Black Elk Peak

關於

Black Elk Peak, formerly known as Harney Peak, is the highest natural point in the Black Hills mountain range and the U.S. state of South Dakota. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills. The peak lies 3.7 mi (6.0 km) west-southwest of Mount Rushmore. At 7,244 feet (2,208 m), It was once discussed to be a potential candidate for the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, though definitions vary based on geographic classification as the Black Hills are geologically related to the greater Rocky Mountain Front. Lost Mine Peak, in the Chisos Mountains of Texas, lies approximately 16 miles further east based on the measurement of longitude at 103°15'30"W and stands at 7,547 feet (2,300 m). The Black Hills are part of the North American Cordillera and generally considered to be geologically related to the Rocky Mountains and were formed by the same uplift as the other surrounding subranges of the Rocky Mountain Front.

It is also known as Hiŋháŋ Káǧa ('owl-maker' in Lakota) and Heȟáka Sápa ('elk black').

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which has jurisdiction in federal lands, officially changed the mountain's name from Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak on August 11, 2016, honoring Black Elk, the noted Lakota Sioux medicine man and Catholic Servant of God for whom the Wilderness Area is named.

In September 2016, a team of professional surveyors obtained precise GNSS data over the course of two days and found the highest natural rock to be at 7,231.32 feet (2,204.11 m) NAVD88 and a nearby secondary peak located approximately 300 feet south of the lookout tower and unofficially named "McGillicuddy's Peak", to be slightly lower at 7,229.41 feet (2,203.52 m) NAVD88. This is believed to be the only precise survey that has been made to determine the true elevation of this peak.

The peak is home to the Harney Fire Lookout on the summit at the end of the trail. The tower and the staircase leading to it, as well as a nearby dam and pumphouse, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.