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South Dakota
Bear Butte State Park
- Established
- 1961
- Acreage
- 1,900 · ~1,900 acres centered on a 4,426-ft laccolith mountain
- Location
- Meade County, SD (near Sturgis, northeast of the Black Hills)
- Key features
- Bear Butte (Mato Paha) — a sacred laccolith mountain rising 1,200 ft above the plains; sacred site to Lakota, Cheyenne and other Plains tribes; summit trail; prayer cloths/bundles
- Activities
- Hiking (Summit Trail), wildlife viewing (bison herd), interpretive center, religious/cultural observation, camping at adjacent Bear Butte Lake
- Notable
- Sacred mountain visited by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull; still an active spiritual center where prayer flags and bundles are hung in the trees
Visits
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Source: gfp.sd.gov · 2026-05-11