Horse Thief Lake South Dakota: A Quick Stop Near Mount Rushmore

When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. See our Affiliate Policy. After spending about 40 minutes at Mount Rushmore National Memorial (and being kind of disappointed with it), we got back in the car and continued our cross-country drive toward Yellowstone which was still about 7 hours away. Instead of driving straight through and only stopping for gas, we like to pull off at places that look interesting or just plain nice along the way. We came across one of those spots just two miles west of Mount Rushmore along the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (though there are quite a few things to see in the Black Hills). It was just after 2pm on January 3rd, 2021 and the weather was actually pretty nice for that time of year with temperatures in the mid-30s, blue skies, and clear roads, with snow mostly sitting along the sides and across parts of the Black Hills. The Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway was clear during our January visit Just a little snow dusting in the Black Hills As we drove just enjoying the scenery, the frozen Horse Thief Lake (named because a gang of horse thieves operated there) with a small parking lot along the side of the road caught our eye. We hadn’t planned to stop again so soon, but thought this was worth a quick detour. A Completely Different Experience from Mount Rushmore After leaving the structured visit at Mount Rushmore where the paths and viewpoints are defined and everything is set up for you to walk through, take it in and move on (and buy souvenirs), it was nice to step out a little into the Black Hills for a bit. It was just us on the trail, with just the crunch of snow under our boots and the wind blowing through the trees. A couple of ice fishers were out on the lake, too. There were a couple ice fisher out on the frozen lake I’m not an ice expert, and I wasn’t about to test it by walking out onto the lake myself, but it looked completely frozen over (the fishermen must’ve thought so too), with maybe a couple inches of snow on top. We picked up a few chunks of ice sitting near the edge and threw them out onto the surface both to test the strength of the ice and just for fun. They broke on impact, while the lake itself didn’t seem to do much. Trails and Things to Do Around Horse Thief Lake Parking was easy with a small pull off right along the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, and we didn’t see anyone else the entire time we were there (except for the ice fishers). There’s a short path from the parking lot that runs along the edge of the lake that was lightly covered in snow. There’s also a trailhead nearby at the southern most point of the lake for a longer loop around the lake, but we didn’t have time to explore it. Why We Only Stayed 10 Minutes This was just a quick stop as we continued our road trip toward Yellowstone National Park, with more driving ahead of us and a few other places we wanted to check out along the way. We were just enjoying the experience at this point in the trip. It was our first cross-country road trip, and we weren’t following a strict schedule. If something looked worth stopping for, we stopped and this just happened to be one of those places. Is Horse Thief Lake Worth Visiting? I’d say it’s worth pulling over if you’re already driving through the area. It’s right off the road, easy to access and a nice way to step out into the Black Hills after visiting Mount Rushmore. While it’s probably a great swimming or fishing spot in the summer, the winter silence of the Black Hills is something you can’t get in July. If you want a moment where it’s just you, the snow, and the hills, this is a beautiful spot. That said, it’s not something I’d go out of your way for. We stopped because it looked pretty and gave us a reason to get out of the car for a few minutes. It would probably be even better when it’s not frozen, especially if you want to spend more time walking the trail around the lake.