Chasing Views on Coon Hollow Loop
Coon Hollow Loop is a nice trail located within 15 miles of Rapid City, SD. To get to the trailhead, take Hwy 16 south out of Rapid City you will pass the Rockerville exit and then take a right on Silver Mountain Rd. The trailhead will be on your right. There is plenty of parking at the trailhead but no bathroom.
Since the trail is a loop you can go either way. We started the trail to the east of the parking lot and continued in a counter clockwise loop. If you start from the west side of parking area, you could avoid the steep climb. I might try that way next time!
The trail starts on a single track with plenty of shade. We had 5 boys with us so they took off at a good pace, but it wasn’t long before we caught up to them. The trail turns rocky and gets pretty steep around a quarter mile in.
That is really the only steep area on the entire trail, once you get past that, the trail turns to a rolling path through the forest.
There were plenty of wildflowers along the trail and even some wild raspberries that the kids loved!
Around a mile or so, you will get some nice views through the trees.
There are a couple of areas where the trail forks, if you stay on the main single track trail and do not cross any roads, you will be on the right path. This is part of the 12 mile Flume trail, so if you choose the wrong trail, you could end up going a lot farther than you had planned! (And definitely remind the kids to stay close to avoid getting lost. Not that we lost one of the boys with us that day. Nope. Did not happen.)
Most of the trail is shaded, so don’t be afraid to tackle this one on a warm day. The day we went there was just a couple of puddles in the creek, but I would imagine that would be flowing on wetter years or earlier in the spring.
