Trail Rating Guide and Descriptions:

IMPORTANT:  You must have an off highway travel sticker to use the trails in the Black Hills Forest.  These can be ordered via the Forest Service Website or through the local District Offices.

 

Trail ratings are based on the minimum recommended equipment to navigate a trail.  We use a 1 - 10 rating system with 1 being a gravel road and 10 being the most difficult of rock trails.  We currently have 21 approved and mapped trails that range from 3 - 10. The official travel management Forest Service Maps have been released and can be found on the Black Hills Forest Service Website or at the District Offices.  The map obtain from the District Offices are only available in black and white and are difficult to read and match to the trails on the ground.  There are color maps that can be downloaded and printed from the Forest Service’s website that are better and have more detail as to the type of trails displayed.   

 

Below you will find a brief description of each rating, the trails with their ratings next to them, and the corresponding Forest Service Trail Number. 

 

Please respect the ratings; they are in place to make sure your wheeling experience is fun and safe.  Vehicle recovery due to an ill-equipped vehicle can be expensive and may even result in fines.  

 

Trail Ratings:

Rating # 10:         Purpose Built Vehicles
                              Larger then Stock Tires
                              2 Lockers
                              Winch
                              Body Damage Likely

Rating # 8:           Larger then Stock Tires
                              2 Lockers
                              Winch
                              Body Damage Likely

Rating # 6:           Larger then Stock Tires
                              1 Locker or 2 Traction Devices

Rating # 5:           Low Range
                              High Clearance
                              4 Wheel Drive Required

Rating # 4:           High Clearance
                              4 Wheel Drive Required

Rating # 3:           4 Wheel Drive Required

 

Trails:

Captain Crunch -> 10
Fruity Pebbles Rock Gardens -> 8                             
Hal Johns -> 8
T-Back -> 8                                                                          
Bikini -> 8                                                             
Kong -> 7                        
Nasties - Lower -> 6
Fruity Pebbles Bypass -> 6                                           
Got Milk -> 6
Iceman -> 6                                                                        
Jake -> 6
Calamity Canyon -> 5                                      
Vanocker Quarry-> 4
Farmingdale-> 4
Fullsize -> 4                                                                         
Dugan's Prospect -> 4
Moses Hill -> 3                                                   
Polo Peak -> 3                                                   
Raspberry Ridge -> 3
Road to Galena -> 3                                                        
Lost Gulch -> 3