Lovers Leap Trail – Custer State Park

Lovers Leap Trail at Custer State Park

The Lovers Leap Trail is one of the most popular hikes in Custer State Park. It is located near the Game Lodge on the eastern part of the park. The lollipop loop style trail has great scenic views of the surrounding area and park as well as the namesake, the Lovers Leap Trail. While it isn’t the longest hike, there are some intense sections of elevation gain that may be challenging to some.

Custer State Park

Custer State Park is one of the coolest parks I have seen. There are plenty of hikes, fishing ponds and other things to do but the highlight are the animals. The highlight are the herds of bison that make this park home. Plus, the park is huge with great roads around so people of all activity levels should be able to make their way around and see the wildlife and amazing natural environments of the park. I wrote up a bit more recently about all the animals in my post titled, Custer Park Wildlife Loop.

Getting Started

From the trailhead, the Lovers Leap trail starts with a consistent incline that peaks around a 14% grade for the first two-tenths of a mile. This is through a moderately thick wooded area that on the day I hiked had just been through an intense windstorm with a lot of blowdown. You can see a lot of the damage and snapped trees in the gallery below.

The first two tents of a mile will bring you to the loop part of the trail where you will have the option to head either south for the clockwise tour, or north to complete the trail counter clockwise. I hiked clockwise which turned out to be the more steep side. So if you are looking to knock the elevation out at the beginning this is the way to go.

Heading clockwise, the trail continues uphill with inclines increasing to up to a 17% grade. This last for about another half mile before flattening out. From the top of this hill you really get your first great view of the surrounding hills of South Dakota. After the incline, it feels great to have some clear skies and views above to give yourself a bit of a rest! Following the top of the hill the trail does even out a bit and the incline is much more subtle heading to the Lovers Leap Overlook.

The Lovers Leap

The next half mile of the hike is actually really nice and much flatter. The top of the hill extends across a bit of a ridge and heads to the Lovers Leap Lookout. The lookout is hard to miss as it is a giant rock face that appears through the woods.

The rock has some small spires on it but for the most part is nice and flat making it easy to walk on to see some more great views of the park. There is plenty of room on the rock so you don’t have to get too close to the edges which was important for me, who doesn’t love heights.

The lookout is another great little break and really cool rock formation. It is also the high point of the hike and the rest of the way is mostly downhill. From here, the trail continues through the woods and loops around to the northern part of the trail. It also descends down the hill with a gentler slope that is really nice after going up for so long!

The Back Side

I don’t know if this is a hot take but I actually liked the north side of the hike a lot. There is a flat valley and a creek to follow with some small bridges to cross over. It was pretty dry in the early spring so the creek was pretty low. Unlike the top that was heavily wooded, this lower northern section had more open air sections which was also nice.

While there was some nice open air sections, there are also wooded spots and it was a really nice mix. The loop heads back east towards the trail head and passes by some cabins before starting back up the hill to connect the loop near the trailhead. As you head up the hill, the trees get a little thicker again and the inclines a little harder but for a much shorter distance. Once you connect back with the loop, it is a quick two tenths back to the trail head to finish off a very lovely hike through Custer State Park.

Distance and Elevation

If you don’t have the AllTrails app you might want to check it out, I really love mine. It records your progress and is a great way to search for hikes that are nearby and gives you difficulty measurements. According to AllTrails today’s hike was around 4.35 miles and had a total elevation gain of about 614 feet including undulations. That put the high point at around 4717 feet. I was also moving for a total of 1 hour and 49 minutes.

I am a Pro member of AllTrails and love it. If you are interested in the platform, please consider using my affiliate link for AllTrails. It gives me a small commission with no extra cost to you.

Effort

The Lovers Leap trail at Custer State park was a little more challenging than I expected. The 600 or so feet of elevation is a little misleading, especially if you start clockwise do to some up and down hills that are a tough way to start the hike. While overall the hike doesn’t take a lot of skill, there is that elevation to deal with so I am going to label this one moderate. However, it could be difficult for some.

Terrain

Overall the terrain on the Lovers Leap trail is fairly easy to deal with. The trail is easy to follow and very well established. However, I hiked shortly after a wind storm caused a ton of blowdown on the trails. The rangers did a good job of clearing the big logs but the trails were covered in branches, needles and other debris that made it hard to determine exactly how challenging the terrain was. I would definitely suggest boots or shoes with good traction to deal with the rocks and elevation.

Access to the Lovers Leap Trail

The Lovers Leap Trail is on the east side of Custer State Park, just past the Game Lodge. The trail head is a little hidden behind a building and there are only about half a dozen spots to park. There are no restroom facilities at the trailhead but there are some around the park and at the visitor center. There is a fee to visit Custer State Park of $25 for a 1-7 day pass per vehicle.

Wrapping up the Lovers Leap Trail at Custer State Park

The Lovers Leap Trail at Custer State Park is a nice hike to get some great views of the park and surrounding landscape of South Dakota. I will say that it was way more challenging than I thought it was going to be with the starting elevation but I did really enjoy myself.

The day I hiked was after a pretty severe wind storm that left blown down trees all around the trail. While the big logs were cleaned, the branches and leaves covered much of the trail. I am sure the trial looks a lot different now with all the debris gone but it was definitely interesting to hike after the storm and see how powerful nature really is.

I have added this hike and all of my hikes to the interactive map page you can find here. If you have any suggestions for hikes or comments feel free to email me at fatmanlittletrails@gmail.com or you can follow me on any of the below social media platforms. Happy Hiking!

Gallery from the Lovers Leap Trail at Custer State Park

1 2 ►