44.4758°N, 103.4268°W.
Igneous laccolith rising 365 metres above the surrounding Black Hills foothills near Sturgis, Meade County, South Dakota. Bear Butte formed approximately 49 million years ago during Eocene volcanic activity that pushed magma upward without reaching the surface; subsequent erosion exposed the resistant intrusion. The mountain is sacred to the Lakota, who call it Mato Paha, and to the Cheyenne, who call it Nowahʼwus and identify it as the site where the prophet Sweet Medicine received the four sacred arrows that organize Cheyenne ceremonial life. Frank Fools Crow and other twentieth-century Lakota holy men led ceremonies on the slopes. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981 and is operated as Bear Butte State Park, with prayer cloths and tobacco ties left by current pilgrims visible along the summit trail.
A treaty-era sacred mountain shares a county line with the largest annual motorcycle rally in the United States.