The Centennial is such an underrated trail! Our experience was filled with big views, tons of wildlife, and lots of adventure. We even took the 1 mile (one way) detour to see Mt. Rushmore about halfway through. Our goal was to thru-hike this trail but since there was not an established FKT we decided to track our progress so that there is at least a benchmark. There are conflicting reports about the distance of the trail, some say 111 miles, Google says 120 miles but we tracked closer to 127 total trail miles. Matt Rose (ReZ) had never hiked more than 25 miles in a day and was able to put up back to back 30 mile days finishing with a 41-mile day including the decent from Bear Butte which was just amazing to witness. Great trail, great adventure, and even better friends.
Well done South Dakota!