakota, at 7,244 feet (2,208 m), in the Black Elk Wilderness of southern Pennington County. Its summit is a long, fractured ridge of pale gray granite, weathered into rounded spires, knobs and vertical fissures, with bare slabs above sparse evergreen slopes. A small flat-topped stone lookout sits on the crest.

The Lakota Sioux used this mountain for spiritual ceremonies long before European settlers arrived in the region. The official name was changed in 2016 to honor Black Elk after the former name had been considered problematic for decades.

The Lakota know the peak as Hiŋháŋ Káǧa, "owl-maker", after rock formations resembling owls, which they linked to impending death; they also call it Heȟáka Sápa, "elk black". It was renamed Black Elk Peak in 2016 for the Oglala Lakota medicine man Black Elk, who as a boy received his "Great Vision" on this summit and later returned with writer John Neihardt.

The trail begins at Sylvan Lake and runs about 7 miles (11 km) through granite outcrops and pine woods to the summit, where the stone lookout stands. The summit lies 3.7 miles west-southwest of Mount Rushmore. Starting early helps avoid crowds on sunny summer days and often brings clearer views in the morning.

The stone lookout on the crest, its staircase, and a nearby dam and pumphouse were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The tower stands at the end of the summit trail, and a secondary high point about 300 feet south of it was measured slightly lower in a 2016 GNSS survey.