The Elk Mountains are a small range of mountains in western

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

, forming the southwest portion of the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...

as part of its west-dipping monocline. They are geologically distinct from the Black Hills, on the other side of a "racetrack" region of red stone. The ridge of the Elk Mountains is formed of harder sandstones. The east face of the Elk Mountains is a high

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

, but the west portion falls slowly and features many canyons. Most of the Elk Mountains were protected in the

Harney National Forest Harney National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in South Dakota and Wyoming on July 1, 1911, with from part of Black Hills National Forest and other lands. On July 1, 1954, the entire forest was added to Black Hills and the na ...

until 1954, when this protected area joined the

Black Hills National Forest Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km²) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are locate ...

. Today the large South Dakota portion of the mountain range is in the Hell Canyon District of the Black Hills National Forest, while the much smaller Wyoming portion lies in the Bearlodge District. The Elk Mountains are one of three mountain ranges that comprise the Black Hills region and national forest, including the Black Hills itself and Wyoming's Bear Lodge Mountains. Elk Mountain is the highest point of the range and has a lookout tower on its summit. Other peaks include Pilger Mountain and Sullivan Peak. Few people live in or near the Elk Mountains. The closest town is Edgemont, South Dakota, to the south. Tiny unincorporated Dewey and ghost town Burdock lie to the west. Ten miles to the northwest is Newcastle, Wyoming.

Habitat

'' Pinus ponderosa'' trees are predominant with nearly complete undergrowth of ''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...

heliophila''.

Gallery

File:Elk Mountains (South Dakota) 04.jpg, Elk Mountain from prairie File:Elk Mountain fire lookout tower 02.jpg, Elevation sign at lookout tower File:Elk Mountain fire lookout tower 01.jpg, Elk Mountain fire lookout tower

References

{{Mountains of South Dakota Black Hills Mountain ranges of South Dakota Mountain ranges of Wyoming Landforms of Custer County, South Dakota Landforms of Fall River County, South Dakota