Despite a late start on what ended up being a rainy morning, we managed to get out of the house and over to the Black Hills to check out a hiking area we’ve been eyeing since we moved to the area called Buzzard’s Roost.

The multiple trails in this area can be connected into various loops and are accessible to both hikers and mountain bikers. We didn’t see any bikes during our hike and only a handful of other hikers despite the perfect mid-day weather.

There was some construction activity taking place on the hillside to our left so we ended up scrapping our pre-planning and designing our route to avoid the temporary trail closures.

We hiked up North Buzzard and then stayed to the right to catch Jack’s Trail up to Mary’s Trail where we again headed right in order to take the Buzzard’s Roost Lookout spur. These trails were fairly well marked, rocky, and clear of the nearby grass and flowers, making for an easy climb to the top.

We ended up timing things perfectly and had the roost to ourselves as we took in the incredibly clear views of the hills.

Despite the lookout’s name, we didn’t spot a single buzzard!

We hiked back the Sundown Trail, which was fairly wooded and rocky with quite a few overgrown areas. Having taken note of the rattlesnake warning signs at the trailhead, we were both spending more time watching our step than taking in the surrounding area as we navigated back to the parking lot.

Overall our loop clocked in at 2.7 miles / 4.34 km and 425 feet / 130 m in gain. We will definitely be back to tackle some of the longer sections and check out the other Black Hills overlooks.