St. Elmo peak is a standout, inextricably in the mix of the orogenic riot assembled at the Black Hills' granite core, just across Sunday Gulch from Sylvan and Black Elk Peaks, Elkhorn Mountain, Little Devil's Tower and the Needles.
SD 89 cuts it off from its compatriots. For that reason, and the lack of a dedicated, signed hiking trail, far fewer people gaze across the gulch from this vantage.
Given South Dakotans' musical tastes, you might think fond memories of John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" would power Chevro-legs to a place where maybe you can "see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky," and be "where the eagle's flying higher and higher."
The phenomenon called St. Elmo's fire occurs when the electrically charged atmosphere around a pointed structure such as a ship's mast creates luminous plasma, resulting in a blue glow that sailor's saw as a good omen, or a sign that their patron Saint was their guide.
Was St. Elmo's Peak so named due to some mysterious fluorescence?
Your SDPB Outdoors correspondent questioned this and whether to categorize St. Elmo's as off-trail. A trail exists, but it's unofficial, unsigned, and starts along a gated Forest Service Road, so maybe this qualifies.
To get there, less than a quarter mile Northeast of Oreville campground on Hwy 385, turn Southeast on Forest Service 213 and park near the gate. About a half mile down, take a left on another, unimproved road.
After roughly another half mile, you'll come to a trail, presently marked with a cairn (around 43.88005, -103.59833). Though off the maps and unmarked, this trail is walked frequently enough to be well-worn. From here, you'll climb most of the hike's 1,073 feet elevation gain in less than three quarters of a mile, flanked by poison ivy most of the way. Near the top, there's a large toadstool rock shelter to hunker under in case of a hail storm.
If you're looking for a short exercise hike you could do every morning before you clock in at your soul-crushing desk job in Hill City's financial district, the St. Elmo stack is hard to beat. What it's not is just you communing with Mama Earth. The soundtrack is cars zipping down the 385. That's the trade-off for a 6,500 foot look at the heart of the Hills in under an hour.