Sundance, Wyoming, is the closest major city and lies south of the Bear Lodge Mountains.

The place names Bear Lodge, Sun Dance, and Rock Gatherer (Inyan Kara) come from the history of Lakota people in this area.

[4] Sundance 8 NNW is a weather station located in the Bear Lodge Mountains near Warren Peak (Wyoming).

While ponderosa pine and mixed-grass prairie grow on the highland of this range, its ravines offer habitat to species such as wild rose, skunkbush sumac, and chokecherry.

The mountains' growing season is long, and forest growth in this range and the Black Hills is high.