Ditch Creek Trail System
Ditch Creek OHV Trail System is a 100-mile designated trail network on the high Limestone Plateau of the Black Hills National Forest in Pennington County, South Dakota, centered approximately 15 miles west of Hill City and accessed via Deerfield Road then Ditch Creek Road from the Deerfield Lake area. The system occupies some of the most scenically distinctive terrain in the Black Hills: high-elevation meadows dotted with granite outcrops, dense aspen groves that turn gold in September, spruce and ponderosa pine forest, and mountain streams cold enough to support trout. Elevations across the system exceed 6,000 feet, producing a cool-season riding climate that extends riding into late October when lower plains parks have already closed for winter. Trail difficulty is varied, some loops are gravel-road rolling terrain, others involve rocky technical single-track through tight aspen stands. A Black Hills Motorized Trail Permit is required for all OHV use; annual and short-term permits are available online and at Black Hills National Forest offices. The permit system funds trail maintenance and enforcement across the entire Black Hills OHV network. Primitive camping is available at Deerfield Lake Campground and dispersed sites in the surrounding national forest.