South Dakota trails · Ditch Creek 58
Ditch Creek 58
A 5.4-mile out-and-back in South Dakota, with 230 ft of climbing. Reaches Duck Lake and other lake destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
The climbing leans toward the final third: 45% of the ascent falls between mile 3.6 and mile 5.4. It gives back about 238 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Duck Lake (lake)
- Pole Creek Pond Lake (lake)
Getting there
DITCH CREEK 58 access. About 1 h 41 min drive (53 mi, 8 of them unpaved) from Rapid City. 43.97054, -103.90428 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:39 a.m., the sun rises at 7:08 a.m. and sets at 6:13 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 6:42 p.m. (MDT) — 11 h 05 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 10.7-mile round trip takes roughly 4 h 12 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 11:20 a.m. — 6 h 53 min before sunset.
Loop options
- DITCH CREEK 58 + DITCH CREEK 36 + RED BIRD — 7.6 mi loop, 530 ft gain
- DITCH CREEK 58 + DITCH CREEK 36 + DITCH CREEK 34 — 12.5 mi loop, 1,549 ft gain
- DITCH CREEK 35 + DITCH CREEK 58 — 4.5 mi loop, 288 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Boggy — 3.0 mi
- Snow-2 — 4.3 mi
- Deerfield Lake Loop — 6.5 mi
- Deerfield — 8.4 mi