South Dakota trails · Newton 36
Newton 36
A 9.7-mile out-and-back in South Dakota, with 1,063 ft of climbing. Reaches Thompson Reservoir. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
The climbing leans toward the final third: 51% of the ascent falls between mile 6.5 and mile 9.7. It gives back about 1,516 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Thompson Reservoir (lake)
Heads up
Getting there
NEWTON 36 access. About 1 h 00 min drive (38 mi, 5 of them unpaved) from Rapid City. 44.03863, -103.67561 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:38 a.m., the sun rises at 7:07 a.m. and sets at 6:12 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 6:41 p.m. (MDT) — 11 h 05 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 19.5-mile round trip takes roughly 8 h 17 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 3:24 p.m. — 2 h 48 min before sunset.
Loop options
- NEWTON 34 + NEWTON 36 + NEWTON 26 — 4.5 mi loop, 841 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Deerfield — 4.1 mi
- Deerfield Lake Loop — 6.2 mi
- Snow-2 — 8.4 mi
- Centennial On Mystic — 11.8 mi