George S. Mickelson Trail through the Black Hills of South Dakota (by Lisa Paulos)

Rick and I spent 5 days in September exploring the Black Hills on our bikes. The George Mickelson Trail is 109 miles of crushed gravel and limestone on an abandoned rail line between historic Deadwood and Edgemont. Grades vary between 3 and 5%. A $2 daily or $10 annual fee helps to support trail upkeep. The trail opened in 1991 as the Black Hills Burlington Northern Heritage Trail. Then-governor Mickelson was a trail advocate and following his premature death in 1993, the trail was renamed in his honor.

Mileposts mark each mile. Interpretive signs explain abandoned mining projects or ghost towns. Towns and services are fewer than we are used to. We learned to travel with plenty of food and water. Our plan was to ride the trail north to south and back again in 4 to 5 days. We had bikes with panniers for clothes, essentials and tourist information. We stayed each night in motels.

The going was much slower than we are used to. Carrying gear plus the uphill grade for the first 15 miles put us at less than 10 mph average.

The trail was wet in places which slowed our speed even more the first day. We rode 50 miles from Deadwood to Hill City.

The second day, Hill City to Edgemont was 60 miles. We stopped for a short time at the Crazy House Visitor Center and Museum. The monument can be seen from the trail. Services were uncertain for the second half of the day and we were thrilled to find the local convenience store in Pringle open for business. The remaining 32 miles from Pringle to Edgemont were punctuated by dark clouds, mist and fog. 5 miles north of Edgemont is Sheep Canyon, the crown jewel of the trail even without sheep.

We took three days to return to Deadwood thanks to a thunder/rain/hail storm which we experienced from the Crazy Horse Visitor Center. Hail was more than a foot deep in places and the temperature dropped to 48 degrees. We were so thankful that we were not caught on the trail. The Visitor Center and Museum are world class and it was a pleasure to spend several hours taking it all in.

The cycling was very enjoyable. The scenery is very diverse, from grasslands to mountains with tunnels. Many bridges over rivers and little streams. We saw lots of wildlife including deer, squirrels, ground squirrels, ground hogs, snakes and hundreds of wild turkeys.

Signs commonly suggested trail riders avoid poison ivy and rattle snakes. People were friendly and helpful. There was an amazing lack of trash on the trail and in towns.

After finishing up the trail, we hiked to the top of Harney Peak (tallest point east of the Rockies and west of the Pyrenees), made two stops at Mount Rushmore and one each at Wall Drug and the Mitchell Corn Palace. A nice bonus is that all this fun was just one day of driving away from Cedar Rapids. We have lots of information and photos to share if anyone is interested in going.

Lisa Paulos